Welcome to VA Houston Located in one of the nations
largest and most diverse cities. VA Houston is home to the renowned
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and many community-based outpatient clinics
Serving over 130,000 Veterans across Texas and beyond, we offer an extensive array of services
provided by our exceptional leadership and staff. Among our talented staff, the VA Houston Pharmacy
Service plays an integral role in optimizing patient care and training the next generation
of pharmacy leaders. For individuals interested in developing clinical and operational skills while
simultaneously impacting Veterans, VA Houston Pharmacy offers PGY1 positions as well as PGY2
roles in psychiatry, infectious diseases, and ambulatory care. The PGY2 Ambulatory Care Pharmacy
Residency Program continues to grow with time. We've incorporated new learning experiences as
the ambulatory care clinical pharmacy preceptors have grown. We try to incorporate more learning
experiences tailored to the individual pharmacy resident's strengths and desires to improve.
So I chose the VA Houston because I was really looking for a program that was all-encompassing
regarding my career goals. I'm interested in Ambulatory Care and so this program has a really
robust primary care program. We have a lot of PACT clinics that focus on diabetes so that was
something that interested me. As well as the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Program so we have the option to
early-commit for that so that was one of the first things that drew me to this program. The residency
program director and coordinator are always open to feedback and are always looking for ways to
improve the program. One things that's unique about the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center
is that this is the largest VA in the country. So we get to see so many different types of patient
populations and very complex disease states as well which just helps us grow as pharmacists.
The preceptors and the pharmacy staff are always rooting for our success - another
aspect that I find very helpful is that we have a large residency class
so it's just really great to have people who are going through the same thing as you that you can
relate to and lean on for support. In addition to my virtual door being open and the residency
program directors' virtual doors and physical doors being open, we do provide the resident an
opportunity to identify and formalize a residency mentor. So this individual has regular meetings
with the resident and just provides additional guidance outside of the director or coordinator.
So one opportunity that I'm really excited for this year is to go do an in-person lecture at
Texas Southern University's pharmacy school. I will be going to teach a lecture on post-traumatic
stress disorder. Another way that we support the resident and help them to establish a community
in Houston is to participation in our joint curriculum with other ID pharmacy trainees and
ID pharmacists in the Texas Medical Center. Through participation in this program, the
ID resident gets to interact with and communicate with their future colleagues who are also training
in the Houston area. So, how we typically tailor our residency program to the resident's interests
usually includes a entering interests form that we have the residents fill out.
We use that to try to figure out what rotation experiences that would maybe fit for, allow them
to review the different elective opportunities that we have in different clinical practice areas
and then just give them the freedom to choose from those electives where they really want to pursue
during their second part of the rotations. Outside of the rotations that are offered at this VA,
I would say that another thing that makes our residency programs stand out
and unique are just our preceptors. Our preceptors care so much about the residents. Our preceptors
come from all over the country with multiple and diverse backgrounds. We are all able to offer
a rotation in practically almost anything that our PGY1 residents are interested in.
So the resident interacts with the Mental Health Service in various ways. One of the ways, of
course, is that they have multiple mental health rotations inpatient and outpatient experiencing
a variety of specialties within mental health. So that get to interact with physicians, PAs,
social workers, nurses, and beyond. So one of the things that makes me most proud about our
Infectious Diseases Residency Program is the fact that we've really been able to grow our
services within Infectious Diseases since the time I was a resident about 7 years ago. We've been
able to expand our HIV prevention program - also service several thousands of Veterans and treat
them for Hepatitis C - and also expand our OPAT program since last year. And in addition to that,
our residents have been very successful after completing their residency and because of the
scope and nature of our program, it prepares them for both infectious disease settings in outpatient
or inpatient. So in regards to where a lot of our former PGY2 AmbCare residents are - for the most
part here at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center we try to retain as many residents as possible.
One of our former residents, Dr. Emelogu, she's actually at the South Texas Veterans Affairs
facility. But as for as Dr. Schexnayder, Dr. Imarhia, as well as our most recent resident,
Dr. Bria Wates, we've all retained them. What I love about our PGY1 and PGY2 programs is that our
preceptors, coordinators, and directors truly invest their time and resources into to every
resident. I really feel that our mentorship here is taken seriously. Whereas the mentorship can
even last beyond a year experience - even to lasting a lifetime. I really think that what
makes us special is that, for me, I was previously a resident and because of the time, resources,
and investment put into me has motivated me to do the same for the next generation. As lastly
and probably the most important thing that we do is to ensure our residents don't have burnout - so
we conduct burnout assessments for each rotation and address any workload issues or stresses.
As you can see our residency programs have the tools needed to sharpen our skills while providing
amazing opportunities to care for our nations' Veterans. Our extensive catalog of clinical
rotations, host of professional development opportunities, and our strong support from diverse
preceptors and leadership allow this program to mold its residents into independent practitioners.
We are pharmacy leaders. We are pioneers for patient care. WE ARE VA HOUSTON!