As midyear is right around the corner, I was wondering, and I'm sure a lot of others are too, what kind of questions did you ask during midyear or what kind of things did you want to know about the prospective residency program? I know there are information on the ashp website and some programs have some information on their own website but there's gotta be other information that you want to know to be able to differentiate between the programs you like and the ones you dont? Thanks
Pharmacy residency programs: how to find the one for you. Teeters Am J Health Syst Pharm.2004; 61: 2254.
Also...
How many residents are there? Are there PGY-2 residencies available at the site? Are off-site rotations offered? What made you choose this program? How do you like the city?
Would you consider it a teaching facility? Are there a lot of other students and residents from other disciplines around? Is there a college of pharmacy nearby? What are your precepting responsibilities? Do you have to lecture? Do you offer a teaching certificate program?
How much time do you spend with your preceptors on a daily/weekly basis? How often do you interact with your program director? If PGY-2 residents exist at a given program, how much interaction is there with the PGY-2 residents?
How is your administrative experience structured? Are projects and meetings spread out over the course of the year, or do you spend one month with the chief of pharmacy? Is drug information a block rotation spent in the drug info center, or do you just answer DIQs as they come throughout the year? Do you ever get pulled from residency responsibilities to cover staff shortages?
How are research projects and MUEs selected? Are there enough mentors to assist each resident with his or her project? Is there someone on staff who can help with statistics? Have PGY-1 residents been published in the past?
Do pharmacists respond to codes? Do you have to get BLS/ACLS certified? If not, does the option to get certified exist? Either way, who pays for this certification?
How have your interactions with other healthcare providers been? Are they used to having pharmacy residents on their services? Is the pharmacy structure and staff supportive of residents? Are many of the preceptors residency-trained? What are the specialty areas that your clinical pharmacists cover? What is the practice model in terms of decentralized pharmacists, CPOE, separation of staff and clinical, etc.?
Do you work weekends? How often? What are the hours? Are you compensated for weekend work with $$$ or paid time off? What happens if you have to switch weekends? Are you covering for a staff pharmacist, or are you considered extra help? What are your responsibilities, i.e. order entry vs. PKIN dosing of ATBs?
What supplies (computers, library/database access, PDAs, pens, etc.) are provided to the residents? Where are resident work stations located in relation to the pharmacy, rotation preceptors and hospital wards?
If you were to go through the process now, would you still choose this residency? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this program? Is there anything you wish you'd known before you started? Do you feel prepared for a PGY-2 residency, a fellowship, a job, whatever else you are interested in...? What do you plan to do next year?
Pick and choose from the above list and others. These are just things I remember asking or being asked... It's not an all-inclusive list, as what's important to you may not be important to the next person. Hope it helps.
