PGY1 Community-Based Pharmacy Residency, Walgreens

Work With Walgreens

Purpose & Overview

Walgreens and Western New England University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program provides postgraduate training to pharmacists so that they achieve their professional goals, become leaders within the profession, provide compassionate care for the members of their community, and contribute to the Walgreens Company’s advancements in health care.

A graduate from the Walgreens and Western New England University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program would be viewed to possess equivalent experience and skills to be a pharmacy manager with the Walgreens organization. Upon completion of this program, the resident will have developed the knowledge and skills necessary to advance the practice of pharmacy and become a leader in the profession and within Walgreens.

Purpose Statement

The ASHP and APHA PHY1 Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program Purpose Statement

PGY1 residency programs build upon Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) education and outcomes to develop pharmacist practitioners with knowledge, skills, and abilities as defined in the educational competency areas, goals, and objectives. Residents who successfully complete PGY1 residency programs will be skilled in diverse patient care, practice management, leadership, and education, and be prepared to provide patient care, seek board certification in pharmacotherapy (i.e., BCPS), and pursue advanced education and training opportunities, including postgraduate year two (PGY2) residencies.

Learning Experiences

The residency program is community-based at Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy (#16537) in Springfield, MA, and Walgreens Pharmacy at Valley Medical Group (#11602) in Florence, MA.

The goals of this residency are as follows:

Collaborate with healthcare providers and clinic staff to assist providing access to specialized medications
Expand the continuum of care for patients
Provide access to medication management and counseling
Increase patient adherence to medication therapy and improve health outcomes
Assist patients with insurance issues
Assist patients with copay assistance, including foundation
Advance expertise in chronic and complex health conditions
Integrate with additional health and wellness services provided by Walgreens
Manage and maintain inventory designed to meet the needs of the patient population and improve the patient experience, including limited distribution drugs and hard-to-find specialty medications

These locations offer a variety of innovative clinical pharmacy services for patients who are prescribed complex therapies. Walgreens has a dedicated space, which is located next to the dispensing pharmacy—offering advanced patient care in a variety of disease states such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, heart failure, asthma/COPD, and HIV/AIDS. The resident will gain substantial experience in providing Medication Therapy Management (MTM), health screenings, health/wellness education, and immunizations to a diverse patient population.

Walgreens earned the URAC accreditation for all its community-based specialty pharmacies through a rigorous process involving the review of patient management standards, policies, and procedures, and randomly selected site audits by URAC. Walgreens’ pharmacists located in community-based specialty pharmacies receive enhanced training based on the needs of the local population and specialize in complex disease states, in addition to adhering to URAC standards.

The residency is offered in partnership with the Western New England University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. This partnership allows the resident the opportunity to gain experiences in the delivery of clinical pharmacy services in an ambulatory care clinic. The resident actively participates in teaching and precepting experiences at the University.

The ambulatory care clinic experience is at the Western New England University and Big Y Foods, Inc. Consultation and Wellness Center located at 300 Cooley Street in Springfield, MA. The Consultation and Wellness Center is located directly behind the pharmacy and includes a waiting room, private restroom, examination room, and an office. There are two computers with printers, phones in each area, and a copier/fax machine. Pharmacy references and all patient charts are housed in the conference/office area. Online access to pharmacy databases, resources, and literature is available through internet access on both computers.

A number of services are available at the Consultation and Wellness Center. Some activities include:

Personalized education sessions
Blood pressure monitoring
Glucometer/CGM training
Insulin injection training
Blood glucose evaluations and monitoring
Pharmacist review of medication regimen
Foot examinations
Nutrition label reading
Grocery tours
Wellness activities
Smoking cessation counseling

The Consultation and Wellness Center is conveniently located within walking distance (less than ¼ mile) from Trinity Health of New England Medical Group, a large practice that includes Adult Medicine and Pediatrics in Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield is home to two large medical centers, Baystate Health System and Mercy Medical Center. These centers provide institutional-based diabetes education programs with services located at the main location and at a neighborhood health center. The Consultation and Wellness Center has become the primary referral site for patients with diabetes due to its close proximity to Trinity Health and reputable education program.

