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Interested candidates or questions:
Jena Torpin, PharmD, BCPS
Residency Program Director
763-236-7544

PGY1 Pharmacy Residency

Our Post Graduate Year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy residency program builds on PharmD education and outcomes to contribute to the development of a clinical pharmacist responsible for medication-related care of patients with a wide range of conditions, eligible for board certification and eligible for postgraduate year two (PGY2) pharmacy residency training.

Objectives

  • We are committed to helping residents gain clinical and leadership skills and enhance professional growth.
  • At the completion of the residency, residents will be able to effectively provide patient care in multiple settings, and lead medication improvement initiatives in a community-based institutional setting.
  • The residency provides residents with the ability to enhance their professional ethic, gain and apply pharmacy and patient care knowledge, demonstrate effective communications skills, develop independent learning proficiency, and grow leadership and precepting skills.

Outcomes

Mercy’s PGY-1 Residency assists residents in achieving skills and knowledge to enhance competency as a pharmacy practitioner and leader. All residents are expected to:

  • Independently provide quality direct patient care in multiple practice settings
  • Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication skills
  • Develop a professional ethic consistent with the Allina Health mission and values
  • Acquire skills to evaluate evidence-based literature to promote safe, effective, and cost appropriate care
  • Design quality improvement initiatives to improve the medication use and pharmacy processes
  • Develop independent learning skills for continual professional and leadership development

Educational opportunities

  • Major capstone project – poster presentation at the MSHP Annual Conference and PowerPoint presentation at the North Star Pharmacy Residents Conference and the Midwest Pharmacy Residents Conference, if able
  • Medication Utilization Evaluation – poster presentation at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and pharmacy and therapeutics committee (P&T)
  • ACLS Certification and code response 
  • Co-precepting of APPE and IPPE students
  • In-services to other health care professionals
  • Participation in P&T
  • Meeting attendance at several meetings including MSHP Midyear, ASHP Midyear, North Star Pharmacy Residents Conference, and Midwest Pharmacy Residents Conference, if able
  • Optional teaching certificate program

There will also be opportunities for presentations and projects during the residents' various rotations.

 

Staffing

  • Residents will staff every other weekend
  • Each resident will work at least three of six observed holidays
  • Residents staff decentral practice areas, central pharmacy, and medication history shifts.

Clinical rotations

Core

The critical care rotation gives residents an opportunity to provide pharmacist patient care to critically ill patients at both Mercy Hospital campuses. The critical care rotation allows the resident to identify patient-specific problems in critically ill patients and apply clinical therapeutic knowledge to provide patient care. In addition, the resident will monitor therapeutic drug regimens for efficacy and toxicity and become familiar with disease states common to critically ill patients. The resident will actively participate in daily ICU rounds with other members of the ICU multidisciplinary team (includes house physician, nursing, pharmacist, social worker, respiratory therapy, dietitian and chaplain).
The internal medicine rotation is designed to give the resident an overview of the patient population at the Mercy Hospital campuses while providing the building blocks for clinical pharmacy. The resident is involved in providing pharmaceutical care to internal medicine patients with acute and chronic medical illnesses. The resident will monitor patient's medication therapies, present and discuss internal medication topics with preceptors and students and further develop clinical pharmacist staffing skills.
Medication Safety is a required longitudinal learning experience. This rotation provides the resident with a solid foundation and equips them with the knowledge and tools to identify, develop and implement safe medication practices, as these are responsibilities of every pharmacist. The resident will gain knowledge through reading medication safety literature, evaluating medication error data, assessing compliance with technology related safety features and policies and participating in medication safety committee meetings and discussions. The knowledge will then be applied to develop and implement initiatives to improve the medication use system. 
This rotation is a longitudinal rotation that focuses on several pharmacist opportunities in the outpatient setting. These include one-on-one medication reviews with cardiac rehab patients and medication review for bariatric surgery patients. Residents will meet with patients, provide education, complete documentation in the electronic health record when needed, and interact with other health care professionals as appropriate.
During this rotation, the resident will design and implement a rotation schedule for an IPPE student. This will include central and decentral shadowing, projects, and topic discussions. The resident will serve as a direct resource for the student and will gain experience in providing the student with opportunities to learn and excel in multiple areas.
The purpose of the practice management rotation is to enhance the resident's understanding of the role of pharmacy management and leadership in meeting the goals of the organization. Through assigned readings, focused discussions, projects and observational and participative experiences, the resident will gain knowledge and skills related to financial operations, purchasing, medication safety, medication distribution, regulatory compliance and collaboration with other disciplines. The resident will be challenged to evaluate and express insight related to their ongoing experiences and the manifestations of leadership. 

