PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program at University of Colorado Hospital

Dear Prospective Resident,

Thank you for expressing interest in our postgraduate year one (PGY1) pharmacy residency program. The Department of Pharmacy at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital is pleased to sponsor five ASHP-accredited PGY1 pharmacy residency positions. The residency training meets the standards established by ASHP and provides a broad scope of in-depth experiences leading to an advanced level of knowledge.

The 12-month residency program offers an excellent opportunity for the PharmD graduate to explore many areas of interest in a dynamic organization that strives to achieve clinical and practice management excellence. The residency is an individualized program based on mutually agreed upon goals. It offers required monthly rotations in critical care, internal medicine (2 months), administration (including one week of medication safety), and ambulatory care. There is one required selective rotation of the resident’s choice in infectious disease, oncology, or cardiology. Numerous electives are also available in areas such as neonatal intensive care, transplant, emergency medicine, and many more. Fringe benefits include health/dental/life/liability insurance, paid time off, and a travel allowance for required meetings and conferences.

University of Colorado Hospital is currently a 703-bed tertiary care center and serves as the principal teaching facility for the Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing, and Dentistry at the University of Colorado. The Inpatient Pharmacy has approximately 80 full-time pharmacists and 80 full-time support / technical staff. Faculty members from the School of Pharmacy have active practice sites at University of Colorado Hospital. The pharmacy staff members and the faculty work collaboratively to provide high-quality service in all areas.

Applicants must be a PharmD graduate of an accredited college of pharmacy in the United States and must be eligible for and obtain licensure in Colorado. A curriculum vitae, an official college of pharmacy transcript, and three letters of reference must be submitted. Additionally, a letter of intent, not to exceed one page, must be submitted. An interview is required.

We have confidence that our program can provide you with the challenges and opportunities needed to achieve your career goals.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at 720.848.7271 for additional information.

Sincerely,

Kendra Gage, PharmD, BCPS
Inpatient Clinical Pharmacist
PGY1 Residency Program Director

• Orientation (July)
• Internal Medicine (2 non-consecutive months)
• Critical Care
• Ambulatory Care
• Administration
• Project month (December)
• 1 selective (resident’s choice of infectious disease, oncology, or cardiology)
• 4 electives
• Medication use evaluation (longitudinal)
• Research project (longitudinal)
• Staffing (longitudinal)
• Formulary management
• Adverse drug reaction reporting
• CODE response
• Morbidity and Mortality Conference
• Transitions of Care (longitudinal)
• Teaching certificate

Elective rotations include, but are not limited to:

*denotes inpatient or ambulatory opportunity

• Research project
• Medication use evaluation
• Vizient poster
• Drug monograph
• Adverse drug reaction reporting
• Attendance to and participation in the following meetings and events:
  • Vizient poster presentation
  • ASHP Residency Showcase booth
  • Regional Residency Conference
• Participation and completion of a teaching certificate program through the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. More information about the Colorado Pharmacy Residency Teaching Certificate (CPRTC) Program is available online.

Each resident must complete a project which meets the ASHP accreditation criteria. Residents will be given examples of projects that are available. The residents are encouraged to choose a topic, which, besides being an area of interest to the residents, will also contribute to the advancement of pharmacy practice at UCH. The resident will select one or more preceptors to serve as advisors for the projects. All projects will be in compliance with any applicable UC AMC, UCH, IRB, and HIPAA regulations. Residency projects will be presented at a regional residency conference and are strongly encouraged to be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

This is a general timetable for completion of the project:

• August: Project selection
• September: Literature review/project proposal session
• October: IRB proposal submitted
• December – February: Data collection
• March: Analysis
• May: Regional residency conference presentation
• June: Manuscript completed

The resident is required to present case conferences and a journal club to pharmacy staff and learners. Residents are also expected to provide education to the pharmacy staff and other healthcare providers as assigned by individual preceptors. Additionally, each resident may present lectures or other teaching exercises to PharmD students at the School of Pharmacy. Residents may be required to assist in the precepting of PharmD students on clerkship. The resident may attend other seminars as his/her schedule permits. For the teaching component of the residency, the resident will be given the title of Clinical Instructor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.​

