SHPA’s two-year Advanced Training Residencies (ATRs) targeted towards pharmacists with general foundation level expertise and experience in hospital practice seeking to advance their practice towards Advancing – Stage II (Consolidation Level) and provide expert care and service delivery in their defined practice area.

The ATR program is idea for pharmacists with three to seven years of foundation hospital experience. Prospective Advanced Training (AT) Residents may have:

• completed an SHPA Foundation Residency, or

• equivalent experience, defined as at least two years' post-registration hospital pharmacy experience, in an environment that provides suitable broad foundation experience for the relevant ATR practice area.

Pharmacists with more than 7 years' experience may also be suitable for an ATR if they are moving into a defined or specialised area of practice that is new for them.

Pharmacists may be interested in undertaking an ATR if they:

• have prior experience in a defined practice area and are seeking to specialise or advance their practice, or

• have been recently recruited to a senior pharmacist/leadership role without significant experience in the area and are in a position to undertake an ATR program to support their professional practice and development in their new role (the workplace may design an ATR program specifically for the pharmacist and their new appointment).      

The above reasons are examples only. SHPA anticipates there will be other circumstances to which an ATR is suited.

Each ATR must have a defined practice area which can be generalist or specialist in scope. Pharmacy departments developing their ATR programs should align any specialty areas to the SHPA Specialty Practice Streams (Specialty Practice). It is up to the individual pharmacy departments to determine the ATR pathways they wish to implement (based on organisational needs) and the recruitment processes.

Each individual’s ATR will be based upon one of the following documents:

• SHPA ATR Common Framework: This is a generic developmental pathway that can be adapted to any practice area

• SHPA Practice Area Framework and Knowledge Guide: This is a suite of documents that contextualizes and expands the Common Framework to defined practice areas

The SHPA ATR Common Framework can be applied to any ATR practice area to facilitate advancement. Where an ATR pathway maps to an existing SHPA model Practice Area Framework and Knowledge Guide, these should be used in lieu of the Common Framework to inform and develop the local ATR.

Advanced Training Residents may not necessarily have defined rotations – their workplan will align strongly with the defined practice area and have a minimum of 18 months of the two-year program spent in a working environment directly linked to this area. AT Residents will also be supported by a pharmacist mentor (Advanced Training Mentor) with expert practice in the area and have input from an external mentor (e.g. specialist medical practitioner, senior nursing staff, etc) to provide external support and insight into their role and performance.

Assessment and evaluation of Resident performance development over time will be in accordance with the evaluation tools outlined in the SHPA Advanced Training Residency evaluation and assessment matrix.

The Advanced Training Mentor for a given ATR pathway is required to demonstrate performance at Advancing – Stage II (Consolidation Level) or above in a practice area highly relevant to the ATR. If Advancing Practice credentialing has not been obtained, the proposed mentor will need to submit evidence demonstrating equivalent experience, which will be assessed by SHPA for approval.

The mentor is likely to be a senior pharmacist currently engaged in the practice area within the organisation, who will be directly supervising the AT Resident. One AT Mentor may provide support to more than one AT Resident if appropriate and practicable. If the organisation does not have a suitable senior pharmacist to lead the AT Resident, a mentor can be identified from another health network in Australia (preferably within the same state). Any sites unable to identify a suitable mentor should contact the SHPA for guidance.