Currently, the Center operates two days per week by appointment only. Individual appointments are 30 minutes or 60 minutes in length. The Center participates in 2-4 health screenings per year. The resident will be involved in those screenings.

The resident is required to staff independently one shift per week as a part of their residency requirement. Every effort will be made to allow the resident to conduct this shift at their primary practice site. The staffing shift could be evenings or weekends, depending on the pharmacy’s need.

Preceptors

Kam L. Capoccia received her BS degree in Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut and her PharmD from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. She completed a general practice residency at the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill and a specialty residency in Primary Care at the University of Washington Family Medical Center in Seattle. Dr. Capoccia has served as faculty at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy and the University of Washington School of Medicine. She has also taught at the MEDEX Northwest Physician Assistant Program.

Dr. Capoccia has spent more than 10 years working in collaborative practice agreements. Her practice focuses on chronic disease state management, such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking cessation. She has been a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) since 2000.

Melissa Mattison graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a BS in pharmacy, then returned to school at the University of Florida for her PharmD degree. Prior to joining the faculty at Western New England University, Dr. Mattison worked in community pharmacy for Walgreens in Connecticut, Louisiana, and Massachusetts, where she precepted students and trained new graduate pharmacists. She was recognized as pharmacy manager of the year as well as having the store of the year. Dr. Mattison was one of the first pharmacists in Massachusetts to begin immunizing and led the immunization program for Walgreens in Massachusetts. She was also the lead MTM pharmacist for the company in western Massachusetts.

Dr. Mattison is currently the Assistant Dean of Experiential Affairs, overseeing interprofessional education and community outreach as well as experiential education. She is a Clinical Professor and a certified diabetes care and education specialist (CDCES), specializing in obesity and weight loss, serving as the clinical director of the Community Patient Care Center on campus. Dr. Mattison’s areas of interest include health and wellness, motivational interviewing, interprofessional education, self-care, and disease prevention. Dr. Mattison engages learners in the classroom, teaching Professional Development, Self-Care Therapeutics, Professional Pharmacy Practice lab, immunization training, an interprofessional education elective, and outside of the classroom on an advanced pharmacy practice experience in Ghana. Additionally, Dr. Mattison is the preceptor for the community care resident on campus. Dr. Mattison was recognized as Professor of the Year in 2013 and 2020 and received the Excellence in Scholarship award in 2015.

Residency Program Director

Residency Accreditation Status

The Walgreens and Western New England University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Community-Based Residency Program is accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the American Pharmacist Association (APhA).

Application Information

Submission of residency application materials to (PhORCAS)
Completed on-line application at
On-site interview (upon invitation)
Presentation at on-site interview on a topic related to community pharmacy
Individuals must participate in and adhere to the rules of the ASHP Resident Matching Program

Licensure Requirements

Unless currently licensed as a Massachusetts pharmacist, the resident must obtain a Massachusetts pharmacy technician license from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) regulation prior to starting the residency program. Until licensed as a pharmacist in Massachusetts, the resident will be classified as a Graduate Intern. The resident must be licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy within 90 days of the start of the residency program.

Salary and Benefits

The Community Pharmacy Resident will be paid a salary of $53,000. The resident will be paid on a bi-weekly basis.

Enrollment in the Community-Based Pharmacy Residency program may qualify the resident for deferment of student loans. The resident is advised to consult with one’s lending institution for the guidelines and parameters associated with loan deferment due to postgraduate residency training.

The information listed in this section is intended for general reference only. Walgreens Human Resources Department should be contacted for complete information and regulations currently in place for employee benefits.

Paid time off is accrued based on hours paid. It is a single “bucket” that can be used for vacation, sick needs and personal holidays and gives team members more flexibility and control over their time.
Paid time off may be used after six months of service.
Six paid holidays annually.
The resident is eligible to participate in Walgreens Medical Plan after 90 days of service.
Paid attendance at required meetings (e.g., ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, APhA Annual Meeting, Eastern States Conference).

Program Length

The residency is a full‐time obligation. The minimum length of the residency program is 53 weeks, typically beginning in mid-June and ending on June 30 of the following year.

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