How can I make the most of residency training that begins during or immediately after a pandemic?
Katherine Robinson, Pharm.D.
PGY1 Pharmacy Resident
University of Kentucky HealthCare
Lexington, Kentucky
After matching with a residency program, incoming residents may experience an onslaught of emotions, both positive and negative. In preparation for the new academic year, many will ask, “What can I do to best prepare for residency?” Indeed, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the many resulting unknowns, or necessary adaptations, program directors may also ask this question. In these unique times, we discuss three key points for incoming residents to reflect on in order to make the most out of their training during or immediately after a pandemic.
Be adaptable
If the pandemic has emphasized anything these past few months, it is that there will be frequent change. As quickly as you’ve processed how to accommodate that change, there will be change again. Being adaptable is a skill often taught and honed during a residency. Whether you are changing services during each rotation, experiencing different preceptor expectations, or learning a new computer system, you must be adaptable. Moreover, this does not change after residency, given that the job you sign up for will likely look very different from the job you’re doing 5 years later.
Change can be uncomfortable, and the recent pandemic has only highlighted, to an extreme, that adaptability is an essential skill. Major role or responsibility changes are occurring daily or even hourly. Thus, during and after the pandemic, focus on unique opportunities to grow professionally and personally by increasing your ability to be adaptable. Be open to the changes that come your way, and ask yourself, How can I make this the best opportunity for learning? Push innovative ideas that lean into the changes, and prove the pharmacist’s value in patient care, research, and education. Take note of your experiences during this time and remember them even after we find our “new normal.”
Grow clinically … and professionally
Growth during residency should focus not only on your clinical experience, but also on your professional skills. Each program will have a different approach to clinical and professional development, but take the opportunity to develop skills you might otherwise not have obtained outside a pandemic. Examples include incorporating electronic whiteboard technology to deliver virtual presentations/in-services, discussing residency standards with program leadership, and understanding pharmacy staffing/financial considerations with department leadership. Take the time to seek out mentors with different perspectives and viewpoints and to reflect on different professional development topics. Topics that may be relevant to residents early in the year and during a pandemic include time management, theories of goal setting, well-being, imposter syndrome, and emotional intelligence. We commonly observe growth from those transitioning from students to residents in learning new time management/organizational skills for the many competing longitudinal projects with acute rotation demands. In this regard, we provide residents with the book Eat That Frog, which describes various approaches to time management. Residents provide insights and reflections on the readings via group discussions; afterward, they are asked to think critically about their current time management methods and encouraged to try (and fail) different strategies. This is especially true in a pandemic, when rotations may be held off-site with virtual or limited multidisciplinary rounding.
Another key professional skill to gain during a pandemic is the ability to identify and have difficult conversations. During this time, high-stakes situations that involve strong emotions and contain differing opinions may be more evident. Learning how to manage these conversations, achieve the desired outcomes and growth, and build professional relationships are skills you will use throughout your career. A good reading we provide and discuss with all of our residents is Crucial Conversations. These times of frequent change, remote learning, and high stakes can give you the chance to focus on these concepts and jump-start your professional growth.
Be the master of your learning
During residency training, learning is often so highly structured through rotations, topic discussions, and various longitudinal learning experiences that, if you do not develop self-learning skills, you may experience a decline in learning after training. During the pandemic, you may face rotation cancelations, preceptors with decreased dedicated time to teach, and remote precepting. And although it may take many years to understand and develop the concept of mastering learning, the pandemic provides an opportunity to address this early in the academic year. Start now in understanding that you are the only one who can make the most out of your learning, given that there will be no preceptors, rotations, or residency objectives after your training.
Take the time to try different learning strategies such as spaced recall (i.e., introduce time intervals between study) to deepen your understanding and recall, instead of just reviewing the material in a cursory manner for a topic discussion. Spaced recall creates a greater challenge than immediate recall, but the gap in focus on a topic helps improve retention. Although implementing spaced recall strategies in residency training can be easy, it may also take effort. Reading for a topic discussion a few nights before, revisiting it the night before, and then discussing it on the day of the discussion is an easy way to use spaced recall to improve your understanding of new topics. Create a challenge by quizzing yourself on ideas/controversial areas within the literature to enhance your understanding. This sounds easy, and it can be, but often in the rush of residency (and life thereafter), it can also be easy to forget and bypass. Discuss these different strategies with your program leadership and mentors.
As you embark on the next stage of your learning, we are excited for you. Congratulations on the start of your new residency! This year may be different from what you expected, but there are many great ways to continue to grow and learn during the pandemic. We hope these perspectives help as you approach your upcoming residency.
Scott D. Nei, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCCCP
Program Director
PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at Mayo Clinic Hospital - Rochester
E-mail: [email protected]
Jonathan G. Leung, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCPP
Assistant Program Director
PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at Mayo Clinic Hospital - Rochester
E-mail: [email protected]
References:
- Tracy B. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, 3rd ed. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2017.
- Patters K, Grenny J, McMillan R, et al. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.