the residency decision - questions/advice please?

[killerpenguin21]

let me first apologize for this post being long and all over the place. i just need some outside advice/encouragement/whatever at this point.

i am a P4 currently, and for various reasons made the decision that i am much more interested in clinical/hospital pharmacy than retail, so of course residencies came into the picture. this morning i woke up with that pit in my stomach that midyear is a month away and i am in no way ready...

id say im the average student (B average GPA), i dont have a standout CV, just the plain old stuff, and i am so undecided as to doing a residency, i keep putting off all of the preparations, which might wind up screwing me.

as of now, i am looking at programs in pediatric hospitals, since i would like to focus in that area without doing a second year specialization. this leaves me a list of 50+ programs. first question is, how did everyone narrow down there list of who to visit at midyear?

ive made it harder on myself because i am basically open to going anywhere for a year, i have no ties to anywhere really. so without visiting the facility i have nothing to go by. any tips?

second question - unfortunately i attended a not so well done presentation on residencies, and wound up more confused then informed. after the match, if you are matched with a program you don't want to do, you can in fact decline, it just means you cant do a residency basically due to the binding nature of the offer, correct? are you still eligible for the scramble?

i am registered for PPS also, to just try a few job interviews while in vegas. i have not been able to find any one good snippit of info pushing me towards a residency, and i keep seeing grads from my school getting clinical/hospital jobs i would like without one. does anyone have any words of advice to convince me haha?


overall, im just one confused kid at this point, so anything anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated, and im sure i will think of more questions as i read the forum more and get closer to midyear.

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[MustLoveDrugs]

Schedule PPS interviews with PGY-1 pediatrics-focused residencies. They will be there and, contrary to popular belief, PPS is a great chance to meet PGY-1 program directors. I just did a quick search, and a wide variety of children's hospitals as well as some non-children's hospitals with a pediatrics focus (ex: Huntsville Hospital) popped up on careerpharm.com. Those 30-minute interviews mixed in with your job interviews should help steer you in the right direction. You'll get a better feel for what both options (residencies vs. jobs) have to offer, and you can decide from there.

 

[killerpenguin21]

im still in the process of re working a cv to post on career pharm so i havent been looking too much. although i was under the impression not too many pgy-1's were involved in PPS, ill have to look.

i just wish i could get that one little piece of info to tip the scales towards residency or real world job at this point...its killing me.

 

[MustLoveDrugs]

I've got friends who took jobs at pediatric hospitals straight out of pharmacy school, and they love it. The positions I'm aware of are decentralized or 50/50. I also have friends who did 2 years of residency training, and have full-time clinical positions. They also love what they do.

One problem I see with taking the job route (vs. the residency 1st route) is that people who work in disease- or age-specific settings (oncology clinics, pediatric hospitals, etc.) aren't always considered specialists by their fellow pharmacists who have done residency training. I have actually been told by pediatric pharmacists that they don't consider their peers to be truly specialized unless they are residency-trained. Now, not everyone has the same attitude (thank goodness), but you have to consider perception and also marketability. If one year will make you more qualified and competitive to move around within your field, why not do a residency?

While you're looking for jobs and residencies in the PPS database, look at the pediatrics positions available across the country... and see how many are willing to hire a pediatric clinical pharmacist (if that's what you want to be) without residency training. You may just get lucky and time it right Also, set up as many interviews as you can before Midyear since there won't be on-site mailboxes this year.

 

[killerpenguin21]

While you're looking for jobs and residencies in the PPS database, look at the pediatrics positions available across the country... and see how many are willing to hire a pediatric clinical pharmacist (if that's what you want to be) without residency training. You may just get lucky and time it right Also, set up as many interviews as you can before Midyear since there won't be on-site mailboxes this year.

im not necessarily looking to be a specialist per say, just gain some more experience in general and along the way target a population since i was under the impression that you couldnt be a specialist at this point without two years.

i will have to force myself to sit down and surf pps etc one of these days between all the other crap i have going on.

and do you mean no mailboxes for PPS? that means more misinformation from the damn presentation i went to, geez.

 

[MustLoveDrugs]

I think if you do a PGY-1 in a children's hospital, it'd be similar to doing a PGY-2 in pediatrics. At least that's how I feel about geriatrics... That specialty training is what makes you a specialist. There are plenty of clinical specialists out there without residency training, but the days of creating a niche and self-studying your way to the top are limited.

Don't feel like you've been duped by the residency presentation you went to. I literally JUST found out that the mailboxes were cut from the program this year. Making contacts and scheduling interviews will be done on-site via computers supplied by ASHP and at the programs' booths themselves.

 

[gsinccom]

I think if you do a PGY-1 in a children's hospital, it'd be similar to doing a PGY-2 in pediatrics. At least that's how I feel about geriatrics... That specialty training is what makes you a specialist. There are plenty of clinical specialists out there without residency training, but the days of creating a niche and self-studying your way to the top are limited.

I guess the same could be said about Am Care?

 

[killerpenguin21]

ive just become completely ambivalent towards the situation at this point. been getting really stressed about all my friends getting job offers, and me getting none etc.

along with feeling like i know nothing on rotation lately, but thats not a first.

 

[bacillus1]

I guess the same could be said about Am Care?

I'm wondering the same. Becoming increasingly inclined in doing an am care focused residency. The question for that, however, is whether there are ample am care jobs for people with just a PGY1 focused in that area.