Pharmacy Residency Program at CHI Health St. Elizabeth

CHI Health St. Elizabeth is a non-profit community hospital located in Lincoln, Nebraska. St. Elizabeth is a level III Trauma, full service, certified Primary Stroke Center and Regional Burn Center.  St. Elizabeth is licensed for 258 beds, including a 16-bed intensive care unit, a 16-bed burn care unit and a Level III NICU. The hospital offers a variety of clinical services including 24/7 emergency care, Maternity and NICU services, robotic surgery, orthopedics, oncology, cardiology, diagnostics and multiple inpatient and outpatient services. 

The St. Elizabeth PGY1 pharmacy residency program builds upon the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) education and outcomes to contribute to the development of clinical pharmacists 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. 

PGY1 residents will receive a salary of $50,000/year with comprehensive medical, dental and vision care coverage. Life insurance, short and long term disability coverage are also available.

In order to plan a challenging program and customized plan that fulfills each resident’s professional goals and objectives, it is crucial to assess initial interests, goals, strengths, and weaknesses. This assessment will be made during the orientation period with the program director and a rotation schedule will be devised. Prior to this, the resident must complete the Entering Resident self-assessment “ASHP Standard Entering Interests Form” and the “Goal-Based Entering Interests Form”. Progress and changes will be reviewed at least quarterly during the course of the residency and documented in the Customized Plan for Residency Training. Saint Elizabeth pharmacy residents are required to complete 52 weeks of practice experience during their residency. No more than one-third of the twelve-month PGY1 pharmacy residency program may deal with a specific patient disease state and population (e.g., critical care, oncology, and cardiology). Residents must spend two thirds (or more) of the program in direct patient care activities. Additional rotation opportunities may be arranged at the resident’s request. Every effort will be made to accommodate individualized rotation experiences at outside facilities, if the rotation is not available and cannot be arranged at CHI Health St. Elizabeth.  A minimum of 60% of the resident’s training program must occur at CHI Health St Elizabeth and no more than 25% of off-site learning experiences can be at a single other site. 

Required Rotational Learning Experience (Usually 1 month in length):

• Burn & Wound Care
• Cardiology (Nebraska Heart/St Elizabeth)
• Clinical Development - Advanced Skills 
• Critical Care 
• Infectious Disease (Immanuel)
• Internal Medicine 
• Orientation
• Pharmacy Administration

Elective Rotational Learning Experience (Usually 1 month in length):

• Advanced Burn & Wound Care  
• Advanced Critical Care  
• Advanced Internal Medicine 
• Advanced Pharmacy Administration
• Emergency Medicine
• Medication Safety
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit 
• General Pediatrics (Children’s Hospital)
• Psychiatry (Immanuel)

Required Longitudinal Learning Experience (Usually 12 months in length):

• Education & Precepting
• Practice Management and Leadership Development
• Clinical Development (operational development/staffing)
• Residency Project

All residents are strongly encouraged to pursue licensure in Nebraska prior to beginning the residency training program.  The process must be initiated with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and continued with the Profession and Occupational Licensure Division, Nebraska Department of Health. 

It is expected that the resident will be licensed by August 1st so as to start the requirements for the longitudinal staffing component and be able to work on direct patient care activities independently while on rotations also.  If the resident fails to obtain licensure prior to August 1st, the resident will be expected to obtain licensure as soon as capable and be required to make up their missed staffing hours after licensure is procured to keep the number of hours staffed consistent between all residents.

As a minimum requirement for employment the resident must obtain licensure as a pharmacist with the state of Nebraska within 60 days from the start of the residency.  Failure to obtain licensure within 60 days from the start date will result in termination from the program. This differs from the ASHP guideline of 120 days from the start of the residency to become licensed. 

The goal of the operational pharmacy practice experience is to ensure that each resident can function independently as a pharmacist.  Each resident will train with a preceptor(s) as assigned.  Basic training will take place during the first month of the residency.  Once the resident is deemed competent, they will be assigned to patient care units or central pharmacy for the remainder of the residency.  Residents will be evaluated on their staffing experiences on a quarterly basis. 

Required Staffing Commitment:  Each resident will be expected to staff in the pharmacy every 3rd weekend and one Friday morning/evening shift every other week during the year as a patient care pharmacist.  Weekend staffing will be scheduled for Saturday and Sunday day shifts or midday/evening shifts and will rotate between days/evenings throughout the residency year to provide a broad range of experience/opportunities while staffing. 

