Breadth of Statistical Training Among Pharmacy Residency Programs Across the United States

Abstract

Background: Pharmacy residents’ knowledge of biostatistics is a self-identified deficit. Objective: To describe statistical training practices across postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy residency programs and correlate training practices with residency program directors’ (RPDs) confidence in their residents’ statistical abilities. Methods: A 13-item survey was sent to PGY1 RPDs and included questions regarding respondents’ institution, program characteristics, type and amount of statistical training offered and desired, as well as performance of statistics, resident project publication rates, and RPDs’ confidence in residents’ statistical abilities. Results: Of the 1054 RPDs invited to participate in the survey, 202 (19.7%) surveys were completed. Nearly 25% of PGY1 pharmacy residency programs in this sample offered no statistical training to their residents. The most common types of training were study design considerations/selecting statistical tests (64.9%), descriptive statistics (59.9%), and database development/data manipulation (46.6%). The majority (60.9%) of RPDs had low confidence in their residents’ abilities to perform their own statistical analysis. After adjusting for significant covariates, residents receiving complex statistical training (odds ratio [OR]: 6.76; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.7-24.9) and a publication rate >50% (OR: 5.63; 95% CI: 1.61-19.69) were associated with higher RPD confidence in residents’ abilities to perform statistical analyses. Conclusion: The sample of programs in this survey indicates that statistical training for many residents may be limited, and many RPDs are not confident in their residents’ abilities to perform statistical analysis of research projects. Statistical training and opportunities to enhance research skills may be an area for future growth in pharmacy residency training programs.