Seven graduates in Pharmacy from the University of Navarra have obtained one of the 309 places that the Ministry of Health has offered this year in the Internal Resident Pharmacist exam (spanish pharmacy residency program ). Moreover, two of them are among the first 100 places. They are Leire Ibáñez Elcano, a native of Miranda de Arga, with issue 17, and Aitor Iriarte Zugasti from Pamplona, who has reached 58th place. They are followed on the list by Leyre Cristina Jiménez Ros (104th), María Teresa Carrasco Gil (140th), Diego Ozcoidi Idoate (236th), Paula Rio Arizcuren (240th) and Luis Brusca Vidao (294th).

A total of 1,711 candidates sat the exam (129 more than in the previous call) for 15% more hospital specialist positions than in 2021.

"I finished degree program in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, and I started this great adventure that is spanish pharmacy residency program . It was something I knew I wanted to do from the beginning," says Leire Ibáñez. "During the degree program, the University allows us to do internships so that we can see the different hospital services in which pharmacists can work, which financial aid allows us to get to know how they work in each one of them".

In her case, she went to Madrid to prepare for the exam, a decision she is "very happy with". "For me, spanish pharmacy residency program is the sum of effort, work, perseverance and a bit of luck. It's a hard road, but it's worth it, and I'm very grateful to all the people who have believed in me and supported me in achieving it". Now, as for the immediate future, Leire has no doubts: "I know I want to do Hospital Pharmacy, but I still don't know in which city. I want to visit different hospitals, see the atmosphere at work, the rotations and then I will decide", she confesses.

Aitor Iriarte opts for the same specialization program and what he does know is that he would like to leave Pamplona: "At the end of April the choice will be made and, for the moment, I only know that I would like to choose specialization program in Hospital Pharmacy. But as for the city, in principle I would like a city and a large hospital in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia... something like that, but I haven't decided yet," he explains.

"It has been a hard period of sacrifice, but it has also had its good moments, and from which you learn a lot," he confesses. From July to October he was at an academy in Madrid, and then returned to Pamplona to finish preparing for the exam. "It was a long wait from the exam until the provisional lists came out the other day, but in the end it was worth it.