The PGY1 Residency at St. Luke's Magic Valley is a 12-month program that develops expertise and competency in providing clinical care to a wide variety of patients. The residency accommodates three PGY1 residents and has 6-week learning experiences that provide the residents the opportunity to precept P4 students in adult medicine.
Our pharmacy department utilizes a centralized/decentralized clinical staffing model, a centralized sterile IV preparation area compliant with USP 797, extensive pharmacy automation, an anticoagulation clinic, an outpatient infusion center, and ambulatory pharmacy services.
Residents are required to staff every third weekend (Friday–Sunday) and one major holiday during the year. This provides the opportunity to incorporate what they are learning into daily practice and to be fully competent in all areas of the pharmacy. They are also eligible to staff additional shifts at full pharmacist wages once they are trained and able to work independently.
ASHP requires that residents engage in a research or quality improvement project and that they present the results of that project at a regional residency conference. Our residents prepare a pharmacy technician CE presentation for the ISHP fall meeting in Sun Valley, a poster presentation on their research project at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, and a final oral presentation at the Mountain States Pharmacy Residency Conference in Salt Lake City. A final written manuscript of the project is also required.
As residents complete their major residency projects, they have the opportunity to incorporate the quality improvement principles of Lean Six Sigma into their learning. This methodology has been validated and re-validated for over six decades in many different industries and provides a valuable framework to define, measure and assess their work. A certificate of completion is awarded at the conclusion of the course.
Dr. Barbara Mason from the Idaho State University (ISU) College of Pharmacy facilitates the completion of a formal teaching certificate program. Residents give a clinical lecture to the pharmacy students at ISU, are featured presenters at ISHP conferences, and lead case review classes at ISU during the year. They also hold a monthly Resident Forum with other PGY1 residents in the Boise area, where residents teach and discuss clinical topics to complete assignments for the teaching certificate.
Historically, about half of our PGY1 residents accept a full-time clinical pharmacist position with St. Luke's at the completion of their PGY1 program year. The others have taken positions in PGY2 programs. ambulatory settings, academic medical centers, and other acute care health system positions. St. Luke's strives to keep each of our PGY1 residents as permanent clinical staff pharmacists at the completion of their PGY1 year, however, this is always dependent on the availability of open positions.
Dallin Poulsen, Pharm.D.
Phone: (208) 814-2503
Cell: (507) 206-8087
Fax: (208) 814-2920
Email: poulsend@slhs.org
The PGY1 Pharmacy Residency conducted by St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls is accredited by ASHP.