I'd love to answer your questions on the Q-LAB! I'll be posting them here in case others have a similar question. Here are my thoughts -
Hi Mark, I’m currently a P4 and would really like to be an emergency medicine pharmacist after graduation, but I wasn’t sure if it is necessary to do a residency? I keep getting conflicting advice and was wondering what your thoughts were... " - @forever_lhamo
Is it necessary to do a residency if you are interested in emergency medicine as a P4 after graduation?
At a minimum for the faster track, you need to complete a PGY1 pharmacy residency. It is possible you could get an inpatient position if you had connections (likely in central pharmacy), request to get trained within the different services (including ED), and then it would be a matter of how much patient experience in EM you can get. That would take several years and the "training" would be more self-driven..
Becoming an emergency medicine pharmacist is one thing, being competent and proficient is another. The greatest value you get from completing a residency is the dedicated learning from experienced, knowledgeable preceptors. Continuing onto a PGY2 in EM gives you another year of specialized, focused learning from EM specialists (pharmacists, physicians, APPs, RNs, RTs, techs, etc). There is no replacement for direct patient care and training under the supervision of experienced pharmacists. That would be the quickest way to being a competent and proficient emergency medicine pharmacist (with more opportunities since your training is sought out).
Thanks for the question!
Mark Nguyen, PharmD, BCEMP
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