The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (CPS) functions at the highest level of clinical practice and top of licensure and serves as an advanced practice provider working independently with prescribing privileges as outlined in the individual's practice area-based scope of practice. The CPS provider delivers evidence-based comprehensive medication management (CMM) through direct patient care and as part of the interdisciplinary PACT/Primary Care team.

Duties

VA Careers - Pharmacy: https://youtube.com/embed/Fn_ickNBEws Duties include but are not limited to: Clinical - Direct Patient Care Activities: Functions as an advanced practice provider for CMM services to achieve defined outcomes through direct interactions with patients and providers in PACT/Primary Care teams. Functions as part of the interdisciplinary Primary Care/PACT team at the location to provide CMM for pain management which may include, but is not limited to; prescribes, monitors and adjusts medications related to chronic disease state and pain management; obtains and documents informed consent for treatments and procedures that require consent; obtains pertinent medical history and obtains accurate chronic disease state and pain medication related history from patient and via chart review; orders, monitors, and interprets necessary labs, including toxicology screens; implements follow-up on treatment actions as supported by lab interpretations; performs rating scales on pain control, symptoms and functional status; queries and documents PDMP findings; provides overdose education and prescribes naloxone when needed; provides patient and/or caregiver instructions and education; uses available population health tools to identify and address risk mitigation needs focused on safe pain care; performs suicide risk assessment; screens for substance use disorders when indicated, performs brief interventions when indicated, including addressing aberrant behaviors; ensures referral of complex or unstable patients to higher level care, when needed; address other care needs and refers patients to other services for other needed care, as deemed appropriate (e.g., mental health/PC Behavioral Health, physical therapy, yoga, etc.); communicates with team for next steps and coordination of care, when necessary. In addition to pain management, provides CMM for complex patients with chronic diseases including, but not limited to, alcohol misuse/use disorder and tobacco misuse/use disorder; orders and interprets labs or other needed tests pertinent to CMM and makes needed referrals. Clinical - Indirect Patient Care Activities: Review's patient medication regimens for clinical effectiveness, drug selection, dosing, contraindications, side effects, potential drug interactions, and therapeutic outcomes as required. Monitors and reports drug errors, adverse drug reactions, allergies, and patient compliance issues. Documents findings per facility procedures and in accordance with the VAADERS Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) reporting program. Provides input and recommendations as the pain medication expert on the interdisciplinary pain management team during routine patient care planning or targeted complex or high-risk reviews. Assists the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) committee with medication use evaluations and other safety initiatives, as needed. Drug Information: Serves as an authority on drug usage, interactions, over-dosages, and compliance, to medical staff, nursing staff, technicians, and students. Uses appropriate references to research drug information. Has a good working knowledge of information resources, both written and electronic. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, subject to the needs of the service. Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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. 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). Preferred Experience: In-depth experience using VHA Data. Completion of a PGY2 residency and/or current direct patient care and management of patients in Pain Management or related care. Applicant has their DEA registration to prescribe controlled substances. Grade Requirements: Creditable Experience (1) Knowledge of Professional Pharmacy Practices. To be creditable, the experience must have demonstrated the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with professional pharmacy practice. Professional practice means paid/non-paid employment as a professional or unlicensed graduate pharmacist as defined by the appropriate licensing board. (2) Residency and Fellowship Training. Residency and fellowship training programs in a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice may be substituted for creditable experience on a year-foryear basis. The pharmacy residency program must be accredited by the American Society of Health- System Pharmacists (ASHP). A fellowship program that is not accredited by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) will need to have comparable standards for experience to be creditable (Professional Standards Board refers to the Deputy Chief Consultant for Professional Practice for the determination). (3) Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to pharmacy experience at the next lower level. Experience as a Graduate Pharmacist is creditable provided the candidate was used as a professional pharmacist (under supervision) and subsequently passed the appropriate licensure examination. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment in paragraph 2, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. GS-13 Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (a) Experience. In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. (b) 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: a. Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions. b. Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area. c. Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise. d. Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy. e. Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/55, PART II, APPENDIX G15. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address WG Bill Hefner Salisbury VA Medical Center 1601 Brenner Avenue Salisbury, NC 28144 US
• Name: Mark Johnson
• Phone: 318-272-2896
• Email: [email protected]