Curriculum

Through diverse learning experiences, pharmacy residents receive training and develop proficiency in a spectrum of clinical and operational service necessary to promote safe and effective medication use and management. Residents' learning schedules include five required (core) patient care rotations that all residents complete over the course of the program. Additionally, residents also complete four required longitudinally integrated experiences throughout the program year.

Any core learning experience may be repeated or extended as an elective. The list of elective rotations is not all-inclusive. Residents should discuss non-listed opportunities with the residency program director.

The scheduling of learning experiences is mutually planned and agreed upon by the residency program director and residents as established at the initial learning plan review and, at minimum, each subsequent quarterly learning plan review.

Pharmacy Practice Management (PPM)

Over the course of the longitudinal PPM experience, the resident fulfills obligations and completes assignments that offer a breadth of exposure to medication use processes within a health system. These components include year-long tenure on the Therapeutic Review subcommittee of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee, concentrated two-month rotations through Medication Safety and Operations-Change Management and participation in monthly colloquiums about personal and professional leadership.

Project

As part of the program's requirements, all residents design and execute a formal investigational project during the program year. The focus of the project may center on clinical research, quality assurance, practice advancement or some combination thereof. Residents are aligned with at least one pharmacist project advisor and have additional research support from Gundersen Medical Foundation. Formal presentation of the project structure and results are required at regional and national professional conferences. Additionally, the resident is required to complete a manuscript or reach another comparable endpoint by the conclusion of the program year. 

Hospital Pharmacy Service (Staffing)

Residents have no staffing obligations during the initial July orientation period.

During a four-week "run-in" period that is concurrent with the first rotation, each resident shall staff for 28 hours. This primarily consists of four-hour weekday shifts from 5 to 9 p.m., with days rotated so the same resident does not consistently staff the same day of the week. There also are some weekend day and evening hours.

Each resident is subsequently scheduled to staff every fifth week (Monday through Friday) on a rotating, staggered basis. Additionally, each resident is scheduled to staff every fifth weekend (Saturday through Sunday) on a rotating basis. Staffing weeks and weekends are not scheduled back to back (e.g. residents do not staff for seven consecutive days). Staffing shifts rotate between days and evenings (no overnights) and responsibility. Residents share responsibility for emergency response pager coverage on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.