Pharmacy residency training programs are essential for pharmacists that will primarily engage in direct patient care activities. This annotated bibliography includes key publications that provide evidence of the value that pharmacy residents provide to the sponsoring health system. This manuscript will aid prospective residency directors interested in developing new residency positions at new institutions or for residency program directors interested in expanding the total number of resident positions available at the existing sites.

Pharmacists in all areas of practice frequently dispense or recommend drugs without realizing that some commonly used medications have never received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Most of these medications have been available for many years and are usually misconceived as generic drugs, when in fact they never went through the required quality, safety, and efficacy testing required by FDA. As a result, unapproved drugs can pose serious safety risks to patients and create uncertainty in the market. FDA established the "Unapproved Drugs Initiative" to protect public health by decreasing the number of available unapproved drugs with minimal disruptions to the market. Unapproved drugs remain in the market for various historical reasons. It is important for health care providers, particularly pharmacists, to be knowledgeable about unapproved products and consider switching patients to FDA-approved alternatives if possible when selecting drug therapy. Several resources are available on the FDA Website to determine approval status. Although FDA is working to remove unapproved drugs from the market, there will be circumstances when the use of unapproved drugs is medically necessary and appropriate. In these cases, pharmacists can monitor for and report adverse events and stay informed regarding any changes in approval status.