Community Pharmacy Residency vs Traditional Pharmacy Residency

[superpharmD11]

Hello,
I'm going to my P4 year and have been interested in applying for residency. I enjoy working in both community pharmacy and hospital. Originally, I had no worries about where I would end up doing my residency, whether community or hospital. But since the job market has not been so great, I'd like know between the two types of residency, which area will have more job offers or opening positions after I'm done with residency.

Thanks,

🙂

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[mustang sally]

I don't really know which one would have more job openings (though I would still guess community pharmacy has more than hospital), but most pharmacists I work with question the value of doing a community pharmacy residency when you could just get a job right out of school. Maybe it is a good way to break into a certain company or something if you don't have experience with that company?? Not really sure.

I did meet one woman who had done a community residency. She worked at a small independent and handled more of their "clinical" stuff. I would say it probably depends on what your personal career goals are.

 

[njac]

I have friends doing some community programs - I will try to steer them this way.

 

[p-rog]

I have friends doing some community programs - I will try to steer them this way.

My school has community residencies through Kroger. It seems ******ed to me. I mean, it would be one thing if you were doing it at some ideal idependent retail pharmacy where you were doing MTM and other clinical stuff. But come on, doing a residency through kroger or WAGS or CVS is just plian ******ed. You will not be learning anything that you couldn't have learned from just working in retail straight out of pharmacy school and your job opportunities can't be THAT much better. In fact, the retail pharmacies I've worked at would probably feel bad about hiring you do what they do after you wasted the time, money, and effort of doing a residency.

 

[superpharmD11]

Thank you for the responses everyone! I guess I should do further researching before deciding which residency I want to apply to.

 

[aboveliquidice]

Thank you for the responses everyone! I guess I should do further researching before deciding which residency I want to apply to.

Fred Meyers offers a pgy1 in the pacific northwest ( Oregon) that looks pretty good. You have MTM clinics on various days of the week (at different stores), bone density screening, cholesterol and diabetes clinics, you lecture at both Oregonian Pharm schools, etc.

Not sure if this exists elsewhere, but it is definitely cutting edge community pharmacy. It works almost as a think tank, as you are allowed to add clinic time or projects you are interested in.

Not my cup of tea, but it may be worth looking into. Send me a PM, and I'll give you the preceptor's contact info. Fair warning, she is high speed, low drag.

 

[bacillus1]

I had given a little thought to community residencies (or more so pharmacy practice residencies in ambulatory care settings such as clinics). I would really like to hear from someone that completed one of these. There must be someone on the forum that did. What were your job prospects afterwards, and how successful were you obtaining a clinical position (in this setting, clinical means ambulatory care-like).

I did meet a professor at Rutgers who did one, and one of our professors did one, and they are working on implementing MTM and collaborative practice agreements and whatnot into community pharmacies, but I'm just wondering if these were the few that could actually do this, and the majority did something different and not as exciting.

 

[Farmercyst]

I had given a little thought to community residencies (or more so pharmacy practice residencies in ambulatory care settings such as clinics). I would really like to hear from someone that completed one of these. There must be someone on the forum that did. What were your job prospects afterwards, and how successful were you obtaining a clinical position (in this setting, clinical means ambulatory care-like).

I did meet a professor at Rutgers who did one, and one of our professors did one, and they are working on implementing MTM and collaborative practice agreements and whatnot into community pharmacies, but I'm just wondering if these were the few that could actually do this, and the majority did something different and not as exciting.

I haven't completed one, but I work at the campus pharmacy where they community residents rotate through. We currently have 3 at USC. 1 associated with Ralph's, one that is strictly USC, and the other is associated with CareMore Medical (Managed Care). The USC one they rotate between the Med Campus pharmacy and the Undergrad pharmacy doing bone density screenings, BP, Glucose, choleterol, etc. They also rotate through the travel clinic (Travel consults, write rx's for antimalarials, abx for traveler's diarrhea, give travel related vaccines, etc), I believe they also rotate through the pain managment clinic. Of the two I know that have completed the residency, one took a faculty position where she teaches the pharmacy students the OTC class, teaches the PA students their pharmacology, and runs the Pain clinic 1 day a week. The other did a PGY2 and pretty much ran the travel clinic on her own as a PGY-2. I don't remember what she's doing this year, but I know it's a full time position somewhere. I'll have to ask her next time I see her.

