Was Your Residency Worth it?

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Was Your Residency Worth it?

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TLaw8860

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Since its July and and most residents finished their residencies a couple weeks ago I figured I would post a fun little poll to see what people thought about their residencies. Did it help you land the job you want? Are you on the same path that you envisioned yourself when you started? Different path (for better or worse)? Or did you think it wasn't worth it and rather enter the job field after graduating?

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Exceeded my expectations, just wrapped up my 3rd year post-PGY1, the # of doors open and the opportunities available to me now is more than what I expected.

But the first three months post-PGY1 were rough, lots of no call backs and hobbling together full time work between two per diem positions. Then one place opened up an FTE for me. The rest just snowballed.

I think the jesus juice is in the residency AND multi years of experience.

Curious to see the responses for fresh residents and those practicing for a while.


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I'm smarter than the residents and residents graduated to clinical pharmacists who were on my rotations. Meh. Multiple sites were even surprised at how fast I picked up information. But we could expect that as absolutely normal at my test scores. Hospitals all want previous experience these days. My references are old or retail though. Just not a goody two shoes

If I had been better rested at graduation I could have parlayed into a sweet surgery hospital, no residency required.

I actually agree that there should be a probationary period of lower paid on the job training. But for me it wouldn't take a year. Pharmacy school shouldn't have taken that long either. Overqualified problems - have to figure out everything yourself!
 
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Anyway, enough ruminating and more on topic, there are fewer hospitals than retail settings. Hospitals are infamously dens of backstabbery and drama so that a good fit hospital is even rarer, and then for job security we prefer a hospital where pharmacists can make an impact. There are a lot of pharmacists graduating, and a lot of residents graduating. If you're not going to rely on connections then your paperwork must be impeccable
 
I'm smarter than the residents and residents graduated to clinical pharmacists who were on my rotations. Meh. Multiple sites were even surprised at how fast I picked up information. But we could expect that as absolutely normal at my test scores. Hospitals all want previous experience these days. My references are old or retail though. Just not a goody two shoes

If I had been better rested at graduation I could have parlayed into a sweet surgery hospital, no residency required.

I actually agree that there should be a probationary period of lower paid on the job training. But for me it wouldn't take a year. Pharmacy school shouldn't have taken that long either. Overqualified problems - have to figure out everything yourself!


Here's your gold star *

I also turned down a clinical inpatient position upon graduation, discussed in other threads.


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Does completing a residency actually lead to higher-paying jobs? I'm especially curious about the southeast, since I've heard that residency-trained pharmacists here end up only making $80k-$100k/year at hospitals, just like they'd make without a residency.
 
Does completing a residency actually lead to higher-paying jobs? I'm especially curious about the southeast, since I've heard that residency-trained pharmacists here end up only making $80k-$100k/year at hospitals, just like they'd make without a residency.

I'm just a student but in my opinion the origional point of getting a residency was to get a job in emerging clinical roles. Since there aren't very many new jobs created as a result of residency many residency trained pharmacists end up applying staffing jobs that had already existed. Because the hospitals have tons of applications from residency trained pharmacists, residency has turned into a requirement for hospital staffing jobs as opposed to a means of creating new clinical roles.

In other words, instead of creating new jobs residency has just become another hoop to jump through to get the same jobs that were waiting before residency existed, so the pay is not generally much higher if at all. You can make 40-50k doing a residency and then get hired making 100k, or just work retail from day one making 120k.

Obviously there are many pharmacists who have their dream "clinical" job, and also many pharmacists without residencies who get hired in hospitals and into clinical roles. I'm just making an observation from what I have seen, and it's no surprise when 70% of the jobs are in retail and 70% of my class plans to do a residency. Are 70% of new grads going to get these emerging clinical roles that make up 5-10% of the job market? Some pharmacists end up in retail even after a residency.

It's still a tough choice... once you lock yourself into retail it's hard to get out. If you do a residency and work clinical/hospital you can always switch to retail. I personally am well suited for retail and always planned on working retail but at the same time my hospital rotations were much more relaxed and I managed to impress my preceptors so it's a tough choice to make. Me being to lazy to join a bunch of clubs and be a peer tutor/lab assistant to fluff up my resume might be the deciding factor, lol.
 
