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Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center PGY1 Pharmacy Residency

Helping you enhance your abilities and grow your passion.

Sharp HealthCare is a not-for-profit integrated regional health care delivery system based in San Diego. Sharp is comprised of seven hospitals, three medical groups and a proprietary health plan, hosting a full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient facilities and services.

At Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, our ASHP-accredited residency will help you develop your skills in providing effective pharmaceutical care in a wide variety of settings.

About the program. 

Grant Lum, PharmD, is the Residency Program Director.

Grant Lum Sharp Residency Program Director

As a resident, this ASHP-accredited Postgraduate Year One (PGY1) Pharmacy Residency will provide you with the opportunity to enhance your ability to provide effective pharmaceutical care in a wide variety of settings.

This PGY1 residency program primarily trains pharmacy graduates in general acute-care practice. The hiring and primary training site is located at Sharp Chula Vista, with secondary sites at other Sharp HealthCare facilities throughout San Diego County.

Learn more about the Sharp hospitals where the residency rotations are offered:

Through this health care system residency approach, residents will obtain pharmacy experience in multiple diverse patient care settings. Unique and distinctive training may include emergency medicine, transitions of care, critical care, NICU, infectious disease, oncology, trauma, nutritional and metabolic support, safe medication practice, solid organ transplant, psychiatry and specialty pharmacy.

As a resident, you will work under the mentorship of pharmacy resident advisors and preceptors. This program will enable you to improve communication and leadership skills with health care professionals, pharmacy students and patients.

You will participate in the development of your own residency plan, which will reflect your interests and build upon your previous experiences. Upon successful completion of our program, you will be equipped with the knowledge to become an asset to the pharmacy community.

Learning experiences.

Our unique program aims to personalize your residency objectives and experiences, helping you develop confidence and competence in acute patient care, drug information, disease state management and administrative management.

Residents are encouraged to participate in the development of their own residency plan that reflects personal interests and builds upon previous experiences.

Core learning experiences.*

  • Critical care
  • Emergency medicine
  • Infectious diseases and antibiotic stewardship
  • Medicine (telemetry/med-surg)
  • Pharmacy practice/staffing
  • Practice management and administration
  • Safe medication practice

Elective learning experiences.**

  • NICU
  • Nutritional and metabolic support
  • Oncology
  • Psychiatry
  • Solid organ transplant
  • Specialty pharmacy
  • Transitions of care
  • Trauma
  • Others may be developed by the resident as approved by the RPD and preceptors.

*All core learning experiences may also be taken as electives.

**Residents may develop new electives or reactivate currently inactive electives as approved by the residency director and preceptors.

Additional residency highlights.

  • Committees

You will actively participate in the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T), Safe Medication Practice and other supervisory and multidisciplinary committees as appropriate.

  • Compensation

Your annual base stipend will be an estimate of $47,000 plus benefits. We coordinate with pharmacy managers to tailor all staffing to the needs of the residency program and the pharmacy department. If there’s a need, we’ll help provide financial support for approved educational opportunities, conferences and travel.

  • Educational opportunities

We’ll provide you with ongoing educational opportunities through professional meetings and conferences (CSHP, ASHP Midyear, Western States Conference), certifications (ACLS, BLS). Sharp also provides ongoing preceptor training and Six Sigma White and Yellow Belt certification opportunities.

  • Leadership

Each resident will act as chief resident for one quarter (three-month term), which involves coordinating and scheduling tasks for the residency team, maintaining correspondence with pharmacy administration and preceptors and performing other program duties as necessary.

  • Presentations

Throughout the year, we provide numerous opportunities for our residents to present to medical and nursing staff, pharmacy students, and pharmacy staff, in addition to the required rotational and formal seminar presentations.

  • Projects

You are required to collaborate with system and site pharmacy leadership, your residency project preceptor, and a co-investigator to select an area of interest also of high priority to Sharp HealthCare. You will complete an in-depth, systematic study suitable for publication and presentation. Additional projects are completed as requested by the resident, preceptors, system and site pharmacy departments and as deemed beneficial for both your development and for Sharp HealthCare.

  • Teaching

At Sharp, we integrate teaching experiences into patient care activities and through the provision of educational support to pharmacy students and staff, nursing and medical staff members and others. As a resident, you will work closely with pharmacists in preceptorship of pharmacy students on clinical learning experiences from various pharmacy schools — including Touro University College of Pharmacy, Western University of Health Sciences and the Keck Graduate Institute School of Pharmacy. Additionally, through the San Diego Pharmacy Residency Leadership Program, you will obtain a teaching certification upon completion and participate in preceptor development and various workshops.

How to apply.

Applicants must possess a doctor of pharmacy degree (PharmD) and must be self-motivated with good interpersonal and communication skills. A California Internship License is required before the start of the residency. Completion of the CPJE and NAPLEX licensure exams is recommended before residency begins, if possible. Pharmacist licensure must be obtained no later than November 1 of the residency year.

To be considered for an interview, you must complete and submit all application material in PhORCAS by Dec. 30, 2021. If you have any questions, please contact Grant Lum, PharmD, residency director, or one of the current PGY1 resident pharmacists:  Aarti Patel; Chidozie Olumba; Claire Chen; and Florence Wu.

Complete applications should include the following as well as meet any additional requirements by PhORCAS (National Matching Service code 133913):

  • School of pharmacy transcript
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Letter of interest
  • 3 reference writers

For more information.

Please review and download the following materials:

Learn about other residency programs affiliated with Sharp:

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