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Official Newsjournal of the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists

Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy
Recent residency round table event and upcoming changes at Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy

by Katarzyna Plis, P2, ICHP Student Chapter President; Selma Dzelil, P2, ICHP Student Chapter Vice President; Brandon Swinford, P2, ICHP Student Chapter President Webmaster

Residency Round Table

Throughout the past year as first-year pharmacy students, we have all acquired a significant amount of information from our Student Society of Health Systems Pharmacy (SSHP). We began our first year of pharmacy school not knowing much about clinical pharmacy, residencies, or the various opportunities involved in health systems pharmacy. SSHP has not only helped to educate us, but also has encouraged us to set substantial goals for the future.

Recently, one of the first year pharmacy students organized the residency round table event. This event consisted of seven residents from the following places: Rush University Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and NorthShore University Health Systems. Many residents that participated were in their postgraduate year one training (PGY1) and only two in the postgraduate year two training (PGY2). Residents were divided into separate tables and students would rotate from table to table to ask questions. Here is a personal experience from one of the students who attended this event.

“As a P1 with virtually no knowledge of how residencies in pharmacy work, the roundtable helped me understand the different types of residencies one can pursue. As a PGY1, pharmacists are exposed to a wide variety of operations within an institution. For example, residents at Northwestern will rotate through the Emergency Department, the OR, Inpatient, Administrative positions and special departments within those departments. The PGY2 year is where a specialization develops, and there are nine different paths to pursue. If a resident does not want to specialize, they can choose to complete only their PGY1. After finding out more about what specializations entail, I was drawn to the administrative side of pharmacy. Administration encompasses all of Drug Information, Informatics, Clinical Practice Guidelines for institutions and P&T committees. If it wasn’t for the roundtable, I would have been scrambling at the last minute trying to decipher which rotation was right for me. Hearing each resident's experience, schedule, and expected duties gave me the opportunity to do more pointed research on my own. I am confident my interests and strengths will be better represented as a candidate after this experience.” (Brandon Swinford).

Upcoming Changes

As the new executive board, we hold SSHP to a high standard and view it as one of the most important organizations on campus. As we take on the responsibility to run SSHP, we have chosen to implement a new position in the next academic year. This new position that was recently approved, is membership chair. The duties and responsibilities include presenting to incoming students about SSHP. In addition, not only will the individual in this position be responsible for explaining to the students what SSHP is, but he or she will also need to find time to help those students join. We believe that this new position is crucial, because by obtaining new members we can continue to build our SSHP chapter at Roosevelt University COP. The membership chair will serve as an advocate for SSHP and will enthusiastically answer questions students may have while promoting the organization as a whole.

As the new executive board we have accepted the responsibility to continue all the traditions that SSHP has done in the past. However, we believe that we have the ability to initiate new changes and opportunities for our chapter. As we move forward, we will work on organizing new events and opportunities that will benefit all students at Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy.