Evaluation of pharmacy practice residents' research abstracts and publication rate

To determine the type, scope, and publication rate of pharmacy practice residency projects conducted in a subgroup of the United States.

Data were collected from the abstract book of the 28th Western States Conference for Pharmacy Residents, Fellows, and Preceptors (May 20-23, 2008). Data on project publication rate, institution affiliation, residency year, research practice setting, research therapeutic area, research hypothesis category, study design, statistical plan, and abstract reporting were extracted independently by two investigators.

A total of 446 abstracts were presented at the annual residency meeting, 19 (4.3%) of which were published as full text in PubMed-indexed journals. The majority of the abstracts were presented by residents from California (52%). A total of 390 (87%) and 34 (8%) of the presentations were from postgraduate year (PGY)1 and PGY2 pharmacy residencies, respectively. PGY2 residents were more likely to report results at the time of abstract deadline compared with PGY1 residents (30.8% vs. 10.5%, P = 0.0185). Of the 19 publications found, about 3.6% (14 of 390) were from PGY1 residents compared with 14.7% (5 of 34) from PGY2 residents (P = 0.0126). A significantly higher percentage of abstracts that reported results in the study description resulted in publication compared with those that did not report results (10.2% vs. 3.5%; P = 0.0461).

Although many residents in the western United States undertake residency projects, few projects result in journal publications. While PGY2 residents appear to be publishing at a higher rate than PGY1 residents, proper resource allocation and research training and collaboration by the residency director may improve overall research type, scope, and publication rate.