Residency Spotlight: Valleywise Health Medical Center
Valleywise Health (formerly Maricopa Integrated Health System) serves over 70,000 culturally diverse members of Maricopa County in Phoenix, Arizona. Within the health system, the Department of Pharmacy provides services to a 325-bed full-service teaching hospital (Valleywise Health Medical Center), 289 acute care psychiatric beds (Valleywise Health Behavioral Health Centers in Mesa, Phoenix, and Maryvale), a 30-bed emergency department (Valleywise Health Maryvale Emergency), and 12 outpatient clinics. The Arizona Burn Center within Valleywise Health Medical Center is the only nationally verified burn center in Arizona and is the regional center for parts of New Mexico, California, and Northern Mexico; the burn center serves more than 8000 patients per year.
Part of the Creighton Academic Alliance and a teaching hospital, Valleywise Health Medical Center is a leader in the clinical training of future physicians, pharmacists, and other health care professionals. Valleywise Health has affiliations with the University of Arizona, the Midwestern University College of Pharmacy – Glendale (Arizona), and the Creighton University School of Pharmacy and has pharmacy students on rotation throughout the year.
PGY1 Pharmacy Residency
PGY1 pharmacy residents receive training in the management of medication therapy for a variety of disease states in the acute care setting. They are responsible for achieving optimal drug therapy outcomes as part of an interdisciplinary health care team through participation in patient care rounds and pharmacy consults. Pharmacy residents develop proficiency in written and verbal communication and in educating health care professionals, patients, and students on drug-related topics. The pharmacy resident serves as a member of the interdisciplinary patient care team committed to optimizing patient medication outcomes. Core rotations include:
- Orientation
- Internal Medicine x 2
- Medical Intensive Care
- General Pediatrics
- Burn Critical Care
- Emergency Medicine
- Infectious Diseases
Many elective learning experiences are also available for PGY1 residents.
PGY2 Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Residency
Valleywise Health Medical Center is a level 1 trauma center for adult patients and a level 2 trauma center for pediatric patients, with around 2000 trauma activations annually. The ED houses 40 adult and 17 pediatric beds with around 79,000 visits per year. The residency program provides a great clinical learning environment because PGY2 residents work alongside residents from the emergency medicine medical and surgical residency programs to provide care to complex and critically ill patients.
Valleywise Health also has an ED in Maryvale that serves both adult and pediatric patients. This site serves as the main staffing component of the PGY2 program, giving residents a chance to practice independently. Core rotations include:
- Orientation
- Adult Emergency Medicine x 2
- Trauma x 2
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine x 2
- Burn Intensive Care
- Toxicology
- Emergency Medical Services
In addition, residents participate in several longitudinal experiences, including:
- Research
- Toxicology
- Staffing
- Pharmacy Practice Management
Residents also have the opportunity to select additional elective experiences, including:
- Infectious Diseases
- Surgical Intensive Care
- Medical Intensive Care
- Burn Emergency Care
- Psychiatry
- Electives of the core rotations