A Screening Tool to Identify Qualified Pharmacy Residency Candidates

To develop and evaluate the utility of a prescreening tool to assess candidates for PGY1 pharmacy residency programs. A scoring tool was developed to prescreen candidates who applied to two PGY1 pharmacy residency programs. The tool scored applicants based on six domains: community service, leadership experience, letters of intent, letters of recommendation, presentations/publication, and work experience. Applicants who were chosen to interview based on results from the screening tool were those who had significantly higher scores for all domains except work experience, as compared to applicants who were not interviewed. Total scores were also significantly higher. The average overall scores for applicants increased each year. Each year, the competition for first-year pharmacy residency positions continues to increase. A tool that can assess and differentiate between candidates' strengths by screening their applications can be a valuable asset for program administrators when used correctly.