Mitch Marsh, PharmD (left), spends a teaching moment with Matt Neukirch, PharmD, the first member of a new Pharmacy Resident Program at Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center, Lincoln, NE.
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A new program at Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center, Lincoln, NE, helps alleviate a nationwide shortage of pharmacy residencies. Mitch Marsh, PharmD, director of Saint Elizabeth’s Pharmacy Resident Program, said there are just 2,100 residency openings in the U.S. for the more than 3,700 pharmacy graduates who apply each year. Saint Elizabeth’s first pharmacy resident, who recently graduated from Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professionals, is already in place.
“I have read data that compares a one-year pharmacy residency to three-to-five years of being employed in a pharmacy,” said Marsh. “A resident gets incredible hands-on experience in a wide variety of areas, working individually with nearly every pharmacist we have.”
Saint Elizabeth’s Pharmacy Resident Program took two years to develop, according to Marsh. He and Kurt Clyne, pharmacy director, worked closely with CHI as part of an initiative to encourage pharmacy resident programs.