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Here's your gold star *

I also turned down a clinical inpatient position upon graduation, discussed in other threads.


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Hehehe

Actually it was just emo pseudo depression coming down from Monster, nothing to do with you

In fact i was too humble. The original post correctly said i was way smarter than the residents. I itch to boast more with a proper keyboard
 
Hehehe

Actually it was just emo pseudo depression coming down from Monster, nothing to do with you

Monster is the best. I switched from absolute zero to zero ultra, a bit lighter flavor for me.
 
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Short-term answer: Yes, with the caveat that I was hired on at my residency site and live in a desirable major city on the west coast.

Long-term answer: TBD, as I am prioritizing location and quality of life over an ideal job located in BFE
 
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yes - was able to get hired on immediately when I moved across the country and switched to "just a staff pharmacist" position
 
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Exceeded my expectations, just wrapped up my 3rd year post-PGY1, the # of doors open and the opportunities available to me now is more than what I expected.

But the first three months post-PGY1 were rough, lots of no call backs and hobbling together full time work between two per diem positions. Then one place opened up an FTE for me. The rest just snowballed.

I think the jesus juice is in the residency AND multi years of experience.

Curious to see the responses for fresh residents and those practicing for a while.


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It always helps to have a job already too. It felt way easier landing my second job. I was getting called back by a large portion of them, contacted by recruiters on linkedin, flown out for interviews. I received several offers and was able to pick the best fit at my leisure. I'm guessing it's a combination of them thinking "well, they've held that job for a few years so they probably aren't too crazy" along with the confidence you have when you know you don't need the job, but you might just want it.

Hospitals are infamously dens of backstabbery and drama so that a good fit hospital is even rarer..

I guess I've been lucky in that regard. It has never been an issue for me in the two hospitals I have worked at full-time (if it's an issue at my per diem I am not there often enough to care). Maybe it's just because I try to be friendly and personable, so people don't feel the need to sabotage me? Or it could be because when I felt like I hit a professional roadblock, I started to search elsewhere for the next step rather than target people to take down. I'm sure things could have happened behind the scenes that I wasn't aware of.

Does completing a residency actually lead to higher-paying jobs? I'm especially curious about the southeast, since I've heard that residency-trained pharmacists here end up only making $80k-$100k/year at hospitals, just like they'd make without a residency.

We've touched on this before, but the answer is a resounding no. Some places in the SE might throw you an extra dollar or two an hour for a residency, but I wouldn't count on it. If you want more money you go to retail. Hospital work is worth the lower pay for the higher quality of life in my opinion, and if you are smart you will continue developing your skills and knowledge to become more valuable and less replaceable.

Really the only exception to this rule is if you are California dreaming with confettiflyer, since residency is pretty much required to get into a hospital there. That's the only region of the country where hospital jobs routinely pay more than retail.
 
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Since its July and and most residents finished their residencies a couple weeks ago I figured I would post a fun little poll to see what people thought about their residencies. Did it help you land the job you want? Are you on the same path that you envisioned yourself when you started? Different path (for better or worse)? Or did you think it wasn't worth it and rather enter the job field after graduating?

I graduated a long time ago, so my residency experience is woefully out of date compared to now. At the time, residencies were somewhat in its infancy and there were only maybe a few interview candidates at a time. I don't regret going through residency because I enjoy the intellectual challenge and didn't really stress myself too much over the low pay for 1 year. I also had the advantage of going to a state pharmacy school so my tuition was very low. I would say the residency experience for me was 'efficient' in teaching me various job skills through rotations versus what hoops and time I would have had to go through to learn the same skills on the job. I think residency definitely gave me a slight advantage in applying for hospital pharmacy positions, but at the time, it wasn't required, either. I also had the fortune of having a wide variety of rotational experiences as a student and intern so one could argue I could have landed a hospital position without residency as well based on my intern experiences at the time.