 

[MLR2011]

I'm in the same position, I am graduating in May 2011 and have been debating between doing a community vs. inpatient residency. I'm leaning more towards a community residency because my interests are travel medicine, helping patients with chronic disease states, and above all interacting directly with patients. I'm also interested in doing some international volunteer work as a pharmacist and I think a community pharmacy would best prepare me.

Unfortuntely there are not as many programs to choose from in comparison to inpatient pharmacy residencies. Most are either chain drug stores or universities. Does anyone else know people who have done this sort of residency? What are they doing now?

 

[bacillus1]

How about a residency that's almost purely am care? A couple places have these. I can think of programs at Campbell and Shenandoah. They're sorta like community, but they're not in retail pharmacies but rather at health centers where you're doing outpatient work. I think this type of setup might prepare you better for an ambulatory care or pharmacotherapy PGY2 if you choose to have one of those, or widen your job prospects more than a regular community residency. What does everyone else think?

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

How about a residency that's almost purely am care? A couple places have these. I can think of programs at Campbell and Shenandoah. They're sorta like community, but they're not in retail pharmacies but rather at health centers where you're doing outpatient work. I think this type of setup might prepare you better for an ambulatory care or pharmacotherapy PGY2 if you choose to have one of those, or widen your job prospects more than a regular community residency. What does everyone else think?

I agree, the VA has a few residencies where you mainly operate out of an outpatient clinic performing Amb care duties. IMO it would have offer you more opportunities. You could go on to a PGY2 Amb Care residency as well. You can always apply to both and see how the application and interview process goes.

 

[spacecowgirl]

Amb care would be a better choice for you than community, I think.
You get a lot of disease state management ed that can be used in and outpt.

 

[MLR2011]

^thanks for the suggestions, I will definitely be considering any pgy1 that is almost entirely ambulatory care. Some of the community residencies are similiar, for example at Froedert Hospital or Aurora Healthcare, in which you are mostly working at primary care clinics but also get some experience in community pharmacy. I'm definitely avoiding any kind of community residency that is purely chain-based.... corporate policy is probably very stifiling in your scope of practice.

 

[rxforlife2004]

Why would you even want to bother seeking a residency in community? What are you gonna get out of that? Insurance billing, rejection? CUstomer service skills? Lol... . You'll be basically be working with 1/3 of what you are worth of...

Just don't do it. THis is one of the biggest scam on earth. I'm telling you...
Doing residency in the hospital makes a bit more sense in this way: you're just fresh out of pharm school, not much clinical experiences...so you wanna hang on another year to learn the experiences in the hospital...True that because it's quite complex with stuff in the hospital. But community residency?

 

[MLR2011]

^ it doesn't seem like you know very much about community pharmacy residency programs... take a look at this one for instance:
http://www.aurorahealthcare.org/aboutus/meded/programs/pharmacy/specialty.asp


i kind of doubt it would be like working at Walgreens as a pharmacist.

 

[rxforlife2004]

Wait until you're in that community residency program and you tell me whatever objectives you have in mind actually reflect with reality.

Also, imagine you get out of that residency...what does it help you with your resume?

 

[bacillus1]

^ it doesn't seem like you know very much about community pharmacy residency programs... take a look at this one for instance:
http://www.aurorahealthcare.org/aboutus/meded/programs/pharmacy/specialty.asp


i kind of doubt it would be like working at Walgreens as a pharmacist.

That actually doesn't look bad, and the pay is really good for a residency (especially a community one, where salaries actually seem a little lower than traditional hospital residencies).

 

[p-rog]

Also, imagine you get out of that residency...what does it help you with your resume?

rxforlife is an a-hole but he does have a point here... Are there really job opportunities where you can use your training?