Are you going to Midyear? For a Residency Candidate- mingling with 20,000 or more pharmacists can be an intimidating encounter. A little bit of preparation on your part will improve your experience and, most importantly, help you to identify residency programs that are a good fit for you. Please do not overlook the next and very first step which is to take a few moments to reflect on your own professional values. Answering the following questions should give you a good start. What sort of pharmacist do you plan to become? What will you stand for? Try writing your own professional practice statement. It is difficult to identify the residencies that are right for you until you have carefully thought about your own personal goals. We all want to work with colleagues who share common purpose, motivations, and values. A residency candidate needs to define his/her own values before selecting potential residency programs. Why is this so important? Because we all must face difficult and troubling questions in life such as: What does it mean to be a professional? To have character? To have a duty to patients? To be worthy of the trust that patients and other clinicians will place in your hands? Have you thought about what you care about? Believe in? Are you willing to take a stand for your beliefs? You will have many opportunities in your career to directly face these and other questions. None of us want to face them for the first time while we are experiencing the white heat of accountability. I believe that going through this process will help you to become a stronger candidate for any residency program.
The Residency Showcase is held on Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning, and Tuesday afternoon; however, each program will exhibit only once. You will be joined by about 2,000 other prospective residency candidates, so expect a crowd. Clearly, you will not be able to stop at each residency booth. You should identify programs in advance that you want to visit. Some candidates select programs by city and state, by size, or by college of pharmacy affiliation. Your goal at the Residency Showcase is to identify programs that are a good fit for your interests. Think of the Residency Showcase as an excellent opportunity for you to interview preceptors and current residents. Ask questions designed to narrow your choices for onsite interviews to a manageable (and affordable) size. Structure your questions to find out if a particular program matches your goals, interests, and professional values. Do not worry if a program cannot offer every one of the experiences you would like to have, as you will likely change your mind over the next 18 months. Avoid asking questions that can be answered with yes or no or with a numerical value, such as how many residents are in the program and how much staffing is required. These questions send the message that you have not prepared, and that you are worried about having to work as a pharmacist. Instead, ask preceptors and residency directors why they serve in this role and what they like the most about working with residents. Why does the site have a residency program? Ask the residents if their staffing experiences contribute to their development as practitioners. What do the residents like about their relationships with their preceptors and with other pharmacists. Finding out why preceptors or residency directors accept this role tells you a great deal about a residency program. Knowing the characteristics department leaders think makes someone an excellent preceptor-reveals even more. Because of its size and the time limitations, collecting the information you need at the Residency Showcase is difficult, and I recommend that you practice ahead of time with pharmacy residents and preceptors that you meet during your clerkship experiences. Perhaps there will be a friendly and uncrowded residency booth on Monday available for practice?
How can you tell the type of candidate a residency program is looking for? I suggest you take a close look at the current residents. Are they enthusiastic, or is the showcase a chore to them? What are their professional values? Are they similar to yours? If you share professional values with the current residents there is a very good chance this program is a good fit for you.
The residents’ poster sessions, usually held on one day (Wednesday) of the MCM, are too often overlooked by residency candidates. These sessions are less crowded and the atmosphere is much more relaxed than at the Residency Showcase. After all, what residents do not want to talk to interested parties about their own work? You will have plenty of time to discuss the residents’ project and to find out about preceptor support, about relationships with the medical staff, and the overall quality and scope of the residency.
I hope you have an outstanding MCM and return to school with all of the enthusiasm generated during this Meeting. As a residency preceptor, I want to thank you for your commitment to pursue residency training. If you are interested in Northwestern please stop by our booth on Tuesday afternoon and ask me why we have a residency, why I serve as a residency director, and what I think makes someone a good preceptor. I have a pretty good answer for you.
This article is originally published in KeePosted the official newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists.
Related links access Becoming a Stronger Residency Candidate; Presenting a Poster at a National Meeting; and Letters of Recommendation.
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