Pharmacy residency program

About the Post Graduate Year 1 Pharmacy Residency

The Post Graduate Year 1 (PGY1) Pharmacy Residency Programs at Children’s Minnesota are designed to provide the first-year resident with a wide variety of clinical and professional experiences in pediatrics. Residents will complete required rotations, along with having approximately three months to complete elective learning experiences in areas of their interest.

The purpose of our ASHP-accredited PGY1 residency program is to provide experience and knowledge which foster the development of skills to fulfill the challenges of evolving roles in pharmacy practice. Residents completing the pharmacy practice residency program at Children’s are able to:

• Manage and improve the medication-use process
• Exercise leadership and practice management skills
• Demonstrate project management skills
• Provide medication and practice-related education/training
• Utilize medical informatics
• Participate in the management of medical emergencies
• Demonstrate additional competencies that contribute to working successfully in the health care environment

Upon completion of this residency program, residency graduates are prepared to successfully fulfill the requirements of a clinical staff pharmacist working with pediatric patients in a clinical setting.

Orientation/training

PGY1 Pharmacy Residency

Residents will be oriented to the department during the first week of the residency. This will consist of an overview of Children’s Minnesota, the pharmacy department, introduction to department procedures and opportunities to discuss work responsibilities with various department members. Within the first two weeks of residency, the residents will also undergo a full orientation of the residency program. The majority of training will occur during the first 5-6 weeks of the residency. It is expected that by the end of this time the resident will be competent to work on line shifts as a decentralized pharmacist at Children’s Minnesota. Residents may have the option to begin their orientation prior to July 1. Depending on when the resident begins their training, this could free up additional time for elective rotations later in the year.

• Training – Minneapolis (MPS): In MPS, training will typically take approximately 4 weeks. This will be focused on preparation and dispensing, as clinical training will occur in the future on rotations.
• Training – St. Paul (StP): In StP, training will typically last 6-7 weeks, as the training on this campus includes both the preparation and dispensing of medications, along with training on the hospital units (Medical/Surgical, Neonatal Intensive Care, Pediatric Intensive Care). This is because the resident in St. Paul staffs as a decentral pharmacist in the beginning of the year.

Residency learning experiences

Individualized residency plan

The resident and their advisor will plan the learning experiences for the residency during the initial weeks of the residency year. The resident will complete a resident self-assessment prior to starting residency. Using this information, the resident’s advisor will develop an individualized residency plan for the resident. Both the resident and the primary preceptor will agree to specific learning experiences. This residency plan will be revisited between the resident, advisor and residency program director (RPD) at a minimum of quarterly throughout the year to identify any changes that may be warranted or desired.

Required learning experiences

The pharmacy residency program consists of required and elective learning experiences. The required learning experiences and their duration include:

PGY1 Pharmacy Resident

Block Rotations:

• Orientation / Training (4-5 weeks for MPS, 6-7 weeks for StP)
• Inpatient Oncology (5 weeks)
• Neonatal Intensive Care – Minneapolis (3 weeks)
• Neonatal Intensive Care – St. Paul (3 weeks)
• Pediatric Intensive Care – Minneapolis (3 weeks)
• Pediatric Intensive Care – St. Paul (3 weeks
• Pediatric Medicine – Minneapolis (3 weeks)
• Pediatric Medicine – St. Paul (3 weeks)
• Practice Management (5 weeks)

Longitudinal Rotations:

• Clinical Management (Longitudinal learning experience) – Solely for tracking various projects
• Residency Project (Longitudinal learning experience)
• Staffing (Longitudinal learning experience)
• Teaching Certificate (Longitudinal learning experience) – Program through the University of Minnesota

Elective learning experiences

The PGY1 pharmacy residents will have approximately 16-20 weeks available for elective learning experiences from either of Children’s Minnesota hospital campuses to meet their interests. This range of time is based on whether the resident chooses to start residency early and at which campus the resident is located (i.e., StP will have fewer weeks for elective rotations due to the longer training period). In the past, residents have chosen to pursue elective learning experiences in areas including (but not limited to):

• Advanced Critical Care
• Ambulatory Cardiology (Cardiology Clinic)
• Ambulatory Oncology Clinic
• Antibiotic Stewardship
• Cardiovascular Intensive Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Evening Intensive Care Units and Emergency Department Hybrid
• Hemophilia Treatment Center
• Information Technology
• Inpatient/Outpatient Cystic Fibrosis
• Inpatient/outpatient Oncology
• Medication Safety
• Pain and Palliative
• Pharmacogenomics
• Residency Program Design
• Toxicology – Children’s
• Toxicology at Poison Control

The resident may also choose to repeat a required rotation at either campus. It must be noted that the maximum amount of time the resident can spend in the same clinical area is four months. Off-site learning experiences outside Children’s Minnesota may also be available for the resident.

