Residency vs. Small hospital experience

[Lexington2012]

One of the hospitals that I did a rotation at gave me an offer letter for after I graduate. I would be getting $48.00 per hour. That seems incredibly low, but it would still be a lot more than I'd get at a residency. I know the working conditions there are good.

How does hospital experience compare to a residency in the long term?

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[gwarm01]

One of the hospitals that I did a rotation at gave me an offer letter for after I graduate. I would be getting $48.00 per hour. That seems incredibly low, but it would still be a lot more than I'd get at a residency. I know the working conditions there are good.

How does hospital experience compare to a residency in the long term?

Where do you live? That's a pretty standard starting rate for many parts of the country. Will you get a shift differential?

 

[bacillus1]

Depends on what you want to do with your life in the long term, as well as the clinical involvement of the pharmacists at the hospital. If you will be doing a lot of PK, anticoag, rounding, etc... by all means go for it. If it's just purely staffing and verifying orders/product all day, then think about whether that's for you. There is much variability in how hospital pharmacy departments operate. Also, are you OK staying in that hospital long term? I ask this question because some hospitals won't hire without a residency nowadays, so be ready to stay there at least 5+ years before you are deemed to have "residency equivalent experience".

 

[confettiflyer]

Yeah, what's your region? $48/hr either let's you live like a king or you're barely making ends meet. And what would your expected post PGY-1 rate be?

Also, it's mid-April, so unless you're scrambling for a spot now, it would be tough to walk on to a residency program.

If the training and continuing education program at this hospital is robust and you're not gunning for some specialty positions at large medical centers, then you should be doing alright.


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[kwakster928]

If the current market trend continues (I have no doubt to believe the will change), not having a residency will not serve you well in long term. It has become fairly routine that employers (hospitals) require a minimum of 1 year of PGY-1 residency for a staffing job.

If you planning on having hospital pharmacy as a career, do the residency.

 

[confettiflyer]

If the current market trend continues (I have no doubt to believe the will change), not having a residency will not serve you well in long term. It has become fairly routine that employers (hospitals) require a minimum of 1 year of PGY-1 residency for a staffing job.

If you planning on having hospital pharmacy as a career, do the residency.

Except he'll be a 5 year experienced hospital pharmacist at that point and, assuming stellar references, would be hired over the new PGY-1 grad for most positions.

 

[kwakster928]

Except he'll be a 5 year experienced hospital pharmacist at that point and, assuming stellar references, would be hired over the new PGY-1 grad for most positions.

You will be very surprised how many big academic institutions value residency over experience.

 

[confettiflyer]

You will be very surprised how many big academic institutions value residency over experience.

Big academic centers have always had slightly different criteria from the bread and butter community hospitals that outnumber them nationally.

And not all inpatient jobs are the same...many are on the "lick, stick, pour" side of the spectrum, other places utilize their 10-20 year experienced BS Pharms in high level/high acuity practices. One has academic center mobility, the other doesn't.

That's why I love hospital...something for everyone!

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[kwakster928]

Big academic centers have always had slightly different criteria from the bread and butter community hospitals that outnumber them nationally.

And not all inpatient jobs are the same...many are on the "lick, stick, pour" side of the spectrum, other places utilize their 10-20 year experienced BS Pharms in high level/high acuity practices. One has academic center mobility, the other doesn't.

That's why I love hospital...something for everyone!

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While your statements are true, if this students forgo doing a residency, his practice would most likely limited to the small local community hospitals. Not that there are anything wrong with the community hospital practice, but completing a residency would definitely open a lot more doors as he progresses through his career.

In my opinion, if your finances allows it and your debt load is manageable, do the residency. Otherwise, you will be competing in the market place already behind.

 

[Caffeine QAM]

It really depends what your long-term goals are. It also depends on the hospital and what you'll be doing. Much of it will be dependent on how much initiative you take to learn. You're not being paid much, so make up for it by learning as much as you can. Don't passively verify orders and check trays. Figure out what kinds of pharmacy-related problems are going on within the hospital and see how it's being addressed (if at all). Learn what you can, not just from the other pharmacists, but from the nurses and physicians too, if you are able to. Get involved in whatever you can learn from. If you can, learn how to dose the usual per pharmacy stuff really well (vancomycin, aminoglycosides, anticoagulants..maybe even TPN).

If you like what you're doing after a year and you're okay with the pay, you could simply stay on. And if your performance and work ethic was good, you could use it to justify a raise. Residency is always a potential option for later, though at that point, you'd get much less out of a regular PGY1 and you'd have to think about how a residency would advance your goals - you would have probably already learned a lot of stuff that you otherwise would have been exposed to in PGY1 by then, in which case I would consider a residency only if it is a pathway to specialization (e.g. critical care/oncology), if that is what you wish to do. I know of pharmacists that specialized without residency, but I think that's exceedingly harder to do nowadays and more of it will be dependent on your luck.

 

[Its Z]

If I'm hiring a staff/clinical pharmacist for front line work, 5 years of hospital staff pharmacist would be preferred.

But, many pharmacists and students don't realize that order processing/review and clinical consults constitute only a portion of health system pharmacy practice. Hospital pharmacy practice includes operational, regulatory (CMS, TJC, DPH, FDA, OSHA, EPA etc), financials (drug spend, contracts, labor), Performance Improvement/quality, Clinical, Medication Safety, and leadership training. The goal of PGY1 and PGY2 is to expose pharmacists to all aspects of health system pharmacy practice beyond staff pharmacist duties to provide them a head start for the future pharmacy and health care leadership opportunities.

Not all residency trained pharmacists end up in a leadership role. And not all staff/clinical pharmacists are denied leadership opportunities.

I wholeheartedly agree with Caffeine QAM. And I would also like to add that pharmacy leadership role responsibilities reach beyond personal goals. It includes advancing the profession.

I realize that pharmacy residency receives criticism from many for different reasons. It's ok. It does provide a venue for identifying pharmacists who are committed to enhancing their knowledge and career objectives. And that's why resume' and CVs from PGY1 and PGY2 end up on the top of the stack.