Rotation Schedule

At a minimum, each resident will spend two-thirds of their time involved in direct patient care activities. Residents must complete 7 core rotations and 2 electives. Longitudinal learning experiences are over the course of the entire residency year, and they include research, teaching, quality improvement project, and operational staffing.

Sequencing of Learning Experiences

Learning experiences are sequenced such that the resident completes onsite core learning experiences prior to electives and teaching focused learning experiences. Various electives are offered, including those off-site (UC Davis). 

Core Rotations

• Medical ICU (5-6weeks)
• Surgical ICU (5-6 weeks)
• Cardiac ICU (5-6 weeks)
• Neuro ICU (5-6 weeks)
• Emergency Medicine (5-6 weeks)
• Trauma and Surgical ICU (5-6 weeks)
• Clinical Teaching and Preceptorship (5-6 weeks)

Electives

• Heart and Lung Transplant (4-5 weeks)
• Hematology and Oncology (4-5 weeks)
• Infectious Disease (4-5 weeks)
• Cardiac Pediatric ICU (4-5 weeks)
• Pediatric ICU (4-5 weeks)
• Burn ICU (4-5 weeks) 

Operational Training

All residents receive comprehensive training in each of the operational areas during orientation, including formalized training in sterile compounding and aseptic technique. At the beginning of the residency year, residents are paired with an experienced preceptor who will oversee their operational staffing learning experience throughout the year and provide residents with feedback.

Staffing Areas

Operational staffing occurs longitudinally and takes place approximately every third weekend spanning throughout the residency year for a total of 16 weekends, in addition to one major holiday and two minor holidays. Residents staff in 2 areas: 

Project Selection

The Residency Program Director collects project proposal submissions from clinical pharmacists for consideration as a resident research project on an annual basis in the Spring. Projects are reviewed for feasibility, appropriateness of timeline, potential value that may focus on clinical pharmacist services, quality improvement initiatives such as drug safety, optimal medication use, cost effective drug use, and efficient, safe and effective medication preparation, delivery and administration. The Residency Program Director will reach out to the residents in early summer to start discussion of project selection.

Research Training

PGY2 residents participate in the UCSF Research Certificate Program and will gain skills in adhering to a research timeline, creating an appropriate study design and methodology, completing data collection and analysis and summarizing research findings. Residents are enrolled in the Designing Clinical Research course (or equivalent) that is part of the Summer Clinical Research Workshop. This interprofessional curriculum within the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics guides residents through modification of their research proposal and creation of a version suitable for submission to the UCSF Institutional Review Board. For projects requiring more advanced statistics, residents also receive support to work with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) in order to complete analysis.

Residents participate in a research certificate whereby they attend structured research sessions throughout the year in guiding the successful completion of the research project.

Poster & Platform Presentations

All projects are of a scope suitable for publication. Projects are presented as posters at the UCSF Department of Clinical Pharmacy Spring Research Poster Session. They are also presented as posters at the Vizient residency session that precedes the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in December. The final presentation occurs in spring as a platform presentation at the SCCM NorCal Spring meeting and UC Collaborative Conference in California (both usually in May). Final research project write up should be in a format suitable journal submission. 

Teaching Instruction

Teaching is a focus of the residency at UCSF, and residents receive a Teaching Certificate upon program completion if they complete the required elements of the program. The certificate recognizes the significant contributions and skills that are attained during the residency year. Residents receive training in teaching methodology, precepting and small group conference facilitation through a variety of educational seminars that are planned during the year.

Teaching Experiences

Teaching opportunities may include the following:

• Precepting of PGY1, APPE, and IPPE students on clinical rotations and project-based work
• Interprofessional education through ICU Noon Conference and other non-pharmacist lectures
• Small and/or large group teaching
• Course coordination of the high-fidelity simulation lab
• Northern California Critical Care Journal Club webinar presentation 

Overview

PGY2 Pharmacy residents are integral members of the interprofessional emergency response care team. All PGY2 Pharmacy will become certified in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), and receive hands-on code training. Residents respond to Code Stroke, Code Sepsis and Code Blue to ensure appropriate drug selection and administration, timeliness of medication retrieval and preparation, adjusting medication dosages and monitoring for response.

Simulation

The UCSF Residency Training Program has developed and implemented a longitudinal simulation curriculum for PGY1 Pharmacy residents to increase confidence and competence during various emergent situations. The program utilizes the Kanbar Center for Simulation and Clinical Skills, a high-fidelity simulation center within UCSF. Throughout the residency year, residents participate in 4 simulation lab sessions, each covering 4 cases. The clinical case scenarios become increasingly complex as the residency year progresses and is intended to meet the advancing skill set of the residents. Clinical pharmacist content experts are invited to the sessions to lead the residents through a debrief of the simulation session and allow for discussion of advanced clinical topics.

Throughout the residency year, the PGY2 resident will participate and then lead a total of 4 simulation lab sessions, each about 4 hours in length. The first session is an introduction for the PGY2 resident while the remaining three sessions are co-coordinated by the PGY2 resident. During the last session, the PGY2 resident is responsible for writing a new case and also facilitating the debrief session.