The resident will work routinely with our pharmacy director, pharmacy operations and clinical manager(s), participants in multidisciplinary committees and projects, Allina Health pharmacy leaders and other leaders on an ad-hoc basis. The resident will attend department staff meetings, director-manager meetings and other department meetings as assigned by the preceptor.
This is a one-week rotation with the system formulary department at The Commons – Allina Health's corporate campus. The week will consist of focused discussions about literature interpretation and assessment and statistics, creation of at least one written in-depth drug monograph or drug class review, and presentation of that work to the System Formulary Committee and appropriate committees.

Core elective 

The cardiology rotation gives residents an opportunity to provide pharmacist patient care to cardiology patients at Mercy Hospital. The rotation is designed to give the resident an opportunity to interact with patients hospitalized for heart failure, arrhythmia, acute coronary syndrome (ACS), primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), interventional, cardiac surgery patients and critically ill patients with a cardiology-related primary diagnosis. The resident will design, recommend, monitor and evaluate patient-specific therapeutic regimens for selected cardiology patients.
During the emergency medicine rotation the resident will work with an emergency medicine pharmacist. The resident will be an active member of the abnormal culture/lab follow-up service working under a collaborative practice agreement. The resident will be available to answer questions and provide recommendations to emergency medicine physicians and nurses. The resident will experience a fast-paced pharmacy environment that includes responding to and assisting with critical and trauma situations.
The infectious disease rotation is designed to give the resident an opportunity to focus on the diagnosis, process, prevention and treatment of various infectious diseases. The resident will actively participate in daily antibiotic stewardship rounds with other members of the Antibiotic Advisory Team (including an infectious disease physician and pharmacist). The resident interacts with nurses, other pharmacists and microbiology/lab personnel daily.
During the mental health rotation, the resident will have the opportunity to provide pharmacist care to inpatients with psychiatric illnesses on the Unity campus. The resident will attend daily multidisciplinary rounds on our inpatient adult mental health and geriatric psychiatry units. The resident will have the opportunity to shadow inpatient psychiatrists and be exposed to therapeutic interventions including electroconvulsive therapy.

Elective

The informatics elective rotation will provide the resident with the knowledge and experience to identify, develop and implement safe medication practices. The resident will read journal articles and other publications on medical informatics, and this learning will then be applied to develop and implement initiatives to improve the medication use system. The resident will work with the informatics pharmacist at Mercy Hospital and other members of the pharmacy leadership team for this 1-3 week experience.

Recognizing American Society of Health-System Pharmacists' call for pharmacy leadership development, the Mercy Residency Program offers a focus in developing an emerging pharmacy leader. The three-part series will focus on:

  • Getting to know one’s strengths and weaknesses by taking a Myers Briggs and Now Discover Your Strengths assessment. A goal will be to develop a personal mission statement.
  • Leading the medication-use system through the infrastructure of site meetings and Allina Health meetings. Residents will meet with key leaders throughout the system and be responsible for leading a small project at an Allina Health system-wide pharmacy meeting.
  • Independent critical thinking during pharmacy and multidisciplinary meetings. Residents will be asked to develop meeting agendas and guide the discussion. Budding leaders who are passionate about change management will find this series engaging. This rotation is elective and designed to be an extension of professional pharmacy management.
The elective oncology clinical rotation focuses on both outpatient and hospitalized patients with cancer with an emphasis on supportive care. During this rotation the pharmacy resident will identify and resolve medication therapy issues for patients as it pertains to oncology care. The resident will use current treatment guidelines to develop, monitor, and adjust patient-specific pharmacotherapy regimens and monitoring plans. The resident will follow all patients admitted for chemotherapy, and other patients identified by either the resident or preceptor. Opportunities for residents to shadow oncologist and infusion center nurses are also available.
The Transitions of Care rotation is designed to allow the resident to obtain a better picture of care transitions at Allina Health. The resident will explore continuity of care by evaluating ways to prevent medication transition errors and streamline workflow/efficiency at admission and discharge in both inpatient and outpatient settings. This elective rotation will take place during the spring of the residency year at the hospital and surrounding locations in the community.

Off-site electives

  • Ambulatory Care (Allina Health clinics)
  • Toxicology (HCMC Poison Center)
  • Pediatrics (St. Paul Children’s Hospital)
  • Rural Health (Various Allina Health affiliate hospitals)