Evaluations

Evaluation of the resident’s performance is vital to the resident’s development and will consist of (at least) the following evaluations.

Summative evaluations

Summative evaluations are completed by the preceptor at the conclusion of the resident’s learning experience and quarterly during longitudinal learning experiences. Summative evaluations are designed to evaluate the resident’s performance on the goals and objectives assigned to their learning experiences.

Formative evaluations

Formative evaluations are related to specific events and tasks. It is precise feedback given at a specific moment in time after observing the resident’s activity. Formative feedback is usually given verbally by the preceptor. Formative evaluations may be completed as often as deemed necessary by the preceptor.

Self-evaluations

Residents conduct self-evaluation of their work on an ongoing basis. The advisor and RPD will prepare a program of self-evaluation for the learning experience and discuss it with the resident.

Preceptor and learning experience evaluation

Upon completion of the learning experience, the resident shall complete the Preceptor and Learning Experience Evaluation form to provide feedback for the preceptor.

Quarterly evaluations

Residents’ progress towards accomplishing their residency requirements will be assessed quarterly using the quarterly summary of residency goals form. This will help focus efforts towards the goals that the resident has not made significant progress in achieving.

Department Meetings

Pharmacy leadership meeting

The Pharmacy Leadership Meeting is an informational meeting intended to keep management and clinical staffs current with department projects and up to date with recent developments in our department.

Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee (P&T)

The residents are appointed to the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee as non-voting members. Each PGY1 resident will write at least two new drug reviews or a drug class review and present this information to the committee for formulary inclusion or exclusion. The residents’ medication use evaluations (MUE) will also be approved and reviewed by the P&T Committee.

Resident/preceptor meetings

Residents and preceptors will meet at least monthly to discuss the resident’s current status in the residency, including a discussion regarding how the current rotation is going.

Clinical Pharmacy Practice Council (CPPC)

PGY1 pharmacy practice residents will attend the monthly CPPC meeting to discuss clinical issues affecting the department and care of patients at Children’s Minnesota.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Children’s Minnesota Institutional Review Board meets monthly and is an optional meeting for the PGY1 residents.

Professional Meetings

National meetings

The department will pay for travel, lodging and meeting registration for one national meeting. The PGY1 pediatric residents typically attend the Pediatric Pharmacy Association (PPA) annual meeting in spring and present the results of their residency project at the meeting.

Local professional meetings

Residents are strongly encouraged to attend local professional conferences that focus on current issues in pharmacotherapy. These would include the Minnesota Society of Health-System Pharmacists annual and mid-year meetings.

Presentations/teaching experiences

The resident will be scheduled to provide three case presentations that meet requirements to qualify as continued pharmacy education (CPE) credit with the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). The topic of these presentations will be related to a current learning experience and will be presented in-person and virtually to both of Children’s Minnesota hospital campuses. These presentations are also available, accessible and attended by health care professionals outside of Children’s Minnesota. Preceptors of clinical rotations may also request the resident to present a case presentation or journal club at the end of their rotation. Residents should discuss with their preceptor the expectations for case presentations and journal clubs at the start of the rotation.

The PGY1 pharmacy residents also provide didactic coursework for pharmacy students at the Minnesota College of Pharmacy.

Teaching certificate

PGY1 pharmacy residents will complete and earn a teaching certificate during their residency year. The program is hosted by the University of Minnesota and allows for the Children’s residents to meet and collaborate with other residents throughout the Twin Cities. The program includes large group didactic instruction, small group discussion and precepting.

Residency project

Each resident completes a research or major project as part of their residency training. Each resident will work with their advisor in the selection of their project and will be assigned a Subject Matter Expert preceptor to work with them on the project. The PGY1 pharmacy residents will present the results of this project at the annual PPA Meeting in spring. Assistance in research project design and statistics is provided by Children’s Minnesota Research Sponsored Programs.

Adverse Drug Report Review

The PGY1 pharmacy practice residents will be responsible for maintaining the adverse drug report log for the calendar year in which they start residency.

Medication Use Evaluation (MUE)

Each PGY1 pharmacy practice resident will be responsible for developing, performing and presenting a MUE project during their residency. The results will be presented at the P&T Committee and/or the applicable division committee.

