Activities while on the unit will include, but are not limited to: 

• Rounding with the critical care team daily
• Patient monitoring/problem solving
• Investigation of medication error reports and adverse drug reactions
• Drug information and literature searches
• Attending codes
• Team-related projects
• Communication and interaction with pharmacists, physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and dietitians
• Contributing as a member of the critical care team

Other activities include:

• Assist in the development of guidelines and protocols
• Attend Pulmonary/Critical Care grand rounds, journal clubs and conferences
• Advanced Cardiac Life Support training
• Opportunities to interact with various residents: clinical PGY2s (ID, transplant, general medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, oncology, etc.), PGY1s – pharmacy practice and PGY1 and PGY2 – health systems administration

Travel opportunities include:

• Support to attend the either the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists or the Society of Critical Care Medicine Meeting
• Great Lakes Pharmacy Residents Conference
• Support to attend other meetings in Wisconsin

Projects include a major research project suitable for publication presented at the Great Lakes Pharmacy Residents Conference, Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin Educational Conference, Society of Critical Care Medicine Annual Meeting or the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Rotations

Adult Acute Care Required Rotations (4 weeks unless otherwise specified)

• Medical/Surgical Critical Care (TLC) (minimum three rotations, with first rotation being 8 weeks)
• Nutrition Support (2 weeks)
• Neurosciences ICU/Neurocritical Care
• Cardiac Medicine ICU/Cardiac Surgery ICU
• Pediatric/Neonatal ICU
• Infectious Diseases (2 weeks)
• Emergency Medicine

Acute Care Elective Rotations

• Toxicology (2 weeks)
• Medical/Surgical Critical Care (TLC), extra rotation (4 weeks)
• Academic (longitudinal)
• Others based on resident interest

Education and Teaching Opportunities

Presentation Opportunities

• Pharmacy grand rounds interactive lunch and learn (GRILL)
• Pharmacy and nursing inservices
• Trauma conference (trauma surgeons and residents)
• Leadership of journal club and topic discussions

Teaching Opportunities

• Clinical instructor status at the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy
• Teaching assistant for Seminars in Critical Care class at the School of Pharmacy
• Co-preceptorship of fourth-year students on elective clinical rotation at the hospital
• Help precept pharmacy practice residents on elective rotation
• Didactic lecturing at the School of Pharmacy
• Optional teaching certificate program for residents through the School of Pharmacy

Objectives

Residents who successfully complete the UW Health Critical Care Specialty Residency Program will be able to provide integrated pharmaceutical critical care at a patient-specific level.

This residency will provide residents with opportunities to conceptualize, integrate and transform accumulated experiences and knowledge into skills, competence and confidence in providing patient care to critically ill patients through clinical experience. The residency will also provide an opportunity to develop teaching and clinical research skills.

Residents will acquire a philosophy of practice that includes:

• Pharmacists’ responsibility and accountability for pursuing optimal drug therapy outcomes in the provision of patient care to critically ill patients
• Education and training of other health professionals
• A program of self-learning
• A commitment to the profession

Qualifications

In order to recruit high-quality residents, every potential pharmacy resident candidate will be evaluated using defined criteria. Those meeting the criteria will be actively pursued, with the current critical care pharmacy resident acting as that individual’s liaison to the University of Wisconsin and its pharmacy residency program.

Although high academic achievements are important for success in this program, other experiences of professional practice are also taken into consideration, keeping in mind that a correlation between grades and professional practice does not always exist.

The Department of Pharmacy at UW Health has established the following criteria for the selection of residents:

• Completion of a prior residency
• Graduation from an accredited college of pharmacy
• Official transcripts must demonstrate a GPA > 3.0 with no cause for concern in upper-level pharmacy courses such as therapeutics, pharmacology, pharmacotherapy lab, etc.
• Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service (PhORCAS) completion
• See Applying to Pharmacy Residency Programs

Critical Care Residency applicants will interview with the Program Director, the Manager of Acute Care, rotation preceptors, critical care pharmacists and the current resident in the program. This does not preclude input and suggestions from any other member of the staff. Other aspects considered are knowledge of professional practice, ability to communicate, practical application of theoretical knowledge, interest in the program and the ability to show leadership, confidence and maturity.

The resident in UW Health’s Critical Care Specialty Residency will participate as a member of the critical care team in a tertiary care/Level I Trauma Center.

In our Critical Care Specialty Residency program, accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), the resident will:

• Staff in a combined adult medical and surgical intensive care area
• Participate in academic and preceptor programs of the UW School of Pharmacy
• Assist in teaching the Critical Care Seminar class at the UW School of Pharmacy in the spring
• Complete project work acceptable for publication
• Be an active member of the Resuscitation Review Committee
• Experience rotations tailored to meet their needs and interests while also meeting ASHP standards

UW Health operates six intensive care units and a Level I Trauma Emergency Department with the following bed distributions:

• Emergency Department: 57
• Neonatal ICU: 26
• Medical/Surgical ICU: 24
• Pediatric ICU: 19
• Neurology/Neurosurgery ICU: 18
• Cardiothoracic Surgery/Cardiac Medicine ICU: 27
• Burn ICU: 7

Current Positions of Past Residents

• Critical Care Pharmacy Specialist
• Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Specialist
• Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist
• Medical Liaison for a pharmaceutical company

Program Director

Jeffrey Fish, PharmD, FCCM, BCCCP
UW Health Department of Pharmacy
600 Highland Ave.
F6/175-1530
Madison, WI 53792
(608) 263-1290
JFish@uwhealth.org

Current Resident

Johanna Van Epps – Meet Our Resident

Program Summary

Critical Care Specialty Residency (pdf)