Time off for holidays, vacations, meetings, interviews, and sick time is accrued by each resident in a vacation “bank” called Paid Time Off (PTO). Residents may take no more than 5 days off in one learning experience without prior approval from the residency program director (RPD) and preceptor.​

Residents are required to provide a determined number of service hours to the hospital to be completed by staffing a combination of operational, clinical, and transitions of care shifts. Residents staff approximately every third weekend. This commitment cannot be satisfied before the end of the residency year by working additional shifts early in the year. PGY1 residents will be scheduled in a variety of roles so that they will gain experience in a wide range of service opportunities. It is required that the resident become a licensed pharmacist. Information on becoming licensed in Colorado can be found by visiting the following site: http://www.dora.state.co.us/pharmacy/.

Residents may work flex hours at UCH for pay in addition to their service obligations. Residents are required to work one minor holiday (e.g., Labor Day or Memorial Day) and one major holiday (e.g., Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s).​

All residents funded by UCH will receive the same benefits. Benefits listed below will be included:

Health care. Health care and other related employee benefits area available through the standard UCH employee benefit plan.

Parking. All residents will have parking arranged through the Director of Pharmacy at UCH.

Continuing education/travel. Each resident is given a stipend to assist in meeting the expense of travel to professional meetings as approved by the Director of Pharmacy. Generally, this stipend will be used for the ASHP midyear meeting and Regional Residency Conference.

Library privileges/computer classes. All residents receive full library privileges at the Health Sciences Library. Additionally, library classes (Ovid, Internet, etc.) are free for all residents. Tutorials for other computer applications are available. If the resident wishes to enroll in any other class, s/he may do so at their personal expense.​​

Six PGY2 programs (ambulatory care, critical care, emergency medicine, infectious diseases, oncology, and transplant) are currently offered through the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.​

New for the 2023-2024 year, we are offering a combination PGY1/PGY2 program in health system pharmacy administration and leadership (HSPAL). This program is in pre-candidacy status with ASHP.

> Visit this Skaggs School of Pharmacy “Residencies” page for more information.

We receive approximately 250 applications for our five PGY1 pharmacy residency positions.

Each submitted application is reviewed by a group comprised of the residency director, preceptors, and current residents. The group reviews the letter of intent, curriculum vitae, and letters of recommendation in order to select candidates for an on-site interview.

The interview is a full day interview. The candidates have several individual interviews with program preceptors and current residents. A 10-minute presentation on a NON-PHARMACY topic of the candidate’s choice is required. Our goal is to assess communication skills and career goals to determine a good fit between candidates and our program.

No, our PGY1 program does not participate in PPS. We have many representatives from our program, as well as our current residents, present during the residency showcase at the ASHP Midyear meeting, and we’d be happy to answer your questions during that time.

Residents are required to provide a determined number of service hours to the hospital to be completed by staffing a combination of operational, clinical, and transitions of care shifts through the entirety of the residency year. Residents staff approximately every third weekend.

Absolutely! We strive to structure each resident’s rotation schedule to reflect the resident’s career goals and interests. To stay true to that effort, we understand and anticipate the residents’ interests to change as they go through the year. As long as a preceptor and site is available, we encourage residents to adjust rotations to meet their goals.

Yes. We require PGY1 residents’ participation and completion of the teaching certificate program offered through the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Each day is different and depends heavily on the type of rotation the resident is currently on. Most clinical rotations consist of patient work-ups, rounding, answering drug information questions, and topic discussions with the team and preceptor. Administrative or ambulatory rotations will have a different dynamic of meetings, clinic visits and topic discussions. Besides the rotation requirements, most days include working on miscellaneous projects (clinical pearls, major project, MUE, rotation presentations, etc.).

The majority of our residents either pursue a PGY2 residency or fellowship or accept clinical specialist positions following residency. In fact, many of our former residents have taken clinical positions here at UCH – it’s great when we can hire our own residents!

We are unable to sponsor visas for international residents, as the visas cost the program significant fees that we have not allocated resources for. Applications are welcome for those non-U.S. citizens with a green card or current visa that will be valid throughout the residency year. Applicants must have graduated from an AACP-accredited college of pharmacy.​​