Resident salary and benefits

Residents receive salary and benefits for residency activities through Children’s Minnesota. The stipend is competitive. Dental and health insurance is provided in the benefits package offered by Children’s Minnesota.

Residents will have 30 days of paid time off (PTO) during the residency year. Residents will deduct compensation time, education time, sick time, etc., from their PTO account. The resident will need to notify their primary preceptor and staffing coordinator in advance regarding vacation requests.

Staffing responsibilities

PGY1 pharmacy residents will be scheduled to work every other weekend throughout the residency. In St. Paul, residents work five out of 12 weekends due to an occasional 12-hour shift. Each resident can expect to work either the Christmas or New Year’s holiday and additional holidays consistent with staffing patterns for the department.

Program preceptors

• Jessica Benshoof, PharmD, BCPS, BCPPS (Neonatal Intensive Care – Minneapolis)
• Amy Gisslen, PharmD (Medication Safety)
• Alexanna Gluck, PharmD, BCPPS (Advisor)
• David Gregornik, BA, BS, PharmD (Pharmacogenomics)
• Jill Johnson, PharmD, BCPPS (Pediatric Medicine – St. Paul, Staffing, Advisor)
• Jennifer Lissick, PharmD, BCPS (Hemophilia Treatment Center)
• Polina Lipnik, PharmD, BCPPS (Cardiovascular Intensive Care)
• Teresa Mansur, PharmD, BCPPS (Inpatient Oncology)
• Kim Maxa, PharmD, MBA, BCOP (Ambulatory Oncology Clinic)
• Katie Meyers, PharmD, BCPPS (Neonatal Intensive Care – St. Paul)
• Stephanie Mohan, PharmD, BCPS, BCPPS (Teaching Certificate)
• Julie Most, PharmD, MBA, DPLA (Practice Management)
• Erin Neumann, PharmD, BCPPS (Pediatric Intensive Care – Minneapolis)
• Courtney Paetznick, PharmD (Pain and Palliative)
• Julie Palmquist, BSPharm, BCPPS (Pediatric Intensive Care – St. Paul)
• Monica Premsukh, PharmD (Staffing)
• Mike Raschka, PharmD, BCPPS, DPLA (RPD, Clinical Management)
• Sarah Rose, PharmD, BCPPS (Emergency Department)
• Hannah Schreiner, PharmD, BCPPS (Neonatal Intensive Care – Minneapolis)
• Lisa Stay, PharmD, BCPPS (Pediatric Medicine – Minneapolis)
• Ali Swanson, PharmD, BCPPS (Emergency Department)
• Mary Ullman, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP (Antibiotic Stewardship)
• Fan Zhang, PharmD, BCPPS (Cardiovascular Intensive Care)

PGY1 Pharmacy Residency requirements for completion:

• 80% of evaluated goals must be achieved by the end of the year;
  • Of evaluated goals/objective not achieved upon the completion of residency, the resident cannot have any “Needs Improvement” assessment by the end of the residency year
• Medication Use Evaluation with results presented at P&T Committee or division-level meeting;
• At least 2 new drug reviews/class reviews for the P&T Committee;
  • Create one written educational document for pharmacists containing pearls related to the newly approved medication (not limited to one of the two new drug reviews prepared and presented by the resident)
• At least 2 system/department policy revisions;
• Present at least 3 Continuing Pharmacy Education (CPE) Presentations;
• Present results of a residency project at a national or regional conference;
• Completed manuscript describing your research project written according to guidelines for publication set forth by AJHP or other journal.

PGY1 pharmacy residents

Annika Cook

Annika Cook is originally from Hudson, Wisconsin, where she moved in 5th grade after living in York, Pennsylvania. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Annika’s practice interests include neonatal intensive care and anything pediatrics at this point. She is excited about the opportunity to explore different inpatient and outpatient specialties throughout her residency year. Upon completion of her PGY1, Annika hopes to find a position that allows her to practice as a pediatric clinical pharmacist in the inpatient setting. She also aspires to become a preceptor and mentor for pharmacy students, as she is passionate about teaching and would like to incorporate academia into a clinical role.

Outside of pharmacy, Annika loves to spend much of her time with her niece, family, friends and two dogs. She also likes to try out different workouts/sports (most recently tennis) and go on long walks, particularly around the Stillwater bridge loop.

Megan Grierson

Meagan Grierson is originally from Dayton, Ohio. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Ohio Northern University.

Meagan’s current practice interests include critical care and emergency medicine. Upon completion of her PGY1, Meagan plans on practicing as a clinical pharmacist in the inpatient setting.

