PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program at University of Colorado Hospital

• 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
• Project (longitudinal)
• Staffing (longitudinal)
• Formulary management
• Adverse drug reaction reporting
• CODE response
• Morbidity and Mortality Conference
• Transitions of Care

Elective rotations include, but are not limited to:

• Anticoagulation*
• Bone Marrow Transplant (ambulatory)*
• Bone Marrow Transplant (in-patient)
• Burn Intensive Care
• Cardiology
• Cardio-thoracic Intensive Care
• Diabetes/Endocrine*
• Emergency Medicine
• Faculty
• Family Medicine*
• Geriatrics*
• HIV*
• Infectious Disease
• Internal Medicine*
• Investigational Drugs
• Medication Safety
• Neonatal Intensive Care
• Neurology (ambulatory)*
• Neurology (in-patient)
• Neurology Intensive Care
• Nutrition
• Oncology (ambulatory)*
• Oncology (in-patient)
• Operating Room
• Pain Management
• Pediatrics (through affiliation with Children’s Hospital Colorado)
• Pharmacogenomics
• Pulmonary
• Renal Transplant*
• Solid Organ Transplant (ambulatory)*
• Solid Organ Transplant (in-patient)
• Surgical Trauma Intensive Care
• Toxicology
• Trifino Clinic in Guatemala (Spanish fluency required)

*denotes ambulatory option

• Major 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.
• Participation and completion of the ASPIRE program through the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

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
• November: COMIRB proposal submitted
• December – February: Data collection
• March: Results
• 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. 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.

Pagers. All residents will be supplied a pager at the beginning of the residency program. Pagers are obtained through the administrative assistant in the UCH pharmacy department.

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.​​

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

We receive approximately 290 applications for our six PGY1 pharmacy residency positions.

Each submitted application is reviewed by a group comprised of the residency director, residency coordinator, 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 on-site 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.

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!