The Clinical Pharmacist provides various clinical services within the Department of Pharmacy and those programs requested by other services. The individual spends 100% of the time fulfilling these responsibilities. This covers direct and indirect patient care, patient teaching, quality assessment, staff education, and consultation, and is often in association with or in support of physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers and others.

Duties

a. Clinical: (1) The pharmacist provides appropriate selection of drug therapy based upon the pharmaceutical principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; monitoring for efficacy, side effects and clinical outcome; and advises prescribers as appropriate. (2) Provides patient-specific therapeutic drug monitoring and communicates relevant findings and/or recommendations to other health care providers in charge of the patient both orally and in writing. (3) Performs continuous evaluation of prescribed medications to assure optimal drug therapy. (4) Provides medication counseling to patients. (5) Serves as a drug information resource by providing up-to-date drug information to prescribers, other health care professionals, patients, and caregivers. (6) Review charts, evaluates pertinent laboratory data, drug-drug, and drugnutrient interactions, monitors for adverse drug effects, and screens for allergies. (7) Assesses drug safety and efficacy, including evaluation of physical symptoms. (8) Reports adverse drug events (ADE), near misses, and medication errors in alignment with VA ADERS reporting program. (9) Participates in the medical center medication utilization evaluation (MUE) program. (10) Recommends formulary alternatives. (11) Participates in emergency preparedness activities. (12) Provides pharmacokinetic consultation in accordance with local policy. (13) Implements P&T Committee policies including therapeutic interchanges and automatic substitutions to include appropriate patient and provider education. (14) Manages recalls and medication shortage situations by substituting alternate dosage strengths and instructions of the same medication to equal the prescribed dose and schedule. (15) Manages various actions, as appropriate, for medication orders to include managing view alerts, and using the "hold medication" function. (16) Serves as a role model and preceptor to pharmacy students and residents. (17) Assumes an active role in staff development of peers and provides educational in-services to nursing, medical staff or to other ancillary services as needed or upon special request. (18) The pharmacist is responsible for maintaining his/her professional competency by keeping abreast of current medical and pharmaceutical literature, new drugs and therapies, and applies this knowledge in his/her daily duties. b. Dispensing: (1) Reviews all medication orders for appropriateness, drug selection, dosage, route of administration and the amount, prior to dispensing. (2) Ensures all medication orders are entered into the electronic patient medical record. (3) Fills all orders in a timely fashion; review of the patient's allergy history, drug, drug-nutrient, drug-laboratory and drug-disease state interactions and assessment for clinical relevance should be performed and dealt with appropriately. (4) Reviews medication profiles and monitors for compliance or potential abuse; problems encountered shall be resolved. (5) Selects, compounds, dispenses and fills a range of drugs including extemporaneous sterile and non-sterile preparations, special formulations, , narcotics, investigational drugs, oncolytic agents, etc. Adequate quality assurance procedures shall be followed as applicable. (6) Maintains adequate drug stock, inspects drug storage areas, supervises prepacking, compounding, and the operation of automated dispensing equipment. (7) Supervises the activities of support personnel. (8) Ensures drugs dispensed are completely and correctly labeled and packaged in full compliance with Federal rules and regulations. c. Medication Dispensing/Distribution/Record Keeping (1) All orders are checked to include patient information, correct medication, dose, route, and frequency of administration. (2) Identifies, interprets, and resolves prescribing and dispensing issues, including pharmaco-therapeutics and formulary issues. (3) Responsible for accuracy, storage, handling, and dispensing of all compounded chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and other sterile products, and oversight of support staff's maintenance of IV room environments according to USP and standards. Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm, Monday - Friday Compressed/Flexible:Not authorized Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized for highly eligible applicants EDRP Authorized: Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency: You must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d). Education: Graduate of an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accredited College or School of Pharmacy with a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy (BS Pharmacy) and/or a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Verification of approved degree programs may be obtained from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, 20 North Clark Street, Suite 2500, Chicago, Illinois 60602-5109; phone: (312) 664-3575, or through their Web site at: http://www.acpe-accredit.org/.(NOTE: Prior to 2005 ACPE accredited both baccalaureate and Doctor of Pharmacy terminal degree program. Today the sole degree is Doctor of Pharmacy.) Graduates of foreign pharmacy degree programs meet the educational requirement if the graduate is able to provide proof of achieving the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Commission (FPGEC) Certification, which includes passing the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination(FPGEE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT). Licensure: Full, current and unrestricted license to practice pharmacy in a State, Territory, Commonwealth of the United States (i.e., Puerto Rico), or the District of Columbia. The pharmacist must maintain current registration if this is a requirement for maintaining full, current, and unrestricted licensure. A pharmacist who has, or has ever had, any license(s) revoked, suspended, denied, restricted, limited, or issued/placed in a probationary status may be appointed only in accordance with the provisions in VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, section B, paragraph 16. May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: In addition to the Basic Requirements above, applicants must meet the following grade requirements. GS-12 Clinical Pharmacist (Full Performance Level) (a) Experience or Education. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must meet one of the following: 1.1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, or 2. Completion of an ACPE-accredited Pharm.D. program. (b) Assignment. A pharmacist in this assignment handles routine medication-related activities in accordance with local, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN), and national policies and regulations. These include, but are not limited to: reviewing, interpreting, and verifying medication orders for appropriateness; processing and filling medication orders; interacting with and making recommendations to other clinical staff regarding medication therapy ordered to ensure safe and effective care; reviewing the patient's medications, allergies, labs, and other pertinent information from the medical record to identify and solve medication-related problems; contacting providers as appropriate; documenting recommendations and interventions; providing refill extensions and partial medication supplies; taking health and medication histories; performing medication reconciliation; providing drug information; assisting in formulary management including therapeutic substitutions, nonformulary reviews and medication usage evaluations; documenting and assessing adverse drug events (ADEs); assisting in medical emergencies; providing oversight of technical staff in all aspects of medication distribution. Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs): 1. Knowledge of professional pharmacy practice. 2. Ability to communicate orally and in writing to both patients and health care staff. 3. Knowledge of laws, regulations, and accreditation standards related to the distribution and control of scheduled and non-scheduled drugs and pharmacy security. 4. Skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters. Preferred Experience: IV ( compound sterile products Haz/non-haz) and USP 797 experience preferred. Graduate of an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education accredited College or School of Pharmacy with a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy and/or a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree. Must have a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice pharmacy in a State, Territory, Commonwealth of the United States, or the District of Columbia. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/55, PART II, APPENDIX G15. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. There may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address WG Bill Hefner Salisbury VA Medical Center 1601 Brenner Avenue Salisbury, NC 28144 US
• Name: Hunter Akers
• Email: [email protected]