What I value most about my residency experience was it taught me very well about TPN management, how to talk diplomatically across various disciplines (patients, doctors, nurses, other pharmacists), and sharpened my teaching/presentation skills. I feared presentations the most as a student, but now I can tolerate them mostly (heh). What I've noticed is giving excellent, informative talks really helps one's advancement in management's eyes, so residency will certainly help one with that skill.
 
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If you do a residency and work clinical/hospital you can always switch to retail.

Not true in saturated areas, retail pharmacies are just as hesitant to hire hospital pharmacists as hospital pharmacies are hesitant to hire retail pharmacists.
 
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Not true in saturated areas, retail pharmacies are just as hesitant to hire hospital pharmacists as hospital pharmacies are hesitant to hire retail pharmacists.

Yep. A lot of retail DMs are hesitant to hire someone with a residency because they think (correctly in most cases) that person will bolt back to hospital at their earliest opportunity.
 
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Yep. A lot of retail DMs are hesitant to hire someone with a residency because they think (correctly in most cases) that person will bolt back to hospital at their earliest opportunity.

And the DMs won't make an offer to a final year student if that student ever mentions the "R" word to them at any time. Ever.
I tell my students it is wrong to lie, but you don't need to be all that forthcoming with info either, KWIM?
 
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So what's up with these certifications. Are they a viable way of focusing on and gaining in important areas of knowledge
 
So what's up with these certifications. Are they a viable way of focusing on and gaining in important areas of knowledge
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I actually thought residency trained pharmacist make as much or in some cases more than our retail pharmacist counterpart. Can anyone chime in?
 
I actually thought residency trained pharmacist make as much or in some cases more than our retail pharmacist counterpart. Can anyone chime in?
Where the hospitals want to attract and retain talent that will be the case, especially with adjustment for cost of living in the big cities

It's my understanding though that generally retail pays better. Though did have a clinician away from the city claim that per hour she was better paid
 
Would be interesting to bypass residency requirements with certifications

But that means you're a minimum 3 year experienced pharmacist with clinical competency...you don't need a $600 certification to prove that, you'd get hired on the merits of your experience. So I would question the ROI on that.


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I actually thought residency trained pharmacist make as much or in some cases more than our retail pharmacist counterpart. Can anyone chime in?
you thought wrong

I know residents hired right out of their PGY1 in local hospitals make less than I made in retail 9 years ago
 
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you thought wrong

I know residents hired right out of their PGY1 in local hospitals make less than I made in retail 9 years ago

Back in 2008 the prevailing retail rate in Southern California was ~$54/hr. I think the hourly rates are at parity now (low to mid-60's). Inpatient RPh's have a +$5-10/hr advantage over retail up in the north for starting depending on speciality/fringe benefits.

Never have I seen anyone's rates < 8-9 years ago for any setting. Sounds like a collapsing economy issue.


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Back in 2008 the prevailing retail rate in Southern California was ~$54/hr. I think the hourly rates are at parity now (low to mid-60's). Inpatient RPh's have a +$5-10/hr advantage over retail up in the north for starting depending on speciality/fringe benefits.

Never have I seen anyone's rates < 8-9 years ago for any setting. Sounds like a collapsing economy issue.


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cali - everything is obviously different

I made $50 at retail 10 years ago - I know our new hires (PGY1 + 0 experience)make around 46
 
Would be interesting to bypass residency requirements with certifications

To qualify for the exam you would have enough experience to be considered residency equivalent, and would have to have a job that would get you that experience.. so really you just do it because you want to or if your employer is obsessed with the idea.
 
To qualify for the exam you would have enough experience to be considered residency equivalent, and would have to have a job that would get you that experience.. so really you just do it because you want to or if your employer is obsessed with the idea.

Or if your employer pays for it and provides additional $$ each year for maintaining it, which is kind of the only reason why I did it.


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cali - everything is obviously different

I made $50 at retail 10 years ago - I know our new hires (PGY1 + 0 experience)make around 46


Curious about the fringe benefits though, how much better (or worse) are the hospital positions? Even if you had parity, that's a straight pay cut on inflation alone.

