Pharmacy Residency Season is Here!
Calling all pharmacy students and pharmacists looking to pharmacy residency for a career in pharmacy informatics!
Recruiting season is starting to brew for next year’s match, and if you have not put much thought into it yet, well you should. Residency program applications are usually due by the end of December to early January. That might sound like a lot of time, but to get all your references, transcripts, and materials together finalized BY THE DEADLINE…well, it really is not much time at all. Especially since there is typically a lot of downtime during the December month (pun intended).
If you are someone still scratching your head about if residency is a good idea, you are probably not alone. I direct a combined PGY1-2 Pharmacy Informatics program at Aurora Health Care in the Milwaukee, WI area. I am biased. I think it is the best program! I also think it is your best bet for a direct flight into pharmacy informatics. You are going to get the training and skills needed to jump into a pharmacy IS team in health system pharmacy. One major con to my combined PGY1-2 program. It’s super competitive. I only have one position. So, this is a specialty you do not want to put all your eggs in one basket. Open your options. Focus a lot on getting into that PGY1 spot first. It is also OK to apply to other areas you are interested in. Not uncommon for my program to see applicants applying to our Health-System Pharmacy Administration and Leadership (HSPAL) program or just the PGY1 only. I am a residency director and I am telling you this won’t hurt your chances. It will only help them in the long run. Do what is best for you!
What if you don’t get a residency position or simply don’t want to do residency? Not the end of the world. Likely this isn’t going to be that direct flight I was talking about. You need experience to be a good pharmacy informatics specialist. Residency is just a focused way of getting there. So don’t close the door. Work hard and open more doors! That’s how you get in one way or the other.
Have more questions?
Visit my newly launched at https://www.pharmacyinformatics.net for more information!
What you’ll find:
- Certain tools for use in pharmacy informatics, such as barcode generators and NDC converters
- Presentations and publications
- More content coming soon
You can also find my video on Getting into Pharmacy Informatics: What to Know located here !
Learn more about Advocate Aurora’s PGY1/2 Pharmacy Informatics Residency here.
Do you have further questions you’d like to ask me? Visit my LinkedIn and send me a message!
