CLINICAL PHARMACIST

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

The VA Western New York Healthcare System's Buffalo VA Medical Center is seeking an experienced Clinical Pharmacist to join the Inpatient Pharmacy Team, providing distributive and clinical pharmacy support to medicine, surgery and specialty clinics at the Buffalo campus.

Responsibilities include reviewing and verifying medication orders, advising clinical staff on therapy choices, performing medication reconciliation, and ensuring safe, effective patient care in a fast-paced hospital setting.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of professional pharmacy practice and patient care.
• Experience in inpatient hospital pharmacy settings.
• Ability to interpret labs and patient data for therapy decisions.

Responsibilities

• Review, verify, and process medication orders.
• Provide drug information and therapeutic recommendations to the medical team.
• Perform medication reconciliation and monitor adverse drug events.

Skills

Communication skills

Clinical pharmacy knowledge

Medication safety

Education

Pharm.D. or BS Pharmacy with ACPE

US Pharmacist licensure

Job description

The VA Western New York Healthcare System's Pharmacy Department is seeking an experienced and dynamic Clinical Pharmacist to work at Buffalo VA Medical Center. The Clinical Pharmacist is part of the Inpatient Pharmacy Team and provides distributive and clinical pharmacy support service to medicine, surgery and specialty clinics within the VAWNYHS.

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

• (1) 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: [phone], 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.).
• (2) Graduates of foreign pharmacy degree programs meet the educational requirement if the 2 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.

• Grandfathering Provision. All licensed pharmacists employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure/certification/registration that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation.
• Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.
• 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 REQUIREMENTS

Creditable Experience

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.

Residency and Fellowship Training.

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-for- year 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).

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.

Part-time Experience

Part-time experience as a professional pharmacist is credited according to its relationship to the full-time workweek. For example, a pharmacist employed 20 4 hours a week, or on a 1/2-time basis, would receive 1 full-time workweek of credit for each 2 weeks of service

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-12 Clinical Pharmacist (Full Performance Level)

Experience or Education

In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must meet one of the following:

• 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, or
• Completion of an ACPE-accredited Pharm.D. program.

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)

• Knowledge of professional pharmacy practice.
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing to both patients and health care staff.
• Knowledge of laws, regulations, and accreditation standards related to the distribution and control of scheduled and non-scheduled drugs and pharmacy security.
• Skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.

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-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements

Work is sedentary but also demands standing, walking, bending, twisting, and carrying light items.

Preferred Experience

Three (3) or more years of inpatient/hospital pharmacist experience preferred.

Reference

For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/