Outside of pharmacy, she enjoys baking, reading and spending time outdoors. She looks forward to exploring the numerous parks and trails in Minnesota.

Olivia Ratgen

Olivia Ratgen is originally from Hastings, Minnesota. She received both her Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Olivia’s practice interests include pediatric critical care and emergency medicine. Upon completion of her PGY1, Olivia plans on practicing as a clinical pharmacist in a pediatric emergency medicine setting.

Outside of pharmacy, Olivia loves spending time with her two dogs, husband, family and friends, as well as traveling, trying new restaurants and doing CrossFit.

• Hold a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from ACPE accredited college of pharmacy
• Be eligible for pharmacist licensure in the State of Minnesota (Minnesota Board of Pharmacy)
• Participate in the ASHP Resident Match Program
• Are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (green card) or have a current F1 student visa

Complete and submit the following to the PhORCAS website:

• Application
  • Children’s Minnesota supplemental PGY1 Application
• Curriculum vitae
• Letters of reference from three individuals
• College of pharmacy transcripts

The completed application and curriculum vitae must be received by the date indicated on the American Society of Health-Systems (ASHP) Residency Directory.

Q: How many residents do you have?

A: Children’s Minnesota currently accepts three PGY1 residents. Two of the PGY1 residents have offices and complete their staffing commitments on the Minneapolis campus. One PGY1 resident has an office and completes their staffing on the St. Paul campus. Note that each campus has a separate match number. Despite two residents having their “home base” in Minneapolis and one in St. Paul, the residents bounce between each hospital throughout the year and spend approximately 50% of their time at each hospital. Residents interact frequently and have working areas designated for them at each campus.

Q: When are applications due?

A: Applications for the PGY1 pharmacy practice residency need to be uploaded to the PhORCAS website by the date indicated on PhORCAS.

Q: What happens after I submit my application?

A: Children’s Minnesota residency preceptors will review all applications and will notify applicants of their status. Some applicants may be placed on an alternate list if the number of candidates exceeds the number of interview slots.

Q: How is the program designed?

A: Each program is structured to provide you with an initial orientation/training module. During the orientation/training period, the PGY1 residents will work with their advisor to develop an individualized schedule that includes all required rotations, along with approximately 20 weeks of elective rotations, based on each resident’s interests.

Q: What experiences are required?

A: Listed under the “Required learning experiences” section above.

Q: What electives are available?

A: Listed under the “Elective learning experiences” section above.

Q: How are residents evaluated?

A: Listed under the “Evaluations” section above. Each resident is also “teamed up” with an advisor for the full year and has the opportunity to meet with their advisor at any time they desire.

Q: Is research required?

A: Yes, each resident is required to complete a research or major project as part of their residency training. These projects may be individualized to the resident’s specific interests.

Q: What teaching opportunities exist?

A: Residents will be scheduled to provide three continued pharmacy education (CPE) presentations to the health care staff. The topic of these presentations will be related to their current learning experience. In addition to these presentations, the resident may give case presentations at the conclusion of clinical rotations and have the option of providing didactic coursework for pharmacy students at the Minnesota College of Pharmacy. Residents may also assist with the preceptorship of pharmacy students on rotation at Children’s Minnesota throughout the year and will complete a formal Teaching Certificate Program through the University of Minnesota over the course of the residency year.

Q: Is staffing required?

A: The PGY1 pharmacy residents in Minneapolis will be scheduled to staff every other weekend throughout the residency. In St. Paul, the resident will work five out of 12 weekends due to an occasional 12-hour shift. Each PGY1 resident can expect to work either the Christmas or New Year’s holiday and additional holidays consistent with staffing patterns for the department.

Q: Must I be licensed?

A: All pharmacy residents are required to be licensed in the State of Minnesota within 120 days of starting the residency.

Q: How do I get licensed?

A: Information regarding pharmacy licensure in Minnesota can be found at the Board of Pharmacy’s website.

Q: What is the salary?

A: Residents receive their salary and benefits for residency activities through Children’s Minnesota. The stipend varies by role. Dental and health insurance is provided in the benefits package offered by Children’s Minnesota. The most accurate salary can be found on the ASHP Residency Directory page for the Children’s Minnesota PGY1 Residency Program

Q: How much vacation time is there?

A: Residents will receive 30 days of paid time off during the residency year. Residents will deduct compensation time, education time, sick time, etc., from their PTO account. The resident will need to notify their primary preceptor and staffing coordinator in advance regarding vacation requests.