Holidays:  Residents are expected to work on two designated holidays.  Recognized holidays include:  Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Memorial Day. Typically, the following holiday combinations are worked: New Year’s Day and Thanksgiving (and day after) OR Memorial Day and Christmas Day (and day after). Holiday assignments will be determined at the beginning of the residency year and decided upon by the residents themselves.  It is the responsibility of the resident to arrange for a trade for a different holiday assignment if needed.  Residents will not be assigned to work on Independence Day.

Each PGY1 resident will be provided up to approximately $1500 for professional development funds. Residents are encouraged to use these funds to cover registration fee/airfare/hotel to attend the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, registration fee for Midwest Pharmacy Residents Conference (MPRC), and any other educational endeavors the resident may wish to pursue (i.e. ACLS, PALS, other professional meetings, professional reference book(s), lab coats, etc.).

Paid Time Off

Each resident will have 14 days of paid vacation, sick, and/or interview leave available for the residency year. 

• Professional leave: In addition to the 14 days of general PTO, the residents will be allowed professional leave for attendance at professional meetings.  This includes a maximum of four work days for ASHP Midyear and two work days for Midwest Pharmacy Residents Conference (MPRC). 
• Educational Leave: Residents are allowed and encouraged to partake in educational opportunities throughout the residency year.  If the educational opportunity requires time off from the residency rotation, unless a preceptor requires attendance as part of their current rotation – the resident will be required to use PTO/vacation time to attend as this will fall outside of the days already provided for professional leave.
• Interview days: The resident can use any of their 14 PTO days for pursuing future employment opportunities in the spring of the residency year.  If more than 5 days will be missed during a single rotation month due to interviews, the resident is required to meet with the rotation preceptor and Residency Director to coordinate a plan for making up the missed rotation time.

The primary emphasis of the residency programs is to develop the resident’s practitioner expertise.  An integral part in the development of the resident is an appreciation of research methodology.  Provisions will be made for the resident’s participation in a clinical research or a practice-related project.  The project undertaken, by mutual agreement of the resident, primary preceptor, Residency Director (RPD), and participating co-investigators, will be of suitable quality for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, presentation at a major scientific meeting (i.e., ASHP MCM) and presentation at the Midwest Pharmacy Residents Conference (MPRC).

The residency research project should provide an experience and/or appreciation of clinically oriented research.  This will include the following:

• IRB training
• Study design and protocol development
• IRB submission of protocol 
• Data collection and organization
• Statistical analysis
• Summary of results
• Conclusions
• Project written in manuscript format
• Formal presentation of work

Early in the residency training program (in accordance with the residency program guidelines of events) the primary preceptor and the resident will establish the project, its goal and objectives, and completion timeline. A written summary will be presented to the RPD for final approval.

Each resident will be responsible for presenting 2 formal Creighton Pharmacy Grand Rounds. These presentations will be 60 minute Continuing Education Credit (CE) drug therapy talks (50 minutes in length with 10 minutes for questions and answers) that will be broadcast to pharmacists throughout the CHI Health System. Audience questions asked at the live session are expected to be repeated by the speaker for the remote audience.

Grand rounds will typically be held on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Thursdays of each month at 12:00PM at CHI Health St. Elizabeth. Room reservation at CHI Health St. Elizabeth should be made immediately after the residents know their schedules. [A Resident on rotation in Omaha may be able to present from a location at CUMC Bergan or other CHI facility.]

Residents are required to attend all Grand Rounds through the residency year.  RPD approval is required to miss a Grand Rounds presentation.  Residents are REQUIRED to submit evaluations for CE for each presentation through Creighton. 

Teaching Certificate Program

This program covers many aspects of didactic and clinical teaching.  The resident will compile a Teaching Portfolio and submit the portfolio at the conclusion of this program. For any further information, the program coordinators at Creighton University will contact the residents. Books will be provided by the residency program, if required for the program.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Certificate Program by Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) (Elective)

This program allows residents to have more exposure to infectious disease and antimicrobial usage.

The residents will be required to complete the following to receive the certificate:

• Phase I: Self-study using online learning program (approx. 3 months, 24 hours, 2.4 CEUs)
• Phase II: Live webinars (approx. 5 months, 6-9 hours, 0.6-0.9 CEU)
• Phase III: Skills component in practice setting (approx. 4 months, 10 hours, 1.0 CEU) SIDP Certificate Checklist