What were hospital rates 10 years ago?

Sorry, 20 questions, was just curious.


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I actually thought residency trained pharmacist make as much or in some cases more than our retail pharmacist counterpart. Can anyone chime in?

No, the benefits of doing a residency is job quality, not pay. In fact, strictly clinical positions (which are rare, most are hybrids), but strictly clinical positions often pay less than regular hospital pharmacist positions.
 
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Curious about the fringe benefits though, how much better (or worse) are the hospital positions? Even if you had parity, that's a straight pay cut on inflation alone.

What were hospital rates 10 years ago?

Sorry, 20 questions, was just curious.


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benefits - I will always take the hospital benefits over retail - insurance is probably a wash, 403b is slightly better at my hospital, a lot better at the hospital across town. PDO is MUCH MUCH better - 5 weeks starting - I am at 7. Retail starts at 2 weeks + probably 4 -6 holidays.

I went from 50 an hour at retail to 43 an hour when I took my hospital job - I did have a few years of experience, including some hospital when I started, so a comparison for a new grad probably would have been around 40.
 
benefits - I will always take the hospital benefits over retail - insurance is probably a wash, 403b is slightly better at my hospital, a lot better at the hospital across town. PDO is MUCH MUCH better - 5 weeks starting - I am at 7. Retail starts at 2 weeks + probably 4 -6 holidays.

I went from 50 an hour at retail to 43 an hour when I took my hospital job - I did have a few years of experience, including some hospital when I started, so a comparison for a new grad probably would have been around 40.

Geez that's a huge pay cut for retail to hospital ~20%, you can't buy health/happiness, but that about comes close.

This piggy backs onto the argument that a residency may not reap direct financial benefits, but if the job market dictates residency as a preferred job qualification for an inpatient position, PGY1 is the ticket to better working conditions & lifestyle (if 5-7 weeks of vacation a year is your thing).


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Geez that's a huge pay cut for retail to hospital ~20%, you can't buy health/happiness, but that about comes close.

This piggy backs onto the argument that a residency may not reap direct financial benefits, but if the job market dictates residency as a preferred job qualification for an inpatient position, PGY1 is the ticket to better working conditions & lifestyle (if 5-7 weeks of vacation a year is your thing).


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I started at a similar rate in Florida, but I've managed to get to >$50/hr in a little over three years. I think it was worth the lower pay considering the increased quality of life, and now I've caught up and still get 7 weeks of vacation that I never take per year. I'll just save that up and consider it a nice parting gift to cash out when I change jobs.
 
I actually thought residency trained pharmacist make as much or in some cases more than our retail pharmacist counterpart. Can anyone chime in?

Hospital starting pay is often less than retail, but hospitals are better than retail about regular raises. The long term benefits are usually better with a hospital than a retail chain.


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I heard there are no "new" jobs created for clinical pharmacists. So aren't residents essentially "waiting" for some clinical pharmacist to vacate his or her spot?
 
I heard there are no "new" jobs created for clinical pharmacists. So aren't residents essentially "waiting" for some clinical pharmacist to vacate his or her spot?

Depends.

Some smaller hospitals have always had a single clinical "shift" that did all the kinetics for the whole hospital.

As services expand, maybe they add more clinical shifts. In CA antimicrobial stewardship is now the law - this created ID pharmacist jobs: many more spots than PGY-2 trained ID pharmacists in the state.


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Depends.

Some smaller hospitals have always had a single clinical "shift" that did all the kinetics for the whole hospital.

As services expand, maybe they add more clinical shifts. In CA antimicrobial stewardship is now the law - this created ID pharmacist jobs: many more spots than PGY-2 trained ID pharmacists in the state.


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Our whole staff is versed in ID, so we conduct daily stewardship activities in a decentralized manner in conjunction with our ID docs.

This is one of the big reasons we hire almost exclusively out of a PGY-1 pool (and not new grads), every shift is a clinical shift, every shift is a staffing shift. It's all the same and makes scheduling much more flexible.


