Critical Access Hospitals?

[Dalteparin]

I'm looking to relocate to another part of the US and it seems like most of the jobs in this region are at rural or critical access hospitals. Most of my experience has been at somewhat larger (200+ bed) institutions, so I'm unsure about applying for these jobs - I worry that I'll be bored, and that if I don't like it I'll be stuck there. Has anybody here worked at a critical access hospital? What's it like?

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[mustang sally]

The hospital I work at isn't technically a critical access hospital but it is small (30 beds) and rural. Some days I think it's really boring and other days I'm running around from the minute I get there until the minute I leave.

Pros-good hours (all day shift), we have good overlap, and you get to be a jack of all trades. There aren't any clinical pharmacists up here, so I can be involved in pretty much any projects and whatever else the hospital has to offer up. Everyone here is pretty friendly and since it's a small hospital, you get to know the other medical staff pretty well.

Cons-pretty much any patient that has a high level of acuity is not going to stay, so a lot of the cases are not very interesting. Pneumonia, COPD, and observation chest pain patients all day, every day. Plus being on call can suck.

 

[Dred Pirate]

I cut my teeth as director of a critical access hospital with a year of pharmacist experience. I gained valuable skills and experience. Truly a baptism by fire. I worked for a management company (they had 80 accounts ranging in size from my average census of 10 hospital to a large metro hospital with 800+ beds. GREAT experience, looks great on a resume, and you won't regret it. I second the, sometimes slow as heck, and other times running around crazy busy. Picture two simultaneous codes in the ED (whose staff consists of a MD, RN, and LPN) and one night had 3 car cow accidents (those can get ugly).

The head of the company told me (as he was offering me a director job at a 200 bed specialty hospital "You can take someone from a small hospital and put them in a big hospital and they usually do well because they can already do everything but if I take a director from a large hospital and put them in a small hospital, they fail nearly every time because they lose the basics of patient care"

 

[fauxden]

I cut my teeth as director of a critical access hospital with a year of pharmacist experience. I gained valuable skills and experience. Truly a baptism by fire. I worked for a management company (they had 80 accounts ranging in size from my average census of 10 hospital to a large metro hospital with 800+ beds. GREAT experience, looks great on a resume, and you won't regret it. I second the, sometimes slow as heck, and other times running around crazy busy. Picture two simultaneous codes in the ED (whose staff consists of a MD, RN, and LPN) and one night had 3 car cow accidents (those can get ugly).

The head of the company told me (as he was offering me a director job at a 200 bed specialty hospital "You can take someone from a small hospital and put them in a big hospital and they usually do well because they can already do everything but if I take a director from a large hospital and put them in a small hospital, they fail nearly every time because they lose the basics of patient care"

during these times of "boredeom" you speak of, what did you do? Surf the web?

edit: i quoted the wrong person

trying again:

The hospital I work at isn't technically a critical access hospital but it is small (30 beds) and rural. Some days I think it's really boring and other days I'm running around from the minute I get there until the minute I leave.

Pros-good hours (all day shift), we have good overlap, and you get to be a jack of all trades. There aren't any clinical pharmacists up here, so I can be involved in pretty much any projects and whatever else the hospital has to offer up. Everyone here is pretty friendly and since it's a small hospital, you get to know the other medical staff pretty well.

Cons-pretty much any patient that has a high level of acuity is not going to stay, so a lot of the cases are not very interesting. Pneumonia, COPD, and observation chest pain patients all day, every day. Plus being on call can suck.

what did you do during these times of "boredom"

 

[mustang sally]

what did you do during these times of "boredom"

It just depends. If I have other projects going on, I will work on those. Other times, we hang out and chat. Or sure, surf the web. Could work on some CE. Whatever.

 

[Dred Pirate]

what I would do is work on protocols, chat with the RN's and MD's read journals, etc

 

[Its Z]

Critical Access is a great training ground for a young pharmacist because you will do "Everything" there is to do in pharmacy practice.
One of the biggest opportunities at CAH today is the opportunity get immersed in 340B. Affordable Care Act extended 340B eligibility to CAH, Sole Community Hospital, Rural Referral Centers, and Free Standing Cancer Centers. Yet the Orphan drug rule differs from the DSH hospitals.

There are major financial and regulatory opportunities for pharmacists to participate in this wonderful quagmire called 340B.