PGY2 Specialized Residency: Critical Care

Rotation Schedule

At a minimum, each resident will spend two-thirds of their time involved in direct patient care activities. Residents must complete 7 core rotations and 2 electives. Longitudinal learning experiences are over the course of the entire residency year and they include research, teaching, a quality improvement project, and operational staffing.

Sequencing of Learning Experiences

Learning experiences are sequenced such that the resident completes onsite core learning experiences prior to electives and teaching focused learning experiences. Various electives are offered, including those off-site (UC Davis).

Core Rotations

• Medical ICU (5-6weeks)
• Surgical ICU (5-6 weeks)
• Cardiac ICU (5-6 weeks)
• Neuro ICU (5-6 weeks)
• Emergency Medicine (5-6 weeks)
• Trauma and Surgical ICU (5-6 weeks)
• Clinical Teaching and Preceptorship (5-6 weeks)

Electives

• Heart and Lung Transplant  (4-5 weeks)

• Hematology and Oncology (4-5 weeks)

• Infectious Disease (4-5 weeks)

• Cardiac Pediatric ICU (4-5 weeks)

• Pediatric ICU (4-5 weeks)

• Burn ICU (4-5 weeks)

Operational Training

All residents receive comprehensive training in each of the operational areas during orientation, including formalized training in sterile compounding and aseptic technique. At the beginning of the residency year, residents are paired with an experienced preceptor who will oversee their operational staffing learning experience through the year and provide residents with feedback.

Staffing Areas

Operational staffing occurs longitudinally and takes place approximately every third weekend spanning throughout the residency year for a total of 16 weekends, in addition to one major holiday and two minor holidays. Residents staff in 2 areas:

Project Selection

The Residency Program Director collects project proposal submissions from clinical pharmacists for consideration as a resident research project on an annual basis in the Spring. Projects are reviewed for feasibility, appropriateness of timeline, potential value that may focus on clinical pharmacist services, quality improvement initiatives such as drug safety, optimal medication use, cost effective drug use, and efficient, safe and effective medication preparation, delivery and administration. The Residency Program Director will reach out to the residents in early summer to start discussion of project selection.

Research Training

PGY2 residents participate in the UCSF Research Certificate Program and will gain skills in: adhering to a research timeline, creating an appropriate study design and methodology, completing data collection and analysis and summarizing research findings. Residents are enrolled in the Designing Clinical Research course (or equivalent) that is part of the Summer Clinical Research Workshop. This interprofessional curriculum within the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics guides residents through modification of their research proposal and creation of a version suitable for submission to the UCSF Institutional Review Board. For projects requiring more advanced statistics, residents also receive support to work with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) in order to complete analysis.

Residents participate in a research certificate whereby they attend structured research sessions throughout the year in guiding the successful completion of the research project.

Poster & Platform Presentations

All projects are of a scope suitable for publication. Projects are presented as posters at the UCSF Department of Clinical Pharmacy Spring Research Poster Session. They are also presented as posters at the Vizient residency session that precedes the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in December. The final presentation occurs in spring as a platform presentation at the SCCM NorCal Spring meeting and UC Collaborative Conference in California (both usually in May). Final research project write up should be in a format suitable journal submission.

Examples of Previous PGY2 Critical Care Research Projects

Teaching Instruction

Teaching is a focus of the residency at UCSF, and residents receive a Teaching Certificate upon program completion if they complete the required elements of the program. The certificate recognizes the significant contributions and skills that are attained during the residency year. Residents receive training in teaching methodology, precepting and small group conference facilitation through a variety of educational seminars that are planned during the year.

Teaching Experiences

Teaching opportunities may include the following:

• Precepting of PGY1, APPE, and IPPE students on clinical rotations and project-based work
• Interprofessional education through ICU Noon Conference and other non-pharmacist lectures
• Small and/or large group teaching
• Course coordination of the high-fidelity simulation lab
• Northern California Critical Care Journal Club webinar presentation

Overview

PGY2 Pharmacy residents are integral members of the interprofessional emergency response care team. All PGY2 Pharmacy will become certified in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), and receive hands-on code training. Residents respond to Code Stroke, Code Sepsis and Code Blue to ensure appropriate drug selection and administration, timeliness of medication retrieval and preparation, adjusting medication dosages and monitoring for response.

