PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency Program

PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency

Site Profile

The St. Cloud VA Health Care System is a Joint Commission-accredited health care institution providing outpatient care in the areas of internal medicine, psychiatry, cardiology, pulmonology, rheumatology, neurology, nephrology, urology, home care, hematology/oncology, podiatry, ENT, orthopedics, pain and urgent care. Inpatient care is provided in long-term care, hospice, acute psychiatry, and residential rehabilitation. The St. Cloud VA provides exceptional care to over 38,000 veterans annually at 4 locations in Central Minnesota spanning 27 counties.

Pharmacy Services: Medication Therapy Management and collaborative prescribing are provided by over 20 Clinical Pharmacy Practitioners (CPP)  for both outpatients and inpatients via referrals for management of anticoagulation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, pain and palliative care, and other chronic conditions for thousands of patients annually. Automation includes provider order entry, completely computerized medical record, bar code medication dispensing and administration, and automated dispensing cabinets.

Educational Experiences

This ambulatory care focused PGY1 pharmacy residency program is designed to develop pharmacist practitioners with the knowledge and skills to serve as a vital member of interdisciplinary health care teams.  Residents who complete this PGY-1 residency program will participate in a diverse selection of rotations, enabling them to provide exceptional patient care across various practice settings. Learning opportunities include outpatient pharmacy, ambulatory care (PACT), long-term geriatric care (Community Living Center), Home Based Primary Care (HBPC), pain, mental health,  cardiology, anticoagulation, and other specialized areas. Pharmacy residents gain hands-on experience managing medications, conducting patient visits, and participating in team meetings, and providing education. Upon successful completion of this residency program, residents will be prepared to seek board certification in pharmacotherapy (i.e. BCPS) and pursue additional training opportunities such as postgraduate year two (PGY2) residency. Additionally, residents will complete a quality improvement project.  

Each resident gains exposure to many areas of direct patient care in a team-based setting by providing care via 25-50 patient encounters per week. Our CPP have a scope of practice which allows for medications to be independently managed by the CPP through provider referral and population management, and includes prescribing privileges. The resident will work collaboratively with the interprofessional health care team at this site including: physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, nurses, dieticians, social workers, scheduling staff and pharmacy technicians. Residents will complete concentrated learning experience rotations in the areas of primary care, anticoagulation, cardiology, pain, mental health, long-term and rehab care, and management. 

In our primary care area, the resident will serve as the pharmacist on the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). As the PACT pharmacist, the resident will be responsible for meeting with veterans for face-to-face visits, conducting virtual visits via telephone and video, completing medication consults, responding to drug information questions, and participating in team meetings. Typical disease states encountered include anticoagulation, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, heart failure, and other chronic disease states. In PACT, each appointment is 30 minutes in length, during which the resident conducts patient interviews, reviews and reconciles the patient's medications, assesses vital signs, evaluates laboratory results, and formulates a treatment plan. A progress note is entered into the electronic chart for each visit. The resident is also responsible for scheduling appointments, ordering labs, ordering medications and conferring with a provider when clinically appropriate.  

Specialty practice experiences in the areas of anticoagulation, pain, cardiology and mental health function similarly as PACT with integration into the clinical practice teams.  This experience provides the resident broadened practice exposure and therapeutic treatment planning working with preceptors with advanced training and experience in these specialties.

Home Based Care Program (HBC) operates similarly to PACT  with care provided in the veterans’ home.  In addition to disease state management, the CPP also focus on transitions of care, care coordination, and quarterly comprehensive chart reviews. 

Our Community Living Center (CLC) provides a skilled nursing home level of care and a variety of rehabilitation programs. The resident will be exposed to a variety of patients admitted to CLC, including rehab, long-term stay and hospice patients, through interviewing of patients, chart review and consultations from providers. In this area, the pharmacy team is responsible for medication reconciliation on admission, discharge counseling, monthly nursing home chart reviews, pharmacy consult completion, fall reviews, drug information questions, and disease-state management. CLC chart review functions encompass comprehensive medication management reviews of our veterans on a monthly basis. Through chart reviews, the pharmacy resident will gain experience evaluating a variety of geriatric disease states including dementia, Parkinson’s, osteoporosis, BPH and others, as well as learn the management of other chronic disease states in a geriatric population. The resident will be responsible for disease state monitoring in the area of anticoagulation, diabetes, hypertension and antimicrobial monitoring. The resident will assist with managing transitions of care between settings through admission medication reconciliation, plus discharge education and outpatient appointment scheduling.

For our practice management experience, the resident will be exposed to committee involvement, policy/protocol review and development, medication safety projects, quality improvement projects, population pharmacotherapy, leadership development, organizational learning, and introduction to pharmacy management roles. The resident will be involved in the medication error committee and the P& T Committee. The resident will complete a performance improvement project and medication use evaluation. 

Education and teaching experiences are provided through regular presentations of journal club, topic review, and case presentation opportunities to our pharmacy staff and student pharmacist precepting opportunities. A longitudinal residency project will be completed throughout the residency year.

Traditional pharmacy staffing duties will be expected approximately one day of every 2 weeks, in many of our care areas, depending on the rotation and the learning needs of the resident. Staffing will occur during regular tour of duty. The resident will also be given residency time each block to work on projects, drug information questions, presentations, and other assignments.

Position Details:

Duration: 12 months
Position(s): 1
Starting Date: June 29, 2026
Estimated Stipend: $53,632
Application Deadline: January 3, 2026
Interview Required: Yes

Benefits:

Benefits include health insurance, annual leave (vacation), time off for illness/appointments/family care and paid federal holidays within compliance to ASHP standards. 

How to Apply:

The St. Cloud VA Pharmacy Residency Program participates in the Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service (PhORCAS).  To apply,  the following must be submitted through PhORCAS by the deadline to be considered for an on-site or virtual interview. 

• Letter of Intent
• Curriculum vitae
• Pharmacy school transcripts
• Three completed references in PhORCAS

For questions or concerns, please contact: 

Sara Faber, PharmD

PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program Director

PACT Clinical Pharmacy Practitioner

St. Cloud VA Medical Center 

E-mail: sara.faber@va.gov