ASHP Midyear

December is an exciting time for pharmacy and not just because we're all looking forward to the holidays. All month long there are exciting events that take place. This December I was lucky enough to get to visit Orlando to experience the ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) Midyear Conference. It's held early every December in a different city and is the biggest conference of hospital pharmacists in the world. Pharmacists, residents and students come from all over to congregate, attend specialized classes and network.

As a student it's not only exciting to go and meet other students and pharmacists but it's also a great way to get a jump on residency planning. They have special programming for first, second and third year students on topics like interviewing, writing CVs and applying for residencies. Midyear is also where the Residency Showcase is held every year. The Residency Showcase is an important event where every hospital with an ASHP residency position sets up a booth for students to visit and ask questions, network and get information about the available positions. It's a great way to get your name out and meet the current residents and pharmacy representatives.

This year, since the conference was in Orlando, I piled in a car with a group of friends and we rented a nice condo for the week. It was so much fun! We attended the conference during the day and took advantage of the "mini-vacation" to go out and have some fun in the evenings. Since it's the holiday season we went to Mickey's Christmas Party at Disney one night and another we went to Universal Studios with other pharmacy students. It was a blast and I am so glad we all got to go.

Here is a teaser picture from the entrance to the convention. I will be posting more soon!

Katie