Pharmacy residency

[cherryblossom222]

Hello,

I'm wondering how doing residency after getting Pharm.D. differs from getting a job right away.
If you do residency, what field do you go into after that?
What does clinical pharmacist do in detail? Is clinical pharmacist different from hospital pharmacist?

I want some detailed differences between those.

Thank you so much.

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[PharmRX0308]

There are lots of different ways to answer your question, depending on how you approach the field, but this is just my two cents. The majority of students who work immediately after earning a Pharm.D. will either work for retail pharmacy (CVS, Walgreen, Walmart, independent...) OR work at a rural hospital OR pursue a non-regular path (medical writer, DI, industry, military...). If you want to pursue a career in academia OR to work as a clinical pharmacist in an urban/suburban hospital OR to specialize (Psychiatry, cardiology, critical care, ID....), pharmacy residency may be a better choice because almost all these positions require residency. Without residency, you can still get to these position by working in a rural hospital for several years, but several years in the middle of nowhere may not be that easy for some people.

To answer the second part of your question, "hospital pharmacist" is a pretty broad term. It can mean that you are a staff pharmacist ( have very minimal to no clinical role) or a prn/float pharmacist or even a clinical pharmacist. Clinical pharmacist in specific usually mean you will have more clinical roles (Making clinical judgements, recommendations, med rec, or therapeutic lab order). From what I was told from multiple clinical pharmacists, these two terms can sometime be used interchangeably. The difference between the two also depend on specific institutions.

Hope I somewhat answered your question. I am still a pharmacy student, so hopefully someone else on here can expand on this topic for you.

 

[headortail]

Hello,

I'm wondering how doing residency after getting Pharm.D. differs from getting a job right away.
If you do residency, what field do you go into after that?
What does clinical pharmacist do in detail? Is clinical pharmacist different from hospital pharmacist?

I want some detailed differences between those.

Thank you so much.

This is a great question; nobody tells you these things when you're a student!

What PharmRx0308 says is pretty accurate. In theory, "staff" pharmacist mainly inputs orders & checks IV/cassette fills/operational stuff, whereas "clinical pharmacists" renally (hepatic etc) adjust drugs, dose vanco/aminoglycosides, anticoag, insulin, go on rounds, etc. Some places use a hybrid system where pharmacists verify orders for their designated floors PLUS do the clinical tasks above for their floors - this way you get some "staffing" in too. Some places have strict staffing vs clinical shifts with separated responsibilities, and "clinical pharmacists" do minimal order entry. The problem with this is it's hard for them to keep up with what the pharmacy actually has in stock vs ran out & random operational stuff.

At my residency site, they had strict staffing vs clinical shifts; some pharmacists did both shifts but most stuck to either staffing or clinical. The thing is, certain pharmacists while working the "staffing", adjust drugs on order entry, dose PK, anticoag, and insulin as well when the clinical shifts have left for the day. So even though the title of their shift is "staffing", they really do both. Most of the "staff" pharmacists were residency-trained and clinically minded, but chose the staffing shifts because of shift timing/lifestyles.

I would say that if you're in the hospitals and are a conscientious pharmacist, regardless of what shifts you do (minus the checking cassette shift if there's such a thing at your hospital), you'll have a lot of opportunities to use your clinical knowledge. If you care about stewardship, don't wait for the clinical shifts to intervene, intervene on order entry. Just because someone orders it, doesn't mean the patient needs it.

 

[cherryblossom222]

Thank you for your answer!
So, clinical and staffing pharmacist are sharing the job, basically.
Why would people want to do residency getting lower salary if they can do both..
I'm just so curious about this b/c I never want to go into retail.

 

[cherryblossom222]

Thank you so much )

 

[headortail]

Thank you for your answer!
So, clinical and staffing pharmacist are sharing the job, basically.
Why would people want to do residency getting lower salary if they can do both..
I'm just so curious about this b/c I never want to go into retail.

The answer is simple. Because if you don't do one, you can't get a job in the hospital (forget about "staffing" vs "clinical", any job in the hospital outside rural areas require residencies these days).

If you're a hiring manager, would you rather hire 1) a residency trained pharmacist, who can catch up in 2 weeks of training, or 2) a new grad who need 6 months to catch up? You likely will hire the 1st one.

Residencies are not magical potions that will make you a smarter person than when you started, but they provide a concentrated learning experience (with designated time slots to go over guidelines, plus the guidance of preceptors who know what's really important). The residency is typically 1 year (for general PGY-1), so if you've done it right, you should be relatively ready to start any inpatient job after you're done. If you're a new grad learning on the job, you likely would need at least 6 months to be comfortable. You'll have to do readings on your own time (which usually doesn't happen because come on, how many people are motivated enough to read after a long day at work?), so you'll take longer than that 6 months to be truly well-rounded with clinical knowledge. That's why I think working rural inpatient then getting board certified is perfect - you get the training at a likely smaller hospital, with likely more down time to read materials that people also read during residency, but you get a real pharmacist salary. After ~3 years of inpatient experience, it shouldn't matter if you're residency-trained or not. (Although, some hospitals like to hire residency-trained only, I don't know why it matters, maybe so that they can say all their pharmacists are residency trained).

To sum it up, there's nothing you learn during residency (or very few things) that you can't pick up on the job, but in this market, you won't be able to have that opportunity. With everyone residency-trained and board certified, people likely won't hire you as a new grad who need a lot more time to catch up.

 

[lionheart555]

In the area where I work (corporate managed care), there are certain jobs you cannot get right out of pharmacy school. Doing a managed care residency can make you competitive for some of those positions right away with "3-5 years" of clinical experience. Also, experience in managed care is sometimes helpful if you are interested in working for the pharmaceutical industry.

 

[Pharm1111]

Question: My pharmacy school uses Pharmacademics for P4 rotations. I recently matched and the PGY1 program director noticed that I was already registered for the same program ( Pharmacademics) and instructed me to add the program to my profile when she sends me the link.
I want to know if the my residency director and preceptors assigned to me at the hospital will see my evaluations from P4 yr?

 

[fiorio]

Question: My pharmacy school uses Pharmacademics for P4 rotations. I recently matched and the PGY1 program director noticed that I was already registered for the same program ( Pharmacademics) and instructed me to add the program to my profile when she sends me the link.
I want to know if the my residency director and preceptors assigned to me at the hospital will see my evaluations from P4 yr?

i don't think so...
it's under a different site in pharmacademics.