Frequently asked questions.

Yes. We build preceptorship opportunities into our program's schedule. We also offer opportunities for our residents to pursue a teaching certificate. If you would like to precept at the start of the year or rotation, let your preceptors/RPD know. 

There are typically four learning experiences before the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting. Our residency schedules are tailored to provide experiences of interest before Midyear, whether through a required learning experience or an elective. 

Essentially, the core ID rotation focuses directly on day-to-day patient care experiences, while the advanced ID rotation focuses on leveraging our Antimicrobial Stewardship Program to implement tools and strategies that will ultimately be used by frontline clinicians for patient care. The core ID rotation develops your foundation and understanding of infectious disease management through responsibilities like a prospective audit with feedback to providers (3-day antibiotic timeout) as well as penicillin allergy skin-testing consultations. The advanced ID rotation focuses on advanced interventions for antimicrobial stewardship – which may include formulary management strategies, cost savings or quality improvement program development, and interdisciplinary work with various committees. 

Our residents have the opportunity to work alongside our Clinical Staff Pharmacists during their required longitudinal shifts throughout the residency year. Combined with the weekend staffing responsibility, this ensures the that the resident will be with a Clinical Staff Pharmacist at least once every three weeks. 

We offer opportunities for personal and professional development throughout the year as our residents evaluate personal strengths and areas of improvement. Formal self-reflection is encouraged. It's easy to be in the here-and-now, but we urge our residents to take the time and space necessary to reevaluate a key decision – like a Code Blue response – and ask themselves what could have gone better to promote a growth mindset and improvements in the future.

From a professional development perspective, our residents complete a yearlong experience in administration and pharmacoeconomics, which may involve ownership of cost-savings initiatives. This project management experience holds a unique appeal for hiring managers when our residents seek career options. 

During the PGY1 program, residents take on a leadership chair position for six months to support co-residents and the residency program. Opportunities include serving as the Recruitment Chair, Social and Resident Wellness Chair, or Travel Chair. Certain resident projects may also create leadership opportunities. Past residents have created interdisciplinary committees with charters, such as the Hypoglycemia Quality Improvement Team, consisting of nurse managers and registered dietitians, the Medical Alert Stewardship Committee, including physician leadership, and the Order Set Review Subcommittee, involving nurse educators and informatics. If you are interested, please let your preceptors/RPD know.

We encourage residents to become involved in responsibilities outside of their learning experiences. Residents are involved in several committees, including Clinical Pharmacy Council, Antimicrobial Stewardship, and Pharmacy and Therapeutics. Residents routinely present new ideas, projects, or initiatives at these meetings, develop agendas and agenda items, and help facilitate the meetings and take meeting minutes.

These expanded interests are important to enjoying a well-rounded residency. Residents' dedicated time and innovation is what helps make an impact on improving patient care and expanding pharmacy services. If a resident is interested in learning more about a particular area or shadowing, they should let their preceptor/RPD know so they can help facilitate these learning experiences. 

Since 2011, more than half of our graduated residents have chosen to stay at Health First. Many residents go on to do PGY2 programs or fellowships.

Our Pharmacy Residency programs have consistently grown since their inception in 2011, and the department will continue to expand and evolve. The demand for pharmacy presence in the ambulatory care setting is at an all-time high. This is a prominent area of growth for Health First and will remain a priority along with the expansion of our PGY2 programs and specialties. 

Resident and preceptor feedback, along with ASHP standards, are the most important factors in improving our program. We undertake a detailed feedback process every year, vetted through the Pharmacy team, and we incorporate suggestions into our future plans when appropriate and feasible. This has affected areas like scheduling, resident experiences, and the feedback process itself. 

One example of a major change that was incorporated based on resident feedback was revamping our weekend responsibilities. Our program extended the frequency to every third weekend decided to alternate between weekends of owning pharmacy consult services for the hospital and teaming with Clinical Staff Pharmacists.

Another notable change was made in our research process. Developing a well-structured research calendar and Research Residency Advisory Committee has helped increase the number of manuscripts submitted to journals to 100% of our residents. 

Pharmacists at Health First can work across every area of an Integrated Delivery Network (IDN). This offers experience in all aspects of pharmacy, including inpatient, outpatient/ambulatory care, retail, specialty, and health plans. Our pharmacists have a large variety of pharmacy-driven initiatives that allow them to independently order and discontinue medication management in ways that are unique to Health First. This strengthens our specialization training and expands the opportunities for our pharmacists to practice at the top of their license. 

View projects and initiatives from past residents 

Health First pharmacists are viewed as an important part of our interdisciplinary teams throughout the Integrated Delivery Network (IDN) and are well-respected by physicians and other clinicians. 

The scope of practice for our pharmacists is elevated due to the innovative style of our residency team, including conducting telehealth visits with eligible patients, presenting the results of their research, and receiving support and feedback from physicians. Our pharmacy team is a crucial component of the multidisciplinary patient care rounds in numerous clinical areas, and we have developed countless protocols to ensure that pharmacists remain active members. 

We have a 22-bed medical ICU, a 22-bed surgical ICU, a 14-bed Cardiovascular ICU, and four trauma bays inside the 60-bed Emergency Department. There are electives within each of these units. 

The VitalWatch® eICU offers a novel learning experience, including teaming with a pharmacy specialist, ICU nurses and a critical care physician to monitor all Health First ICUs remotely during evenings.