Simulation

The UCSF Residency Training Program has developed and implemented a longitudinal simulation curriculum for PGY1 Pharmacy residents to increase confidence and competence during various emergent situations. The program utilizes the Kanbar Center for Simulation and Clinical Skills, a high-fidelity simulation center within UCSF. Throughout the residency year, residents participate in 4 simulation lab sessions, each covering 4 cases. The clinical case scenarios become increasingly complex as the residency year progresses, and is intended to meet the advancing skill set of the residents. A clinical pharmacist content experts are invited to the sessions to lead the residents through a debrief of the simulation session and allow for discussion of advanced clinical topics.

Throughout the residency year, PGY2 resident will participate and then lead a total of 4 simulation lab sessions, each about 4 hours in length. The first session is an introduction for the PGY2 resident while the remaining three sessions is co-coordinated by the PGY2 resident. During the last session, PGY2 is responsible in writing a new case and also facilitating the debrief session.

Appointment

July 7, 2025 to July 10, 2026 (53 weeks)

Positions Available

PGY2 Critical Care (NMS 689452) - 1 position

Recruitment

This program participates in the University of California, System-Wide Early Commitment Process. 

The Residency Program Director, Program Coordinator and residents recruit potential residency applicants at the following events:

• American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting
  • Residency Showcase
  • Personnel Placement Services (PPS)
    • Applicants are encouraged to participate in PPS if possible

Requirements for Admission

Applicants must be eligible for licensure in California, posses a PharmD degree, completed or in the process of completing a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency program that is ASHP accredited, or in the process of accreditation (i.e. candidate or preliminary accreditation status).

Non-US and US Citizens from Foreign Schools of Pharmacy

Non-US citizens must be eligible to work and live in the US by obtaining an appropriate visa and must be eligible to work as a licensed pharmacist in California. We do not sponsor visas for foreign pharmacy residency applicants. Non-US and US citizens who graduate from a foreign school of pharmacy must first be certified by examination before the process of licensure in the US can begin. The Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Committee ™ (FPGEC®) certificate program operates under the auspices of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy®. The NABP® provides the FPGEC Certification Program as a means of documenting the educational equivalency of a candidate's foreign education, as well as the license and or registration to practice pharmacy. More information about this entire process is provided in these NABP® links: nabp.pharmacy.

1. Match: All applicants must register for The Match – ASHP Resident Matching Program.
2. PhORCAS: Applications will be accepted through PhORCAS (Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service), a web-based pharmacy residency application system. 
3. Cover Letter: A cover letter describing why you decided to pursue critical care pharmacy, how a residency at UCSF will aid in your career, elements of the program that most interest you and how each element relates to your personal goals.
4. Letters of Recommendation: We request a minimum of one (two is preferred) of your three references should come from a preceptor who you have worked with in a clinical setting, related to an APPE in acute or ambulatory care. The clinical preceptor should be able to comment on your scope of responsibility, total patient load, level of autonomy, clinical abilities, and organizational and time management skills. All 3-reference writers should use the standard PhORCAS template to submit their candidate recommendation. An uploaded letter of recommendation is optional and not required.

Application Reviews

Each PGY2 applicant packet is screened and scored by members of the Critical Care team. Screeners assess the following: communication skills, clinical experience (breadth, performance, scope of activity), personal/environmental factors (maturity, confidence, motivation, and adaptability), and work experience, aggregate letters of recommendation, leadership/initiative, teaching (interest and/or experience), research (interest and/or experience), extracurricular involvement and academic performance. The screening score is used to determine if an on-site interview will be extended.

Interviews

The interview process is a full day which consists of panel interviews with program preceptors, a personal interview with a pharmacy administrator (if available) and a personal interview with the Residency Program Director. Applicants are also asked to present a 20-min PowerPoint presentation on a critical care topic.