Residency Showcase Program Listings

Critical Care Pharmacy Residency (geisinger.edu)

The Critical Care Pharmacy Residency Program at Geisinger Medical Center prepares you for the challenges of critical care. Our residency offers a dynamic and innovative experience for pharmacists who aim to become exceptionally skilled critical care clinicians. Besides robust, diversified experiences in clinical care pharmacy, you’ll have opportunities to cultivate teaching and leadership skills.

As a pharmacy resident at our academic medical center, you will train in specialized intensive care units including a cardiothoracic/vascular unit, trauma unit, neonatal intensive care unit, neuroscience unit, pediatric intensive care unit and surgical unit. We are a Level I Trauma Center and Comprehensive Stroke Center. You’ll learn to respond to all inpatient adult code and stroke alerts. 

At Geisinger, we take pride in being at the cutting edge of technological innovation. This residency is designed to train future leaders in critical care pharmacy practice. At our state-of-the-art simulation center, you can hone skills collaboratively with other medical fellows and residents. Our electronic ICU platform allows us to provide critical care services to Geisinger hospitals throughout the state. We’re pleased to host learners from more than 15 schools of pharmacy, three pharmacy residency programs, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Bloomsburg University School of Nursing and numerous medical residency and fellowship programs.

In the Geisinger Critical Care Pharmacy Residency, you’ll train with a diverse multidisciplinary team. Our pharmacists are board certified in critical care, cardiology, pharmacotherapy, infectious diseases, pediatrics, nutrition support, oncology and more. Our physicians are all board certified in critical care medicine from fields including internal medicine, pulmonary, general surgery, trauma surgery, anesthesia, neurology and emergency medicine. In addition, our faculty hold advanced degrees in fields such as philosophy and business. Work and learn from them alongside critical care nurses and respiratory therapists in a truly collaborative, team-based approach to critical care.

Our purpose is to build on a Doctor of Pharmacy education as well as PGY1 pharmacy residency programs. Geisinger is dedicated to the development of clinical pharmacy specialists in critical care. This PGY2 residency provides you with opportunities to function independently as a practitioner. You’ll be conceptualizing and integrating accumulated experience and knowledge while incorporating both into the provision of patient care. Residents who successfully complete an accredited PGY2 pharmacy residency are prepared for advanced patient care, academic or other specialized positions, along with board certification if available.

As a Geisinger Critical Care Pharmacy resident, you’ll receive substantial training and experience. We’ll expect you to innovate and collaborate with other residents and faculty as you gain competency to provide comprehensive pharmaceutical care service for patients in critical care. Your strong foundation will help you move into leadership roles in your career while providing compassionate, cost-effective drug therapy for critically ill patients.

The required learning experiences involve education in a variety of intensive care settings, including but not limited to:

• Medical intensive care
• Neurologic intensive care
• Surgical intensive care
• Cardiac intensive care
• Trauma intensive care
• Pediatric intensive care
• Emergency medicine
• Precepting in critical care medicine

In addition to gaining experience in intensive care settings, you’ll have the opportunity to expand your knowledge in unique clinical settings. By gaining knowledge in areas beyond the required learning experiences, you’ll become a well-rounded critical care pharmacist. These elective learning experiences include:

• Bone marrow transplant
• Neonatal intensive care
• Nutrition support in critical care medicine
• Any required learning experience may be repeated as an advanced elective

As a Geisinger Critical Care Pharmacy resident, you’ll also participate in longitudinal learning activities and experiences designed to enrich your educational experience:

• Adult code and stroke team participation
• Infectious diseases
• Inpatient anticoagulation monitoring and consultation
• Major research project
• Medication utilization evaluation project
• Participation in departmental and health system committee meetings
• Pharmacokinetic drug monitoring and consultations
• Pharmacy leadership
• Formulary management and medication safety
• Practice management and staffing in the critical care unit
• Self-assessment and professional performance improvement

• Possession of a valid pharmacist license from the Pennsylvania State Board of Pharmacy
• Completion of PGY2 critical care pharmacy R1 goals and objectives with a status of achieved for residency and for >75% of remaining objectives having a status of achieved for residency
• Presentation of a medication use evaluation project at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting and research project at the Eastern States Conference or Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) Congress
• Completion of a manuscript for the research project
• Continuing medical education (CME) presentation at Geisinger’s annual interprofessional pharmacy conference
• Completion of institutional credentialing programs
• Completion of staffing requirements