Postgraduate Year One Acute Care Pharmacy Residency

University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics offers an accredited PGY1 Acute Care Pharmacy Residency and was one of the first institutions in the nation accredited for residency training in the 1960s.

This one-year program offers individualized training and exposure to a variety of experiences in a large academic health care system. The program is designed to develop well-rounded practitioners who are competent in solving complex medication-related problems. A total of seven resident position are offered each year. Residents completing the program will be prepared to pursue PGY2 residency training or clinical positions in a variety of settings.

About the Program

The overall purpose of this residency training program is to provide the resident with the knowledge, abilities, experience, attitude, and critical thinking skills to become a competent and confident practitioner. Through rotations in a variety of areas based upon the resident’s individual needs and preferences, the resident will develop practice skills that are necessary to obtain a clinical pharmacist position or postgraduate year two pharmacy residency. At the completion of the PGY1 acute care pharmacy residency, the resident will be able to do the following in addition to achieving the outcomes established by ASHP:

• Establish a collaborative working relationship within a multidisciplinary practice setting
• Provide effective, efficient, and evidence-based patient care
• Use leadership and management skills to modify practice, develop policy, and optimize medication use
• Provide education and teaching to other health care professionals in a practice site or training
• Pursue board certification as a pharmacotherapy specialist

Rotation Experiences

The residency year will be spent in a variety of rotational experiences, both blocked and longitudinal. The residency year begins with orientation and continues with a schedule that is designed based upon the resident’s interests and needs. 

Residents will spend approximately ten weeks at the start of the residency year in orientation. During orientation, the majority of time will be spent learning clinical pharmacist responsibilities and the responsibilities of the staffing component of the residency. Rotations are designed to enhance the expertise of the resident in management of drug therapy for acute and ambulatory patients, drug information services, management of pharmacy services, population based drug therapy, and drug policy. 

During each rotation, the resident participates in all aspects of patient medication use therapy including selection, assessment, monitoring, reconciliation, safety, and adherence. The resident will work as part of the multidisciplinary team, advising physicians, nurses, and patients about appropriate medication use. Residents will also attend rounds and conferences, and provide lectures on drug therapy to medical, pharmacy, and nursing staff. Rotations are typically four weeks in length, but some may be longer. No more than one-third of the year may be in a single area of specialty practice.

Core Experiences

Residents are required to complete core rotations in each of the following inpatient clinical areas: adult medicine, pediatrics, and adult critical care. Additionally, each resident is required to complete a core rotation in management and ambulatory care.  

This core group of rotations is intended to provide a well-rounded learning experience for the resident. The specific patient care services in, either general or specialty areas, will be tailored to each resident’s previous experience, interest, and needs. Residents will have time to complete approximately three to four additional/elective rotations during the course of the year. Residents will have time to complete four additional/elective rotations during the course of the year.

Rotation options:

Adult Medicine

• Bone marrow transplant
• Cardiology–general
• Cardiomyopathy
• Hematology/oncology
• Internal medicine
• Solid organ transplant

Adult Critical Care

• Cardiology intensive care–medical
• Cardiology intensive care–surgical
• Medical intensive care
• Surgical and neurosciences intensive care

Pediatrics

• General pediatrics
• Neonatal intensive care
• Pediatric hematology/oncology
• Pediatric intensive care

Ambulatory Care

• Anticoagulation Case Management Service
• Family medicine/geriatrics
• Pharmacotherapy
• Specialty clinics:
  • Clinical Cancer Center
  • GI/hepatology
  • Heart transplant
  • HIV
  • Neurology
  • Lung transplant

Electives

• Burn/trauma
• Drug information
• Emergency medicine
• General neurology/stroke
• Infectious disease
• Informatics
• Lung transplant
• Medication use evaluation
• Pain management
• Practice management
• Psychiatry
• Others may be available as applicable

Sample resident schedule

Teaching

All residents are appointed to adjunct instructor at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, with access to informational, clinical, professional, and educational resources provided to UI College of Pharmacy preceptors. Throughout the course of the year, residents are provided with multiple opportunities to teach and develop presentation skills. Residents will have the opportunity to participate in the Pharmacy Educator Preparation Program for Residents and Fellows (PEPPR) in conjunction with the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. At the end of the year, residents who satisfy program requirements will receive a certificate of participation and will have a completed teaching portfolio of activities from the year.

Learn more about the Pharmacy Educators Preparation Program for Residents and Fellows (PEPPR).

Research

PGY1 residents are required to complete a yearlong research project, as well as a medication use evaluation. Residents will gain experience conducting research and presenting project findings in poster format. The Residency Research Committee will be available to guide in the process.

Selection of a project is based on the resident’s interests and presentation of project ideas by residency preceptors. Residents will present their research project, or other applicable project, at the Vizient® meeting during the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, the University of Iowa Research week, and as a platform presentation in the spring. Residents may also be expected to present their research at UI Hospitals & Clinics to members of the health care team who are vested in the project findings. The resident will provide a final manuscript write up prior to residency graduation. Publication in the medical literature is strongly encouraged.

Staffing

Residents are required to fulfill the service commitment (staffing) designed to ensure that residents gain experience and can function as competent clinical practitioners.

Residents have the opportunity to staff as decentralized clinical pharmacists for the majority of their service commitment requirement. Residents will also gain operational pharmacy experience by staffing select shifts in the Adult Satellite Pharmacy. This service commitment is crucial to the development of professional practice skills and allows the resident to gain proficiency in clinical practice, interdisciplinary communication, leadership, and distribution skills. Residents have the opportunity to staff in one of the following patient care areas:

• Critical care
• Cardiology
• Internal medicine
• Oncology
• Solid organ transplant and surgery

Staffing requirements are as follows:

• Upon completion of orientation, residents will staff a total of 400 hours over the residency year.
• Residents will work one major holiday, either Thanksgiving or winter holiday (including additional days around these holidays), and two minor holidays, either New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Labor Day, or Memorial Day.
• Staffing requirements are subject to change.

How to Apply

Candidates will need to complete an application through the Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service (PhORCAS).

Materials required:

• PhORCAS application form
• Letter of intent
• Three reference submissions within PhORCAS
• Official college of pharmacy transcripts
• Curriculum vitae
• A minimum of one letter of recommendation must be from a clinical preceptor

Application materials must be received by January 2. An on-site interview is required and will be granted based on the review of application materials. Applicants must register for the ASHP matching program handled by the National Matching Services, Inc. Rankings must be submitted by the deadline.

• Acute Care Setting NMS code: 180413

Candidate Qualifications

• Graduate of an ACPE-accredited Doctor of Pharmacy degree program or have equivalent educational qualification as determined by the residency program director with a minimum 3.0 GPA.
• Licensed or eligible for licensure in Iowa by the residency start date. Please see the Iowa Board of Pharmacy website for complete qualifications.
• Adhere to the rules of the resident matching program process.
• Candidates who require a Visa will not be considered. Pharmacy Residency positions are not eligible for University sponsorship for employment authorization.

Contact Us

Kate Gaspar, PharmD​, BCOP
Clinical Manager, Pharmacy
PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program Director
[email protected]

Katie Ganz, PharmD, BCPS
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Solid Organ Transplant
PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program Coordinator
[email protected]

Hayley Heller, PharmD, BCPS
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Cardiology
PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program Coordinator
[email protected]