Residency Chat Thread?

[MNnaloxone]

I know that it has been addressed previously, but does anyone want to start up a chat thread regarding residency? I'm in my last professional year, and am strongly considering applying for one.

Go ahead and sound off-I've got a lot of time on my hands the next few days-the preceptor is out of town...

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[LVPharm]

Absolutely, but there are only a few of us pharm students past 1st year in this forum. I think lord999 is gonna apply to a graduate program.

Will you be going to ASHP midyear this December in New Orleans? They'll have the "Residency Showcase" so you can meet with residency program coordinators from around the country.

I have a feeling next year's match (and probably for the forseable future) will be quite competitive. This year ASHP had ~1300 students sign up for 950 positions in 388 accredited pharmacy practice residency programs across the USA. That was their highest ever. Most of those who stayed in the process were successfully matched. There was also high competition for the "choice" residencies in large urban hospitals. St. Luke's Episcopal in Houston (where the Texas Heart Institute is) had something like 30 applicants for 2 spots. The competition will only get worse with new pharm schools graduating PharmDs with an increased desire to practice in health systems. Not to mention that I think in the near future more and more hospital staff pharmacy positions will almost require a 1 year pharmacy practice residency.

All of a sudden, getting a little networking (sorry Tri ) done in New Orleans may not be such a bad thing to do this year.

 

[MNnaloxone]

I decided not to go to mid-year in Naw-lens, due to my fiancee already being established as a PharmD in Minneapolis. I'm going to the MNSHP Mid-year, where they'll have a residency showcase. No sense trying to get into a residency far from home when the money and the honey is staying put. I know I'd enjoy clinical, but I haven't developed a passion for anything specialized. General clinical hospital is fine by me right now.

I agree with residencies beforing more competitive. It used to be that the PharmD was the ticket into the clinical field. Now, with everyone new having a PharmD, the major hospitals are looking to the residency as the division. I got this speech from a Pharm Director at a major hospital, the Clinical Manager and most of her staff. I spoke with two other residency grads at my rotation right now at a PBM, and they echoed this as well. The only pharmacists that didn't feel as strongly about it were from my adult med rotation. They had given me a job offer two days earlier, and I think they were afraid of losing their possible hire. Too bad it was in the MiddleONowhere, ND.

Thirty apps for 2 spots. Wow. I think I might have a chance here, though. Most of my class at NDSU flows right into retail, and about half of the U of MN does as well. Who can blame them with the starting retail here hovering at about $95K? I'm lucky-I can afford taking a pay cut for a year while the fiancee covers the rent (and the groceries, stamps, air conditioning, etc). There's about 15 residency spots in Mpls, and who wants to move to MinneSnowta from someplace warm?

 

[LVPharm]

That's true, you've got it much better in MN. Out here in NV, we have one pharm practice residency program at University Medical Center in LV. That's one of only 3 residency programs in Nevada, the other 2 being waaay up in Reno. We've got 4 major medical centers (+1 more on the way) in the fastest growing city in the USA...but only 1 pharmacy practice residency program with 4 positions? With the number of grads we'll pump out, even though the majority will go into retail practice, it'll be tough to get. If I can get licensed in CA (hopefully they'll adopt the NAPLEX by then ), then I'll have more choices.

Maybe I'll go through a pharmacy practice residency and happen to like a particular area of practice and decide to do a specialty residency. Right now, I'm also weighing the pros and cons of fellowships...today I had lunch with a new faculty member who just went through a 2 year fellowship. I'll have to pick his mind a little more about that.

 

[MNnaloxone]

The Outpatient Pharmacy Director at the place I did my HoEx rotation completed a fellowship in toxicology. He was tox all the way, until his company restructured, and he kinda fell into his current position (imagine that...just happened to become a pharmacy director).

We've got so many residencies because we have so many hospitals here. For every hospital with a residency, there seems to be one that doesn't (or at least I'm not aware of yet).

Best of luck!

 

[DrArsenic]

There are residencies for pharmacists???

Wow never heard of this before.

 

[LVPharm]

Yes! There are quite a lot of residencies in pharmacy, the most common of which is a 1 year pharmacy practice residency. There are also specialty residencies in such areas of clinical practice as oncology, pediatrics, pharmcotherapy, infectious diseases, etc. Although these are primarily for individuals interested in clinical practice in hospital settings, there are community pharmacy practice residencies for pharmacists who seek advanced training in how to implement different aspects of pharmaceutical care (such as diabetes education, asthma, etc) in a community setting.

For more info about hospital pharmacy practice and clinical specialty residency programs:
http://www.ashp.org/rtp/Seeking/index.cfm?cfid=15202465&CFToken=42248343

For more info about community pharmacy residency programs:
http://www.aphanet.org/development/compharm.html