What is a pharmacy residency?
According to the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), a residency is: "A pharmacy residency is an organized, directed, postgraduate training program in a defined area of pharmacy practice."
There are currently two broad types of pharmacy residencies, general practice and specialty, with both intending to produce pharmacists capable of practicing in a specific field of pharmacy.
What is a PGY-1 residency?
A PGY-1 residency, also known as a first-year or general practice residency, is typically the first year of residency completed by pharmacists and provides the resident with a broad overview of pharmacy practice in multiple specialty areas. Most PGY-1 residencies are currently institutionally (i.e., hospital) based, although PGY-1 residencies focused on outpatient or managed care practice are available.
What is a PGY-2 residency?
A PGY-2 residency, also known as a specialty residency, is a continuation of the training obtained during a PGY-1 residency and allows the resident to focus in a specialty field of interest. There are numerous types of specialty residencies, including cardiology, infectious diseases, critical care, transplantation, pediatrics, oncology, psychiatry, internal medicine and numerous others.
Why should I complete a residency?
Completing a residency is a very personal decision for each individual and depends upon their ultimate career goals. Many candidates will complete a post-graduate residency in order to advance their knowledge and ability to practice pharmacy, or to gain additional practice skills in a specialty field. Certain career paths, such as academic practice or clinical pharmacy, strongly favor applicants who have completed one or more years of post-graduate residency.
How does one get a residency position?
The only fixed requirement to obtain a residency position is the completion of a degree in pharmacy. That being said, there are many other things that a residency program looks for in a candidate. While their is no exact "formula", programs will often look at a candidate's GPA, work experience, research, leadership, community service and other aspects of a students overall portfolio.
How does one apply for a residency?
In order to apply for a residency position, most programs require that the candidate submit a Curriculum Vitae (CV) detailing the attributes mentioned above, letters of recommendation in support of the applicant and a transcript from the candidate's college of pharmacy. These materials are sent to the programs in the early winter of the year before the residency begins, and the programs will typically offer interviews to candidates between February and March of that year. Following the interview seasons, resident candidates and programs participate in the ASHP Match, a system that determines where each candidate will complete their residency.
Resources for preparing for the search for a residency can be found
here.
What is the Match?
The ASHP Match is a national ranking system of candidates and residency programs, designed to allocate residents to programs in a fair and unbiased manner. Simplistically, it takes the preferences of the individual resident candidates and those of the residency programs to determine the "best" placement for each candidate. The formal definition can be found
here.
Where can I find information about specific residency programs?
The American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists (ASHP) maintains an electronic database of all accredited PGY-1 and PGY-2 residency programs, available at this
link. Additionally, the
ACCP and Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (
AMCP) maintain directories of residency programs that may be of specific interest to their members.
