Geisinger Medical Center Pharmacy Residency in Danville
A customized residency to give you the confidence and practice to change lives.
About us
The PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at Geisinger Medical Center offers a customized residency education to prepare you as a clinical pharmacist to care for patients, innovate, lead and improve the quality of care and patient experience. You’ll be immersed in a collaborative interprofessional culture where clinical pharmacists practice at the top of their license in acute care, ambulatory care, specialty pharmacy and research. Your individual curriculum will be customized to facilitate achievement of your personal and professional goals.
Our goal is to provide residents like you with an exceptional training experience to foster the development of their professional expertise and competence as a health system pharmacy practitioner. All the pharmacists at Geisinger Medical Center are committed to delivering the highest quality of patient care and pharmacy education.
Our program is designed to build on Doctor of Pharmacy education and outcomes to contribute to the development of clinical pharmacists responsible for medication-related care of patients with a wide range of conditions, who are eligible for board certification and postgraduate year 2 (PGY2) pharmacy residency training.
Department of Pharmacy
The Geisinger Department of Pharmacy consists of 120 full-time employees, half of whom are pharmacists. The pharmacy practice model involves integration of clinical activities at the patient care level supported by centralized distribution, support functions and management systems. We have pharmacists practicing in anemia management, anticoagulation management, bone marrow transplant, cardiology, critical care medicine, emergency medicine, heart failure transitions of care, hematology, hepatology, internal medicine, infectious diseases, neonatal intensive care, medication therapy disease state management, nephrology, neurology, nutrition support, oncology, pain management, pediatrics, pediatric critical care, trauma and transplant services. Our pharmacists are involved in drug therapy management; multidisciplinary patient care; decentralized pharmacy practice; pharmacokinetic consultations; adult code team, stroke and sepsis response; medication utilization and outcome evaluation; and medical, nursing and pharmacy staff education programs.
Pharmacy students from the following schools of pharmacy complete experiential education rotations at our hospital and clinics as part of their core hospital pharmacy, clinical pharmacy and ambulatory care rotations:
- University of Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Campbell University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
- Creighton University College of Pharmacy
- Duquesne University Mylan College of Pharmacy
- D’Youville School of Pharmacy
- LECOM School of Pharmacy
- LIU Pharmacy; Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
- Marshall University School of Pharmacy
- Medical University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy
- Shenandoah University School of Pharmacy
- Temple University School of Pharmacy
- University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy
- University of the Sciences in Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
Residency program design
- Experiences designed to develop clinical skills and competence
- Curriculum and areas of emphasis based on your knowledge, skills and career aspirations, and a customized experience that optimizes your learning
- Learning experience activities and objectives that build on past experiences
- Model pharmacy practitioners with full-time practice and teaching responsibilities who serve as preceptors for learning experiences
- Elective learning experiences that let you pursue interests related to your career objectives
- Support to explore your areas of interest and engage in all pharmacy activities
- Teaching, research and scholarly endeavors to enhance your professional development
Goals
- To provide you with the training and experience to develop professional expertise as a health system pharmacy practitioner
- To cultivate competent and innovative practitioners who provide comprehensive pharmaceutical care services across the continuum of healthcare
- To create a foundation for the achievement of a leadership role in the profession
- To foster the development of professionals who provide effective, dynamic education to patients and healthcare professionals
- To support the attainment of professional self-realization
- To develop practitioners who can create and implement medication policies that ensure rational, cost-effective drug therapy
Program overview
Your curriculum is customized to your individual interests and career aspirations. Our program is part of an integrated healthcare system offering a vast variety of opportunities in acute and ambulatory care.
- Orientation (6 weeks)
- Ambulatory Care Selective (4 weeks)
- Cardiology* (4 weeks)
- Critical Care* (4 weeks)
- Infectious Disease* (4 weeks)
- Internal Medicine* (4 weeks)
- Pediatrics Selective (4 weeks)
- Pharmacy Leadership & Practice Advancement (10 months; 1 day per month in addition to time required to complete assignments)
- Major Research Project (12 months; 1 hour per month in addition to time required to complete the project and 1 research and scholarship week)
- Self-Assessment & Professional Performance Improvement (12 months; 1 day per month in addition to time required to complete assignments)
- Staffing (12 months; 2 days [Saturday and Sunday] every other weekend and 2 4-hour shifts per 4-week rotation during the week from about 3:30 – 7:30 p.m.)
Elective learning experiences are about 4 weeks long; concentrated learning experiences are 2 weeks long. Length may be modified based on resident interest and preceptor availability except where noted.
- Community Medicine
- Emergency Medicine*
- Emergency Medicine Concentrated
- Emergency Medicine Precepting
- Family Medicine (Ambulatory Care)
- Hematology
- Hepatology (Ambulatory Care)
- Hepatology Concentrated
- Investigational Drug Services Concentrated
- Neonatal Critical Care
- Nephrology Concentrated
- Nutrition Support
- Nutrition Support Concentrated
- Oncology (Ambulatory Care)
- Outpatient Infectious Disease Concentrated (Ambulatory Care)
- Pediatric Critical Care
- Pediatric Hematology and Oncology
- Pediatric Hospitalist
- Pediatric Precepting
- Pharmacy Administration (Management)
- Pharmacy Practice
- Preceptor Development in Internal Medicine
- Rheumatology (Ambulatory Care)
- Staffing Concentrated
- Stem Cell Transplant (Ambulatory Care)
- Trauma
Additional opportunities are available according to your interest level. The learning experiences indicated with an asterisk (*) may be revisited as an advanced elective learning experience. Core and elective learning experiences are traditionally 4 weeks in length, except for orientation, which is 6 weeks in duration and concentrated electives which are 2 weeks in duration.
- Adult code, stroke and sepsis team participation
- Inpatient anticoagulation monitoring and consultations
- Inpatient pain management consultations
- Inpatient pharmacokinetic drug monitoring and consultations
- Participation in departmental and health system committee meetings
- Within 60 days of the resident’s hire date:
- Possess a valid pharmacist license from the Pennsylvania State Board of Pharmacy
- Within 120 days of the resident’s hire date:
- Complete pharmacokinetic, inpatient anticoagulation and code/stroke certifications
- As described in the Residency Manual:
- All evaluations completed in accordance with ASHP Accreditation Standard
- Completion of minimum staffing requirements
- Adherence to the organization’s attendance standards
- Completion of all R1 goals/objectives with a status of Achieved for Residency (ACHR) by the end of the residency. Completion of 100% of the remaining goals/objectives for the program with at least 75% of the objectives having a status of ACHR. All objectives must have a minimum status of Satisfactory Progress.
- Completion of major project and submission of written manuscript of completed project to the RPD.
- Completion of assigned projects (MUE, drug review, and journal club).
- Presentation of at least 1 major CME program.
Frequently asked questions