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Our whole staff is versed in ID, so we conduct daily stewardship activities in a decentralized manner in conjunction with our ID docs.

This is one of the big reasons we hire almost exclusively out of a PGY-1 pool (and not new grads), every shift is a clinical shift, every shift is a staffing shift. It's all the same and makes scheduling much more flexible.


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Well that's great and all, but I don't expect other places are doing what you guys are doing. I think most new PY1/PY2 residents often seek jobs in retail because there are no clinical jobs readily available.

How many candidates did you have to reject just to hire one staff?
 
Well that's great and all, but I don't expect other places are doing what you guys are doing. I think most new PY1/PY2 residents often seek jobs in retail because there are no clinical jobs readily available.

How many candidates did you have to reject just to hire one staff?

My n isn't that big, but I don't know a single person who did a residency (certainly not a pgy2) who has gone on to get a full time retail job.

But we've been interviewing 12-15 candidates per spot we hire the last couple times.


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Well that's great and all, but I don't expect other places are doing what you guys are doing. I think most new PY1/PY2 residents often seek jobs in retail because there are no clinical jobs readily available.

How many candidates did you have to reject just to hire one staff?
The hospital that hired me fresh from pharmacy school follows the same model and prefers residency training, but are willing to hire new grads that have technician or intern experience. We usually start the new people on shifts more focused on staffing (central pharmacy with big batches vs. ICU satellite), but everyone is responsible for AMS, kinetics, and any other consult in their respective units.

This has resulting in some people being upset that they have to "staff" after doing a residency, but they can cry me a river. This is currently the most efficient way to run an inpatient pharmacy while still making relevant clinical interventions.
 
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Well that's great and all, but I don't expect other places are doing what you guys are doing. I think most new PY1/PY2 residents often seek jobs in retail because there are no clinical jobs readily available.

How many candidates did you have to reject just to hire one staff?

Most hospitals in my area utilize this model. We usually get a deluge of garbage applications per position (lots of retail washouts), we'll interview 8-10 good candidates (by reference/screened).
 
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The hospital that hired me fresh from pharmacy school follows the same model and prefers residency training, but are willing to hire new grads that have technician or intern experience. We usually start the new people on shifts more focused on staffing (central pharmacy with big batches vs. ICU satellite), but everyone is responsible for AMS, kinetics, and any other consult in their respective units.

This has resulting in some people being upset that they have to "staff" after doing a residency, but they can cry me a river. This is currently the most efficient way to run an inpatient pharmacy while still making relevant clinical interventions.

I love this model, and I love staffing. Those crying bitches can keep crying.

But yes some shifts are naturally more "staffing" heavy and some more "clinical" heavy, ebbs/flows.

I love being able to switch with ANYONE in the department, I don't have to think about their qualifications if I need to take a day off or move my schedule around. This goes for our FT staff and per-diems. New grads, old timers, etc.... we're all pretty equal.
 
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My n isn't that big, but I don't know a single person who did a residency (certainly not a pgy2) who has gone on to get a full time retail job.

In my experience (2 companies), retail hiring managers will not even interview anyone with inpatient PGY1 as they are not that desperate. It's an obvious mismatch in career intent. Roll the dice on new grads or hire people with at least 2-3 years of retail experience.

PGY1s thinking retail can be a backup plan are almost as delusional as retail pharmacists thinking they can successfully apply to staffing positions in saturated areas.
 
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This has resulting in some people being upset that they have to "staff" after doing a residency, but they can cry me a river. This is currently the most efficient way to run an inpatient pharmacy while still making relevant clinical interventions.

Despite my PGY-2 training I like that I have 1-2 staffing shifts per month.

The rapport that it helps me build with the techs and other pharmacists (as well as the fact that I know where everything is) puts me at a huge advantage when the **** hits the fan and I need something 10 minutes ago.


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Geez that's a huge pay cut for retail to hospital ~20%, you can't buy health/happiness, but that about comes close.

