Clinical Pharmacy Specialist

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Hemet (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (CPS) at Loma Linda VA Health Care System provides expert medication management within Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT). Working at the highest level of clinical practice, the CPS designs and monitors individualized therapeutic plans, promotes safe and effective treatments, and collaborates with providers to achieve optimal patient outcomes and quality care.

The CPS functions at the highest level of clinical practice, operates independently under their scope of

Qualifications

• Communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence decisions.
• Regulatory and quality standards expertise for the program area.
• Solve problems and coordinate responsibilities to maximize outcomes.
• Expert knowledge in a specialized area of clinical pharmacy.
• Advanced monitoring and interpretation of labs and diagnostic parameters.

Responsibilities

• Care for patients independently within scope of practice.
• Design, implement, evaluate and document therapeutic plans.
• Collaborate with providers and interdisciplinary teams.
• Order labs and interpret results to assess drug therapy.

Skills

Oral and written communication

Regulatory and quality standards

Problem solving and coordination

Specialized clinical pharmacy practice

Drug therapy monitoring and lab/diagns

Education

BS Pharmacy or Pharm.D.

FPGEC/TOEFL (for foreign grads)

Job description

The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (CPS) at Loma Linda VA Health Care System provides expert medication management within Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT). Working at the highest level of clinical practice, the CPS designs and monitors individualized therapeutic plans, promotes safe and effective treatments, and collaborates with providers to achieve optimal patient outcomes and quality care.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS

• Citizenship: Citizen of the United States
• Education: Applicants must possess one of the following:
  • 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.)
  • 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.

In addition to the basic requirements above, applicants must possess the following grade requirements.

GS-13 Clinical Pharmacy Specialist

Applicants must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. In addition, applicants must meet the following Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs):

1. Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.
2. Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area.
3. Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.
4. Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy.
5. Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters

Assignment

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.

Preferred Experience

1 year of PACT experience or equivalent

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

See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.