Pharmacy Residency (Acute) – Brainerd, MN

Grow as a professional while you build clinical and leadership skills at Essentia Health. The Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency program in Brainerd, Minnesota can prepare you for a career in evidence-based, patient-focused pharmaceutical care.

Accredited PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency

Build knowledge and confidence during training that meets national standards for quality. Essentia’s postgraduate year one residency program is accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). This means that you’ll be eligible to take board examinations sooner and you’ll be a more attractive job applicant throughout your career.

After your residency, you’ll be qualified for a clinical staff position in an acute care setting or postgraduate year two (PGY2) training in a focused area of practice.

Personalize Your Residency

Benefit from the flexibility of the pharmacy residency at St. Joseph’s Medical Center. Tailor your residency to suit your interests and goals while you work with other health care professionals to provide safe, efficient, cost-effective patient care, including:

• Antimicrobial (including antibiotic) stewardship
• Blood thinner dosing and monitoring
• Drug distribution
• Intravenous (IV) to oral (PO) conversion
• Medical emergency response
• Medication reconciliation
• Medication use evaluations
• Order verification
• Patient education
• Pharmacokinetics
• Policy development
• Quality improvement
• Renal dose adjustment
• Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) management

Orientation

Start your pharmacy residency with a comprehensive orientation, including:

• New hire orientation
• Electronic health record (EHR) system training
• Introduction to Residency Learning System (RLS) and Pharmacademic
• Pharmacy processes and decentralized services
• Pharmacist competency completion and review

Required Rotations

Build your skills as a practicing pharmacist during rotation assignments that span a variety of departments at St. Joseph’s Medical Center:

• Orientation
• Cardiology
• General Medicine I
• Emergency Medicine (ER)
• General Medicine II
• Oncology
• Critical Care

Elective Rotations

Explore your interests and a variety of specialties during elective rotations. Possible electives include but are not limited to:

• Administration
• Ambulatory Care
• Antimicrobial Stewardship
• Behavioral Health
• Critical Care II
• Cardiology II
• Oncology II
• Critical Access/Rural Elective
• Pediatrics
• Transitions of Care

Longitudinal Rotations

Take part in ongoing learning opportunities throughout your residency with longitudinal rotations in:

• Education and precepting
• Drug information
• Practice management
• Research in coordination with the Essentia Health Institute of Rural Health
• Staffing

Research & Learning Experiences

Develop the skills to provide comprehensive, unbiased, evidence-based medication information as you:

• Participate in a research module—a structured, collaborative opportunity to learn and apply principles of academic research—through the residency research program
• Build a drug monograph or drug class review
• Complete a medication-use evaluation (MUE)
• Provide drug therapy information to pharmacy staff and other health care professionals through journal clubs, case presentations, and discussions
• Help develop policies to standardize practices and improve medication use safety

Staffing Opportunities

Fulfill the staffing component of your residency by working in the hospital’s central pharmacy. During your staffing shifts, you will have the support of at least two other pharmacists. Residents staff every other weekend and receive a three-day weekend on their weekend off. Residents are not scheduled to work on major holidays. You'll advance your foundational practice skills and develop proficiency in:

• Central distribution processes
• Drug information
• Intravenous admixture
• Transitions of care 
• Clinical consults
• Culture review