Hello, I'm entering a pharmacy school this Fall and I was offered intern/tech job from two different hospital. Since I'm really interested in doing residency after I graduate, I was wondering how important is hospital reputation when applying for residency. Choice A is larger university hospital, pharmacy tech position, 52 hours a month mandatory work hours, while choice B is smaller community hospital, pharmacy intern position, and only 16 hours a month mandatory work hours requirement, and closer distance (10 min away) from home. At first, I wanted to go to larger setting for more work experience and reputation that would put me in better position in resume, but I haven't started pharmacy school yet, so I don't really know the workload of pharmacy school and choice B offer me a flexibility, more hourly wage (about ~$1.50/hr difference),and in close proximity. I want to know how important is it to work in more reputable hospital when applying for residency.
Hospital work reputation for residency?
- Thread starter sdh0202
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Being on a selection committee as a resident, I can say that we only looked at whether or not a candidate had hospital experience. We did not look at where this experience was gained. The only advantage of working at a particular hospital would be if you wanted to be a resident at that hospital.
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If it is a big name (e.g. very well known in the region you apply to residency programs in) I suppose it might be helpful, but ultimately just have the experience is the most important thing.
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another huge component is technician independence - varies significantly between institutions.
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Personally I would take an intern position over a tech one but it's up to you!
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The larger university hospital may be more likely to have a pharmacist that rounds with the ICU team in the mornings... that would be good experience to have as an intern. I never worked in a hospital or had much experience prior to my APPE and I learned a LOT in just 6 weeks. Imagine having that type of experience as a P2 or P3... it could go a long way!
I ended up choosing the local community hospital near my house (10 min away), since it offers me flexibility during school year and also working as intern seems like better choice than working as pharmacy technician. During interview, small community hospital supervisor, who had 15 years of preceptor experience, told me she expects me to learn lots of stuff while I'm here, while larger hospital supervisor was mainly focused on doing my job and multi-tasking aspect of technician job. Thank you all for the insightful comments! I really appreciate it
Can the experience come from APPEs? I know having an actual job would be preferred, just wondering if several hospital APPEs are considered good hospital experience or seen as the bare minimum.
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Nope. We had APPEs and work experience as separate categories. Almost everyone has several hospital APPEs. However, we weighed non-hospital and hospital work experience equally. Candidates that had BOTH retail and hospital experience definitely stood out.
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In terms of residency, I have heard that programs integrate your school rank into run scores. This may also reflect the hospital reputation. That being said, the experience and time saved to devote to school may outweigh the reputation.
I know work experience is looked upon favorably. But if you're not doing anything that you can speak to in your interview or personal statement and its simply a hours/week issue, I think you should focus on school and related activities. Working so many number of hours more per week is not going to get you more brownie points.
I know work experience is looked upon favorably. But if you're not doing anything that you can speak to in your interview or personal statement and its simply a hours/week issue, I think you should focus on school and related activities. Working so many number of hours more per week is not going to get you more brownie points.
