Coping with the residency scramble: the need for national guidelines.

For pharmacy students and others seeking postgraduate pharmacy residency training, March has become the most stressful month of the year. While 2011 brought the highest fill rate for residency positions since the ASHP Resident Matching Program was launched in 1979, the demand for postgraduate pharmacy training far exceeded the supply of residency training programs. With approximately 1250 postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) residency applicants unmatched and 146 positions available after the Match results were announced in March 2011, unmatched applicants were competing with an average of more than 8 other applicants for each remaining position. This daunting task is known as the “scramble”—a hectic time when applicants try to quickly identify programs that will meet their career objectives before the positions are taken by competing applicants. Over the last two years, stories of how stressful and unorganized this scramble process can be have surfaced. Applicants are often frustrated and forced to make quick decisions on residency programs about which they know few details, such as the organization, structure, and goals and objectives of the residency, as well as lifestyle information on the host city. J. Russell May, Pharm.D., FASHP, is Clinical Professor, Department of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia, Augusta. Juliana Chan, Pharm.D., is Clinical Pharmacist and Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy; and Sections of Digestive Diseases & Nutrition and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago. Kavish Choudhary, Pharm.D., M.S., is Manager, Support Services, University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, Salt Lake City. Patrick D. Fuller, Pharm.D., BCPS, is Pharmacy Staff Development Specialist and Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY1) Residency Program Director, The Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha. Morton Goldman, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS, is System Director, Academic Affairs and International Business Development, Department of Pharmacy, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH. Karalea D. Jasiak, Pharm.D., is Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Wishard Health Services, Indianapolis, IN. Corey J. Leinum, Pharm.D., is PGY1 Resident, University of Minnesota Medical Center—Fairview, Minneapolis. Holly Phillips, Pharm.D., is Pharmacist Supervisor, Acute Care, and PGY1 Residency Program Director, University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora. Kelly M. Smith, Pharm.D., BCPS, FASHP, FCCP, is Associate Dean, Academic and Student Affairs, and Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington. All authors are members of the Research and Education Committee, Pharmacy Council, University HealthSystem Consortium, Chicago, IL. Address correspondence to Dr. May at the Department of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia, HM-1221, GHSU Campus, 1120 15th Street, Augusta, GA 30912 ([email protected]). The authors have declared no potential conflicts of interest.