Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is the primary academic medical center of the Mayo Clinic enterprise and is consistently ranked as the top hospital in the United States by the U.S. News & World Report. Mayo Clinic has two major inpatient campuses – Saint Mary’s Hospital and Rochester Methodist Hospital – and numerous outpatient pavilions, of which the Gonda and Mayo buildings are the flagships. Between the two inpatient campuses, the hospital has more than 2000 inpatient beds, including over 200 ICU beds, over 60 operating rooms, a level 1 trauma certified ED, and an in-house 150-bed children’s hospital. Over 2 million outpatient visits are conducted annually. Rochester alone employs over 300 inpatient pharmacists, many of whom serve as preceptors for the 11 pharmacy residency programs.

As of April 2020, Mayo Clinic Rochester offers the following residency programs:

• PGY1 General (5 positions)
• PGY1 Pediatrics (1 position)
• PGY1/2 Health-System Pharmacy Administration and Leadership (HSPAL) (1 position annually)
• PGY2 Ambulatory Care (1 position)
• PGY2 Critical Care (1 position)
• PGY2 Emergency Medicine (1 position)
• PGY2 Informatics (1 position)
• PGY2 Internal Medicine (1 position)
• PGY2 Oncology (2 positions, with plans for expansion)
• PGY2 Pharmacogenomics (1 position)
• PGY2 Solid Organ Transplant (1 position)

PGY1 General Pharmacy Residency

The PGY1 residency program was established at Mayo Clinic Rochester in 1972 and has a long history of excellence within the hospital. The pharmacy resident’s role is well established within the hospital, and residents are readily incorporated into patient care teams throughout the hospital. Small classes allow for unprecedented flexibility and one-on-one mentorship both on and off rotation. The PGY1 HSPAL resident also completes the same required rotations as general PGY1 residents, and the pediatrics PGY1 resident is involved in many of the longitudinal learning experiences as well.

Given the size and breadth of clinical opportunities at Mayo Clinic, the options for pharmacy resident learning are almost limitless. The structure of the PGY1 residency allows for five electives in almost any area, both inpatient and outpatient, and can range from primary service rotations to specialized consult services like nephrology or nutrition support. Preceptors for all rotations are board certified, and many serve as leaders in professional societies and as journal reviewers and editorial board members. They are all excited to extend learning and mentorship beyond the day-to-day rotation requirements.

A major strength of the residency programs at Mayo Clinic is the research support and mentorship provided. Mayo Clinic ranks highly in total federal research funding and research output. The same level of excellence is expected from its pharmacy department. Residents discuss and finalize research project topics with their selected research mentor during the first few weeks of the residency year. The topics almost always match the resident’s clinical area of interest. All research and quality improvement projects have a physician-researcher mentor to provide additional interdisciplinary insight. Statistical support and intramural funding are available for data pulling and external support. To aid in the research process, all residents attend research workshops at the beginning of the year. They also complete online training on the essentials of clinical and translational science. Four research weeks are strategically scheduled throughout the residency year to help facilitate project progress. The publication rate of resident research projects across all Mayo programs has been above 90% for several years.

Mayo Clinic is not affiliated with a college of pharmacy, yet residents are afforded many teaching opportunities. PGY1 residents are expected to complete a teaching a learning certificate. Teaching opportunities include precepting APPE students from several regional colleges of pharmacy, facilitating group-learning activities through the school of medicine, and delivering a didactic pharmacology lecture to the school of health science’s inaugural physician assistant program (beginning in 2020/2021). Residents also complete many pharmacy grand rounds continuing education lectures and receive tremendous mentorship in developing and delivering high-quality presentations suitable for a national conference.

Required Rotations

• Surgery (colorectal and general)
• Internal medicine
• Infectious diseases (general and immunocompromised consulting)
• Cardiology (ischemic and comprehensive services)
• Critical care (generally medical or multispecialty surgical ICU)

Common Elective Rotations (residents choose 5)

• Second ICU (surgical/trauma, neurologic, immunocompromised, cardiothoracic surgery, coronary, pediatric, and neonatal all available)
• Psychiatry
• Liver transplantation
• Emergency medicine
• Hematology
• Oncology/solid tumors
• Internal medicine teaching (resident serves as primary APPE preceptor)
• Pediatrics
• Multiple other opportunities

Longitudinal Requirements

• Central staffing: Staffing shifts in the compounded sterile products room every fourth weekend
• Decentral staffing: One evening shift every other week. Current residents staff on the orthopedic surgery floor, but this may change to neurology, cardiology, or colorectal surgery
• Research
• Quality improvement
• Medical emergency response
• Professional development
• Teaching and learning certificate
• Committee membership

For more information, visit the PGY1 website, or contact a residency program director for this program or any of the other programs in the Mayo health system found here.