This piggy backs onto the argument that a residency may not reap direct financial benefits, but if the job market dictates residency as a preferred job qualification for an inpatient position, PGY1 is the ticket to better working conditions & lifestyle (if 5-7 weeks of vacation a year is your thing).


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IT wasn't even a tough decision at the time, I worked in the ghetto and the store was constantly being cased. I get tons of vacation, and my raises at the hospital have been probably 1% point higher than my counterparts in retail, which has made up a decent chunk of the different. I know make more than what a new hire retail will make. But the fact I have a healthy lifestyle, and so much less stress. It is well worth it
 
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I love this model, and I love staffing. Those crying bitches can keep crying.

But yes some shifts are naturally more "staffing" heavy and some more "clinical" heavy, ebbs/flows.

I love being able to switch with ANYONE in the department, I don't have to think about their qualifications if I need to take a day off or move my schedule around. This goes for our FT staff and per-diems. New grads, old timers, etc.... we're all pretty equal.
agree 100% - maybe this model is more common than I thought - because every other hospital in my area has a clear delineation between "upstairs" and "downstairs" except for us, and the smaller rural hospitals. it makes vacation requests so much easier if everyone can cover most areas -
 
agree 100% - maybe this model is more common than I thought - because every other hospital in my area has a clear delineation between "upstairs" and "downstairs" except for us, and the smaller rural hospitals. it makes vacation requests so much easier if everyone can cover most areas -

I think there is still a healthy mix of staffing models out there. Between my full-time and PRN jobs I've had as a pharmacist I have been at 4 different hospitals and it is split right down the middle. My current PRN is a small community hospital that gives their pharmacists a lot of clinical duties, but I think that is out of necessity due to the small size of the department. When you only have one pharmacist on duty for the majority of the day they need to be able to handle quite a bit. Having solid CPOE really helps here, since it frees up the pharmacist for other duties.

I'm actually very curious to see how things go with my institution. We are switching from Meditech to Epic next year, and I really think it's going to bring a lot of changes. We are almost entirely CPOE at the moment, but there are so many little caveats and quirks with our current build that pharmacists still spend a lot of their time correcting things and doing order entry. As such, we have a pretty robust group of clinical coordinators to manage every little area of the hospital. We are also a teaching hospital affiliated with a pharmacy school, so we probably have more of these people than an average hospital would. I'm really thinking that Epic will create an environment where the average pharmacist will have the time and resources to adopt more clinical practices, but I am afraid that some of our staff will have trouble adapting. We have a lot of lifers who have always practiced pharmacy the way that was dictated by our less than optimal setup, and sometimes I worry about them. However, I think it's important to keep moving forward and to keep progressing. We want everyone to practice at the top of their license, not at the bottom.

edit: started rambling, but you make a good point dred. Strong cross coverage means everyone benefits when it comes time to request vacation or when there is maternity leave or whatever. Not to mention the fact that newly minted pharmacists absolutely love it when they get strong clinical training and the chance to make clinical interventions. Then they get a little older, little more jaded, and wish they could just check pyxis carts.
 
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I think there is still a healthy mix of staffing models out there. Between my full-time and PRN jobs I've had as a pharmacist I have been at 4 different hospitals and it is split right down the middle. My current PRN is a small community hospital that gives their pharmacists a lot of clinical duties, but I think that is out of necessity due to the small size of the department. When you only have one pharmacist on duty for the majority of the day they need to be able to handle quite a bit. Having solid CPOE really helps here, since it frees up the pharmacist for other duties.

