James Haley Veteran's Hospital, Tampa, Florida.
Join us to learn more about our pharmacy residency programs.
But before we get started, let's take a look at what Tampa has to offer.
Tampa as an ever growing city situated on the west coast of Florida,
surrounded by the Tampa Bay with close proximity
to Clearwater and St Petersburg.
Best known for tourist attractions and historic old quarters
such as Ybor City and Old Hyde Park.
Tampa definitely has a lot of urban charm.
It offers world class entertainment venues
museums and water scenery.
There is never a shortage of things to do here,
whether it's taking a drive on Bayshore
visiting the colorful Riverwalk,
grabbing a bite to eat in South Tampa,
or even attending one of our national sports teams games
Tampa is a beautiful city to live in
and advance to your pharmacy career.
The James Haley Veterans Hospital
located in the heart of Tampa across from the University of South Florida,
is a 566 bed medical center with level one college trauma center,
acute psychiatry, spinal cord injury center,
a community living facility, as well as six outpatient clinics.
This hospital is one of the busiest
of four poly trauma facilities in the nation,
serving more than 116,000
veterans in our area as a teaching hospital.
The James Haley Veterans Hospital provides a full range of services
with state of the art technology as well as education
and research with over 200 employees.
Our pharmacy department is one of the largest in the VA system,
including over 160 pharmacist
and over 60 clinical pharmacy specialists.
Practicing in a wide range of specialties.
The Tampa VA pharmacy residencies has been long established
with a PGY-1 residency program
training pharmacists for over 40 years.
We also have a PGY-2 infectious diseases and ambulatory
care with histories almost as long
at 20 and 30 years respectively.
So I chose James Haley to enjoy the weather in Florida
and to serve the diverse populations here in the Tampa Bay area.
Everyone has either been a resident, whether it's here or somewhere else,
you know, they have the experience, they understand what you're going through,
and it makes all the difference
when you're going through this journey of residency.
We get a lot more electives than some of the other programs
that I was looking into.
So with that, it was kind of more variety
for my well-rounded ness as a resident coming out of the program.
One of the things to about the program and the culture that we have
is the fact that with a big group of co-residents,
we can all rely on each other for support and help each other out,
whether it's with presentations or wondering how to go about
approaching a certain patient case or administrator project.
We're all available for one another.
And truly, that bond is what carries us throughout the year.
So the culture in our program
is very positive, very welcoming, and they want you to grow.
So whether it's coming from your co-residence,
whether PGY-1 or PGY-2 or your preceptors, your directors
RPD's, they all just want you to grow in the residency.
So they're going to do anything that they can to support you.
Your director checks in your residence, residents check in.
Obviously your preceptors are there on a daily basis with you,
but they are certainly wanting you to move forward
and get different experiences, make sure they push you
out of your comfort zone enough to grow, but not too much to feel uncomfortable.
So it's certainly a good balance for a residency program.
To have that.
My experience so far with the James Haley PGY-1 program has been amazing.
There are a lot of different electives that I can choose from, and it allows me
to tailor my experience a PGY-1 program based on my specific interest.
I enjoy teaching because I
think it's the number one way to give back for the profession of pharmacy.
At one point I was a trainee as well.
I was a resident as well, and so many people before me
had to take the time to teach me and get me to the place that I am today.
And so I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to do that,
continuing on with our residents and moving forward.
I especially enjoy the fact that teaching helps to keep me on my toes.
Have somebody that is looking after you, learning from you.
It helps to keep you at the utmost of your education
and continues the cycle of lifelong learning.
So the reason I like working here is, one, because of the culture
so as far as pharmacists, we have a lot of respect
with the especially with the attendings, with the nurses.
So here we get to act very independently.
And it's a great teaching ground for residents
to understand their role and to also understand
how to interact with different
specialties
So the residency program will be a very busy year.
You will be challenged with many things throughout the year.
You have the exposure to be working with multiple specialties,
which will help you to grow and
be a better pharmacist.
So one thing really cool about the Tampa VA is that our department is very large.
We have over 200 full time employees with over 60 clinical pharmacy specialists
here in Tampa.
It's also really neat to see that so many of our staff here
currently were residents.
Once upon a time I did my residency here in 2009 and really rewarding
and that the people who train here actually like to want to stay here.
I think one other part we like, we also can understand what the residents
are going through, which provide a good environment for teaching,
but also it's great that our department is so large
that there's always someone, a resident or a trainer or coworker can reach
out to you because
so many people know
so many different things that can help you take care of your patients,
but also deal with a problem we may be having at work that day.
Our pharmacy residency program has been established for years.
We're innovating,
we're creating, and we're advancing the pharmacy profession within the Tampa VA.