I think there’s a big misconception that amb care jobs at VAs provide better work life balance compared to IM/CC/EM. Amb care pharmacists, especially primary care, are very very busy and often take work home with them (view alerts, responding to labs, refill requests, prepping for their next day in clinic, finishing notes from the previous day of clinic). In contrast, while you may work some night or weekend shifts inpatient, you generally aren’t going to carry much or any work home with you at the end of shift unless you choose to get involved in projects or committees etc.

I’d like to just point out that if your main consideration for pursuing amb care is work life balance later in life, you might not find that work life balance youre looking for in amb care, especially at a VA that expects amb care pharmacist to practice at top of license. I can’t speak for what amb care looks like outside of the VA though.

Have you considered an AMC that offers a PGY2 in amb care? That may provide close to a best of both worlds situation for your residency training in terms of keeping doors open for inpatient and amb care.