I'm actually very curious to see how things go with my institution. We are switching from Meditech to Epic next year, and I really think it's going to bring a lot of changes. We are almost entirely CPOE at the moment, but there are so many little caveats and quirks with our current build that pharmacists still spend a lot of their time correcting things and doing order entry. As such, we have a pretty robust group of clinical coordinators to manage every little area of the hospital. We are also a teaching hospital affiliated with a pharmacy school, so we probably have more of these people than an average hospital would. I'm really thinking that Epic will create an environment where the average pharmacist will have the time and resources to adopt more clinical practices, but I am afraid that some of our staff will have trouble adapting. We have a lot of lifers who have always practiced pharmacy the way that was dictated by our less than optimal setup, and sometimes I worry about them. However, I think it's important to keep moving forward and to keep progressing. We want everyone to practice at the top of their license, not at the bottom.

edit: started rambling, but you make a good point dred. Strong cross coverage means everyone benefits when it comes time to request vacation or when there is maternity leave or whatever. Not to mention the fact that newly minted pharmacists absolutely love it when they get strong clinical training and the chance to make clinical interventions. Then they get a little older, little more jaded, and wish they could just check pyxis carts.
EPIC - I love it, I hate it. When things are built correctly - and MD's are educated correctly - things go smoothly. When there is a problem, it take an arm and a leg to fix it. You cannot fake your way through epic like you can some of the other systems.
 
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Since its July and and most residents finished their residencies a couple weeks ago I figured I would post a fun little poll to see what people thought about their residencies. Did it help you land the job you want? Are you on the same path that you envisioned yourself when you started? Different path (for better or worse)? Or did you think it wasn't worth it and rather enter the job field after graduating?

Heck yeah. Wouldn't have had the chance to go into management without it. Residency is not just teaching clinical skills, but also trains you to manage fatigue and maintain focus during a 16 hours workday, chronic stress, time management, project priorities, research and financial data, diplomacy...ect.

I was a top student from a top school who became the top resident. The training and results gave me supreme confidence in my capabilities vs most others. These paved way to a great opportunity in a clinical/management position where I excelled and moved up.

Residency is like school, a training tool, it can only help you become what you can AND want to be. Just like boot camp might make a coward into a soldier that can shoot straight, but it can't make him/her into a hero because that trait isn't there and can't be trained. So know thyself.
 
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Geez that's a huge pay cut for retail to hospital ~20%, you can't buy health/happiness, but that about comes close.

This piggy backs onto the argument that a residency may not reap direct financial benefits, but if the job market dictates residency as a preferred job qualification for an inpatient position, PGY1 is the ticket to better working conditions & lifestyle (if 5-7 weeks of vacation a year is your thing).


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Pay cut is worth it.

I just got offered a $61/hr hospital job in Northern NJ but it's not staffing related at all. It is Epic work. Turning it down, as $48/hr and staffing at a hospital and doing jack shi* is the best quality of life sometimes.
 
Curious about the fringe benefits though, how much better (or worse) are the hospital positions? Even if you had parity, that's a straight pay cut on inflation alone.

What were hospital rates 10 years ago?

Sorry, 20 questions, was just curious.


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10 years ago (2004):
Opened my dusty desk drawer (still have my Walgreens Gold RxM ID pin!)
CA (LA) - The offers that I got were $36-$38 for inpatient and $43-47 for chain. Federal was $29 as I made more than that as a grad intern in AZ. I remember North of the Bay (Yreka, Redding, those areas) pay was at parity for both. The weird one was if you took the UCSF clinic job in Colma or Daly, they paid chain rates as they could never get anyone to staff those areas. Hospital was routinely getting paid less but was getting closer to parity. A decade before that, the difference between retail and chain was $8-12 depending on the zone.

AZ - Retail - $39. Hospital - $31 as the scale rate for Samaritan and Catholic Healthcare West (there was a labor agreement in place). No differential for residency, no requirement for residency to enter a clinical position. Only the majors (Good Samaritan, Flagstaff, Yuma, UMC, Scottsdale, Maricopa, and that awful county one in Tucson had a 1st year and only UMC had a second year).

Lowest bonus offer:
Catholic Healthcare West - $5000

Highest bonus offer:
Eckerd's which CVS matched - $25,000, $35,000, $40,000 over three years = $100,000

18 job offers for 20 interviews. I didn't get the Walmart one because I intentionally screwed it up to mess with their supervisor who was a complete jerk to us when we were interns. The other one was an independent that the person I 'lost' to was easily the better hire (and she still works for him faithfully).
 
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