A weekly resident conference
is about diverse topics of
pharmacy practice and healthcare.

Fairview Health Services Pharmacy Residency Program

March 20, 2007
by Akane Naka, Project Manager


About the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview and the Pharmacy Practice Residency Program

The University of Minnesota Medical Center is a partnership of the University of Minnesota and Fairview Health Services. University of Minnesota Medical Center is the premier academic tertiary care center in Minnesota with 884 staffed beds. Within the University of Minnesota Medical Center, the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital is the largest children's hospital in Minnesota. The hospital has approximately 38,000 admissions per year, with an average daily census of 600 patients. Outpatient encounters in our ambulatory clinics number 350,000 per year.

University of Minnesota Medical Center is a division of the Fairview Health System, a network of seven hospitals and 22 clinics serving the people of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota Medical Center serves as the primary teaching site for the University of Minnesota Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Nursing. The Department of Pharmaceutical Services is the College of Pharmacy's primary teaching site. The hospital and clinics see a wide variety of patients, and have well recognized programs in bone marrow transplantation, solid organ transplantation, cardiology, behavioral, oncology and pediatrics.

The Pharmacy Department provides comprehensive pharmaceutical care to hospital and ambulatory patients. Two central pharmacies provide 24-hour inpatient services with highly automated unit dose and IV admixture systems. Clinical pharmacists on each patient care unit interact with multi-disciplinary teams to further provide pharmaceutical care.

University of Minnesota Medical Center has eight pharmacy residency positions each year. The program consists of direct patient care experiences in medicine, surgery, critical care, pediatrics, ambulatory care, and various specialty areas. Each resident's experience is tailored to individual interests and clinical skill development needs. Elective rotations allow the resident to obtain a broad clinical experience or develop a specialty interest.

In addition to patient care rotations, residents attend departmental meetings and seminars. A weekly resident conference is held to discuss diverse topics of pharmacy practice and healthcare. Throughout the year, residents are encouraged to visit hospital departments within Fairview and pharmacy departments at other hospitals. Residents serve as teaching assistants at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and have opportunities for precepting pharmacy students and other healthcare providers. Residents are responsible for developing and completing a project of original research, which is to be presented at the Midwest Residency Conference in the spring. Residents attend the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and University HealthSystem Consortium meeting in December. Residents prepare poster presentations for the University HealthSystem Consortium meeting.

Pharmacy Residency Program Outline

Clinical Rotations
The residency year is divided into 12 one-month rotation experiences. The first month is a training month in drug distribution services. Residents provide drug distribution services "on-line" for six shifts per six-week period, four of which are weekend shifts.

Required rotations include the following:

* Two 2-month "core" rotations
* One pediatric rotation
* Two management rotations (clinical and operations management)

More details

Psychiatry Pharmacy Program Outline

The General Practice Residency focusing in Psychiatry (PGY1) will consist of core rotations in psychiatric pharmacy, as well as elective options tailored to the resident's interests. A publishable residency research project will be designed and completed by the resident. Additional opportunities to participate in research and/or clinical writing are available.

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Pharmacy Practice Management Residency Program Outline

The residency is a 2-year residency program that fulfills the requirements of a PGY-1 residency and a PGY-2 residency. The successful resident is awarded a certificate for PGY-1, for PGY-2, and a Master's Degree in Social and Administrative Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.

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This article is reposted with thanks to The University of Minnesota Medical Center and Fairview Health Services.