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Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center PGY1 Pharmacy Residency

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Helping you enhance your abilities and grow your passion.

Sharp HealthCare celebrates diversity and embraces people of all backgrounds and was named one of America’s Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes Magazine.

Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center is part of the Sharp HealthCare System, a large, not-for-profit integrated regional health care delivery system based in the San Diego area. Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, a 449-bed facility, provides the largest selection of health care services in the South Bay with the most advanced cardiac care, sophisticated women's and infants' services and a state-of-the-art emergency department. The Douglas & Nancy Barnhart Cancer Center offers the most advanced technology. Unique services include bloodless surgery and medicine and skilled nursing facilities. It is designated as a Planetree Patient Centered Care Hospital.

Sharp Chula Vista prides itself in providing a comprehensive Clinical Pharmacy program which includes pharmacy to dose protocols and certifications in pharmacokinetic dosing of aminoglycosides and vancomycin, anticoagulation, renal, oncology and antibiotic surveillance services. Floor pharmacists are decentralized in specialty units including med-surg, medical and surgical intensive care, heart failure/telemetry, stroke, cardiac, oncology, and emergency medicine. Furthermore, the Clinical Pharmacy program provides preceptorship to APPE pharmacy students, including rotations in acute care/medicine, community practice, critical care, geriatrics, general hospital practice, infectious diseases, and also provides an opportunity for pharmacy school faculty affiliation.

About the program 

Grant Lum Sharp Residency Program Director

Grant Lum, PharmD, is the Residency Program Director.

As a resident, this ASHP-accredited Postgraduate Year One (PGY1) Pharmacy Residency will provide you with the opportunity to enhance your ability to provide effective pharmaceutical care in a wide variety of settings.

This PGY1 residency program primarily trains pharmacy graduates in general acute-care practice. The hiring and primary training site is located at Sharp Chula Vista, with secondary sites at other Sharp HealthCare facilities throughout San Diego County.

Learn more about the Sharp hospitals where the residency rotations are offered:

Through this health care system residency approach, residents will obtain pharmacy experience in multiple diverse patient care settings. Unique and distinctive training may include emergency medicine, transitions of care, critical care, NICU, infectious disease, oncology, safe medication practice, solid organ transplant, psychiatry and specialty pharmacy.

As a resident, you will work under the mentorship of pharmacy resident advisors and preceptors. This program will enable you to improve communication and leadership skills with health care professionals, pharmacy students and patients.

You will participate in the development of your own residency plan, which will reflect your interests and build upon your previous experiences. Upon successful completion of our program, you will be equipped with the knowledge to become an asset to the pharmacy community.

Learning experiences

Our unique program aims to personalize your residency objectives and experiences, helping you develop confidence and competence in acute patient care, drug information, disease state management and administrative management.

Residents are encouraged to participate in the development of their own residency plan that reflects personal interests and builds upon previous experiences.

Core learning experiences

  • Advancing Practice / Admin Intro (2 weeks, conc)
  • Chief Resident Leadership (1 quarter)
  • Critical Care (5 weeks)
  • Emergency Medicine (5 weeks)
  • Infectious Diseases / Antibiotic Stewardship (5 weeks)
  • Medicine (5 weeks)
  • Orientation (1 week)
  • Safe Medication Practice (2 weeks, conc)

Elective learning experiences*

    • Advanced Critical Care
    • Advanced Emergency Medicine
    • Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
    • Oncology
    • Psychiatry
    • Solid Organ Transplant
    • Specialty Pharmacy
    • Stroke and Metabolic
    • Transitions of Care
    • Others

    *Electives are 5 weeks but can be concentrated (2-4 weeks). Residents may develop new electives or reactivate currently inactive electives as approved by the residency director and preceptors.

    Required longitudinal experiences

    Pharmacy Practice/Staffing (12 months), Projects and Advancing Practice (9 months), Teaching Certification (7 months).

    Additional residency highlights

    • Committees

      You will actively participate in the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T), Safe Medication Practice and other supervisory and multidisciplinary committees as appropriate.

    • Compensation

      Your annual base stipend will be an estimate of $55,000 plus benefits. We coordinate with pharmacy managers to tailor all staffing to the needs of the residency program and the pharmacy department. If there’s a need, we’ll help provide financial support for approved educational opportunities, conferences and travel.

    • Educational opportunities

      We’ll provide you with ongoing educational opportunities through professional meetings and conferences (CSHP, ASHP Midyear, Western States Conference), certifications (ACLS, BLS). Sharp also provides ongoing preceptor training and Six Sigma White and Yellow Belt certification opportunities.

    • Leadership

      Each resident will act as chief resident for one quarter (three-month term), which involves coordinating and scheduling tasks for the residency team, maintaining correspondence with pharmacy administration and preceptors and performing other program duties as necessary.

    • Presentations

      Throughout the year, we provide numerous opportunities for our residents to present to medical and nursing staff, pharmacy students, and pharmacy staff, in addition to the required rotational and formal seminar presentations.

    • Projects

      You are required to collaborate with system and site pharmacy leadership, your residency project preceptor, and a co-investigator to select an area of interest also of high priority to Sharp HealthCare. You will complete an in-depth, systematic study suitable for publication and presentation. Additional projects are completed as requested by the resident, preceptors, system and site pharmacy departments and as deemed beneficial for both your development and for Sharp HealthCare.

    • Teaching

      At Sharp, we integrate teaching experiences into patient care activities and through the provision of educational support to pharmacy students and staff, nursing and medical staff members and others. As a resident, you will work closely with pharmacists in preceptorship of pharmacy students on clinical learning experiences from various colleges of pharmacy — including Chapman University, Keck Graduate Institute, Touro University, University of California at Irvine, University of California at San Diego and Western University. Additionally, through the San Diego Pharmacy Residency Leadership Program, you will obtain a teaching certification upon completion and participate in preceptor development and various workshops.

    How to apply

    Sharp HealthCare fosters a diverse and inclusive environment through the care we offer and the people we employ. Applicants must possess a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (PharmD) and must be self-motivated with good interpersonal and communication skills. A California Internship License is required before the start of the residency. Completion of the CPJE and NAPLEX licensure exams is recommended before residency begins, if possible. Pharmacist licensure must be obtained no later than November 1 of the residency year.

    To be considered for an interview, you must complete and submit all application material via PhORCAS by January 2, 2025. If you have any questions, please contact Grant Lum, PharmD, residency director, or one of the current PGY1 resident pharmacists Kari Fukumoto; Tina Hong; Tram Ngo; and Nicholas Ngo. Complete applications should include the following as well as meet any additional requirements by PhORCAS (National Matching Service code 133913):

    • School of pharmacy transcript
    • Curriculum vitae
    • Letter of interest
    • 3 reference writers

    For more information

    Virtual Open House Dates:

    • Open House 1: Thursday, 10/17/24 from 1700-1800

             Click Here

    • Open House 2: Tuesday, 11/19/24 from 1700-1800

             Click Here

    Please review and download the following materials:

    Learn about other residency programs affiliated with Sharp:

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