Job opening: Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Salary: $151 962 - 197 556 per year
Published at: Feb 05 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
This position is located within Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta VA Medical Center of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The person in this position serves as a Inpatient Medicine Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in the Pharmacy Service, as a specialist in drug information covering a wide range of therapeutic classes and especially in the area of internal Medicine.
Duties
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The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (CPS) or Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner (CPP) in acute care is the clinical expert within the Pharmacy Department. In addition to maintaining an ongoing and outstanding knowledge base with regard to current literature and contemporary practice, their functions include spending the majority of his/her time in the following responsibilities: clinical pharmaceutical care, clinical leadership, internal and external environmental scanning, individual and team mentoring, clinical performance oversight, regulatory and quality monitor compliance, patient and provider therapeutic consultations, patient medication therapy monitoring, direct patient medication therapy management, disease state management, direct patient and provider education, pharmacist mentoring, and supporting the pharmacy philosophy. Clinical Pharmacists at this level may be board certified and recognized by the American Pharmaceutical Association's Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties or the America society of Consultant Pharmacists. Their areas of practice are critical care units or any of the wards where patients are hospitalized.
Other duties include, but are not limited to:
Clinical
Provides comprehensive drug therapy to assess drug use patterns, compliance, therapeutic duplications, significant drug interactions, appropriateness of drug therapy and patient care outcomes.
Designs, implements, monitors, evaluates, and modifies patient pharmacotherapy to ensure effective, safe, and economical patient care. Completes consults as requested to assess pharmacotherapy.
Provides the full range of resources as a specialist in drug information covering a wide range of therapeutic classes and especially in the area of his/her training. Advises other members of the medical/surgical team as well as other health care providers on all matters relating to medication, i.e., drug administration, toxicities, incompatibilities, dosages, alternative medications, contraindications, drug interactions, formulary medications, etc.
Participates in taking medication histories. Screens these patients' medication profiles for adverse drug reactions and records in CPRS chart as well as VA ADERs system, compliance, drug interactions, drug allergies and drug-food interactions. Investigates and reports any suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRS). Counsels' patients to improve patients' compliance with treatment plan.
Actively participates in the Medical Center's medication use reviews/studies to assess our medication use patterns. Also participates in evaluating new drug requests and non-formulary requests for his/her assigned area.
Keeps accurate records of clinical interventions for later follow-up and quality assurance purposes.
Manages the medication programs of selected patients by writing orders for appropriate medications (excluding controlled substances), diagnostic studies, etc., in the patient's medical record, according to approved clinical privileges per scope of practice.
When assessing or providing patient care the employee will evaluate the impact of the age and disease status and other factors as it relates to the patient's ability to understand directions provide objective self-assessment or any other medical milieu appropriate to the overall treatment plan.
Acts as a liaison between the patient, medical team, inpatient and outpatient pharmacy to ensure a smooth and timely discharge process.
Other pharmaceutical care duties may need to be incorporated/assigned depending on patient care needs.
Participates in interdisciplinary rounds.
Performs other duties as assigned by management.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:00 am to 3:30 pm (with rotating weekends)
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: PD54517A
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Qualifications
Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.
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.
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.)
OR;
Graduate of a foreign pharmacy degree program meets 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.
English Language Proficiency. Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d).
Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.
GS-13 Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Experience. In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.
Assignments. Candidates at this grade level are to be in one of the assignments listed below. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. The clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) functions at the highest level of clinical practice, works independently under their scope of practice as defined by the individual medical center to directly care for patients. A CPS plays a defined role in budgetary execution and serves as a mid-level provider who functions to initiate, modify or discontinue medication therapy and as a consultant for intensive medication therapy management services. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: designing, implementing, assessing, monitoring and documenting therapeutic plans utilizing the most effective, least toxic and most economical medication treatments; helping achieve positive patient centric outcomes through direct and indirect interactions with patients, providers, and interdisciplinary teams in assigned areas; performing physical assessments; and ordering laboratory and other tests to help determine efficacy and toxicity of medication therapy. Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following KSAs:
Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.
Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area.
Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.
Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy.
Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.
Preferred Experience: PGYI Pharmacy Residency is preferred.
References: VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G15 LICENSED PHARMACIST QUALIFICATION STANDARD.
Physical Requirements: he work requires regular and recurring physical exertion, involving standing for prolonged periods of time, lifting/carrying of supplies weighing at least 50 pounds, bending/stooping, pushing/pulling of automated dispensing cabinets through various terrains.
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:
https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.
Contacts
- Address Atlanta VA Medical Center
1670 Clairmont Road
Decatur, GA 30033
US
- Name: William Kendall
- Email: [email protected]
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