Job opening: Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (Pain Management)
Salary: $125 698 - 163 412 per year
Published at: Nov 08 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.
Duties
Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf
The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist 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 Clinical Pharmacy Provider (CPP) provider delivers evidence-based comprehensive medication management (CMM) through direct patient care and as part of the interdisciplinary team providing Pain Management.
Functions:
Functions as an advanced practice provider for CMM services to achieve defined outcomes through direct interactions with patients and providers in assigned care area(s).
Functions as part of the interdisciplinary team to provide CMM for pain management
Performs limited external physical assessment and performs medication reconciliation in alignment with established policies or procedures.
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. May also treat other co-morbid conditions.
Determines if a referral to a physician is necessary when disease progression occurs, or adverse drug events require a higher level of treatment intervention.
Accepts urgent or same day patient visits
Follows up via face-to-face, telehealth, eConsult, telephone, secure messaging and other modalities to provide patient care.
Reviews patient medication regimens for clinical effectiveness, drug selection, dosing, contraindications, side effects, potential drug interactions, and therapeutic outcomes as required. Communicates findings with prescribers and provides appropriate recommendations for alternatives to current treatment plans as needed.
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.
Reviews relevant population management dashboards to identify patients who may benefit from engagement in care for pain management and/or risk mitigation.
Applies knowledge to interpret laboratory values in the evaluation of patient care, recognizes significant abnormalities, and makes dose adjustments or recommendations based on objective laboratory findings.
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.
Documents clinical interventions and patient care encounters in the electronic health record in a timely and professional manner as appropriate.
Works with providers to ensure compliance with national, VISN, and local initiatives (e.g., OSI).
Provides formal and informal education and in-services to pharmacy, medical, nursing and other staff as requested.
Serves as a subject matter expert for pain management for assigned committees, workgroups or interdisciplinary teams.
Provides education to patients, their families and caregivers about medications, patient responsibilities, and information on health promotion.
Participates in self-development activities to maintain and strengthen professional competence in pain management.
Willing to serve as a clinical instructor or preceptor for pharmacy students and/or residents.
Assists in new employee orientation education sessions as needed.
Participates in the appropriate, effective and safe use of pharmaceuticals by contributing to criteria development, data collection, quality assurance and drug use evaluation and other quality improvement activities for core practice area(s) and pain management.
Serves as the pharmacist subject matter expert on assigned pain management related committees and subcommittees.
Supports and promotes compliance with established drug therapy policies, formulary management and criteria or prior authorization requirements that have been approved by national, VISN, or local pharmacy benefits management (PBM) and focuses on quality patient care in a cost-effective manner.
Participates in design and/or completion of research studies and/or quality improvement projects involving drug therapy, clinical pharmacy functions, or improvements in patient care.
Directs and/or participates in the preparation of articles for publication.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am-4:30pm
Telework: Ad-hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact
[email protected], for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
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: Pharmacists 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.
NOTE: Individuals who have or have had multiple licenses and had any such license revoked for professional misconduct, professional incompetence or substandard care, or who surrendered such license after receiving written notice of potential termination of such license by the State for professional misconduct, professional incompetence, or substandard care, are not eligible for appointment to the position unless such revoked or surrendered license is fully restored (38 U.S.C. § 7402(f)). Effective November 30, 1999, this is a requirement for employment. This requirement does not apply to licensed pharmacists on VA rolls as of that date, provided they maintain continuous appointment and are not disqualified for employment by any subsequent revocations or voluntary surrenders of State license, registration or certification.
Grade Determinations:
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.
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.
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.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13.
Physical Requirements:
Light lifting (under 15 pounds), Light carrying (under 15 pounds), Reaching above shoulder, Use of fingers, Walking, Standing, Near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4, Ability to distinguish basic colors, Hearing (aid maybe permitted)
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 Jonathan M Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center
77 Wainwright Drive
Walla Walla, WA 99362
US
- Name: Jinho Chu
- Phone: 253-582-8440 X75446
- Email: [email protected]
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