Frequently Asked Questions

How is your residency program different than others I might be considering?

Our residency program differs from most other ambulatory care focused residency programs due to our focus, breadth of resident experiences, unique relationship with a college of pharmacy, and the individual strengths and diversity of our various practice sites.  While this is our focus, our multiple sites offer a variety of experiences for residents to become skilled practitioners through individualized learning experiences that are longitudinal in nature.  Being a multi-site program affiliated with a college of pharmacy, our residency program is able to provide a framework for residency education, expertise in practice development and administrative support that allows each site to focus on the education of their resident(s).  Networking opportunities abound with fellow residents and preceptors in the program allowing for residents to experience both rural and urban practices, teaching focused clinics and non-teaching clinics, didactic and experiential teaching, and underserved and for-profit clinic settings.

What opportunities will I have to teach pharmacy students?

 Opportunities to gain further expertise in teaching exist in a variety of ways through our residency program.  Teaching occurs at each of our residency sites through resident involvement in the preceptorship of student pharmacists participating in advanced pharmacy practice experiences.  Pharmaceutical Care Leadership Residents spend 40% of their time in academia as instructors in the College of Pharmacy’s Pharmaceutical Care Learning Center, lecturing in courses, participating in college committees and additional college service activities.  Residents at our other residency host sites may electively choose to gain teaching experience by teaching in the Pharmaceutical Care Learning Center or lecturing in courses.

What kind of residency research project will I do?

To gain the full research experience, residents participate in the formation of their own research questions that piques their interest in any of a variety of topics related to pharmacy practice.  While viewing the Career Advancement section of our website, browse the program library to see some of the residency projects completed by our program graduates.

 Am I expected to attend a national pharmacy conference, and if so, will I have any financial support for travel costs?

 Residents are expected to attend one national pharmacy conference of their choice to further network and experience the profession of pharmacy.  Each resident has access to a $1000 travel stipend to defray costs of their meeting attendance.  Pharmaceutical Care Leadership Residents have access to a $2000 travel stipend and are expected to attend two pharmacy meetings each year.

Will there be any requirements to provide “staffing” services?  If so, is there extra pay for this work?

 Staffing expectations are site dependent as some of our sites justify their resident’s salary in part by requiring staffing service.  Responsibilities vary and range from having no staffing requirements, staffing in a dispensing pharmacy one-half or one day per week to one weekend per month or being “on call” for inpatient services on a weekend rotation (this final potential responsibility is unique to our rural sites).  Some of our sites do provide extra compensation for staffing service while others require it as part of the residency experience.  Opportunities for extra employment are possible at the resident’s discretion.

How cold is it in Minnesota, anyway?

According to the Minnesota DNR, Feb. 2, 1996, just south of Tower in St. Louis County, a volunteer observer for the National Weather Service recorded an air temperature of minus 60 F-the coldest official measurement ever made in Minnesota. Feb. 8, 1899, Roseau had an afternoon high of minus 39 F. This record-low daily high temperature occurred amid one of the longest, coldest spells in Minnesota's climate history. From Jan. 26 through Feb. 12, 1899, the temperature in Roseau never reached zero.

Communities such as Roseau and International Falls claim cold-weather bragging rights because of their northern latitudes. Rival cold spots in Embarrass and Tower have monitoring stations in low-lying basins, which collect cold, dense air.

The good news is that none of our residency sites are in Tower, Roseau, Embarrass, or International Falls, at least no yet.  Despite these scary cold record temperatures in the winter that may be a part of a cold stretch, MN winters offer great outdoor winter recreation.  Spring and summer are all the sweeter after a cold winter and offer moderate temperatures with plenty of opportunities for summer recreation.