Program Director, Pharmacy - Regional Hospitals

Vanderbilt Health; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanderbilt Health in Nashville seeks a Pharmacy Quality and Practice Leadership professional to oversee pharmacy services across inpatient, outpatient and specialty areas. This role ensures performance against national standards, enhances patient care, and drives education for staff in alignment with corporate practices.

The position focuses on regulatory compliance, formulary collaboration, and medication safety, while guiding regional hospital departments to improve patient outcomes and

Qualifications

• Tennessee Pharmacist license required.
• Bachelor's degree required.
• Minimum of 2 years of relevant experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide consultative support for compliance with TJC, CMS, and state health regulations and standard practices across Vanderbilt Health pharmacy operations.
• Collaborate with regional hospital pharmacy, medical and nursing leaders to design and implement treatment guidelines, policies and quality improvement projects.
• Develop regional pharmacy practice quality goals aligned with internal and external objectives.
• Support formulary management including clinical initiatives, non-formulary requests and adverse event monitoring.
• Advise on staff development, competency assessment and regulatory compliance; enhance team morale and collaboration.
• Lead efforts in medication safety, education, precepting students/residents, and scholarly activities in coordination with campus practices.
• Provide leadership in human resources management for a growing pharmacy team.
• Support leadership in staff development through constructive feedback and performance assessments.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Communication

Data analysis

Time management

Accreditation knowledge

Education

Tennessee Pharmacist license

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

Discover Vanderbilt Health:

With eight hospitals and over 180 clinics, we are the region's largest comprehensive academic health system. Vanderbilt Health has a long tradition of providing world-class care to the people of the Mid-South, living out our mission of moving medicine forward through preeminent programs in patient care, education and research. Here you'll find a spirit of collaboration and a supportive community where your expertise is valued, your knowledge expanded and your uniqueness celebrated. We are committed to fostering an environment where talented, compassionate people are united in bringing the most advanced care to our neighbors throughout the region.

Organization:

Pharmacy Inpt Operations

Job Summary:

Provides expert leadership in the planning, coordination and direction of pharmacy services throughout Vanderbilt Health inpatient, outpatient and specialty areas. Responsible for the overall performance of the department to maintain and exceed recognized national standards based on accepted patient and health system metrics. Responsible for the clinical and financial impact of pharmacy services, customer satisfaction, and development and education of staff and adherence to acceptance standards of practice regarding research involving pharmaceuticals.

Position Summary

This position will provide pharmacy quality, safety, compliance, and practice alignment support to regional hospital pharmacy departments in accordance with existing corporate practices.

Description of Institution

Vanderbilt Health is a 1,600-bed tertiary care, academic medical center with comprehensive inpatient and ambulatory care services. The medical center is comprised of 7 hospitals and over 200 clinic locations in the middle Tennessee region. The Department of Pharmacy provides comprehensive pharmaceutical care with a staff of approximately 850 pharmacists, technicians, administrative, and support personnel.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide consultative support for compliance with The Joint Commission (TJC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Tennessee Department of Health, and other regulatory and quality standards and best practices for general health-system pharmacy practice.
• Facilitate with regional hospital pharmacy, medical and nursing leaders to collaborate in the design and implementation of treatment guidelines, protocols, policies, quality improvement projects, and research initiatives that optimize medication use in coordination with campus practices.
• Develop institutional regional hospital pharmacy practice related quality goals to ensure alignment with internal and external goals.
• Support formulary management activities including clinical initiatives, formulary decisions, non-formulary requests for medication use evaluations, adverse event monitoring and reporting, and medication policy development in coordination with campus practices.
• Maintain front line knowledge of clinical services and evaluate practices to advise on process and resources needed to serve patient pharmacotherapy management needs in coordination with campus practices where appropriate.
• Via consultative work with regional pharmacy leaders and corporate pharmacy leaders, contribute to departmental goals of medication safety, education, precepting students and residents, collaborative research projects, and other scholarly endeavors.
• Provide consultative support for managing human resources on a growing team of pharmacists and creates an environment which enhances team morale and facilitates teamwork.
• Support leadership team in development of staff members by providing substantive feedback on competencies and assessment.
• Demonstrates clinical/technical/systems knowledge needed to provide consultative recommendations for staff.
• The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned.

Required Qualifications

• State of Tennessee Pharmacist license.
• Bachelor's Degree.
• Minimum of 2 years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Completion of an ASHP-accredited PGY1 residency training program.
• MBA.
• Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) Board Certification.
• Clinical hospital experience in an academic medical center setting and/or experience working in a community hospital.
• Experience practicing in a corporate pharmacy leadership environment.

Desired Skills

• Advanced leadership skills, demonstrating progressive degrees of responsibility.
• Ability to lead projects and people, and to consistently deliver results.
• Proficiency in knowledge translation, critical appraisal, implementing evidenced-based strategies, and teaching.
• Scholarly experience and potential, interest, and participation in academic research.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills. Ability to establish and maintain working relationships with various members of health care teams.
• Ability to analyze data and processes to drive improvement.
• Ability to manage various projects simultaneously, high level of attention to detail, organization, and accuracy.
• Knowledge of and experience with accreditation standards and regulations related to stewardship.

Position Shift

• Day Shift

Technical Capabilities

• Mentoring & Coaching (Advanced): Demonstrates high levels of training and mentoring expertise in challenging and complex situations. Often takes a lead role in highly pressurized situations when there is a need to achieve training results. Consistently provides training and mentoring in a creative and imaginative manner while setting a standard for others. Knows how to use failure as a learning process in a constructive way, replacing contention and conflict with enthusiasm and confidence. Personalizes the impact of behaviour on performance and assignments. Has a proven track record of providing constructive suggestions, facilitating implementation of programs and improvements, recognizing achievements individually and reinforcing success.
• Program Management (Intermediate): Demonstrates mastery of program or product administration in practical applications under difficult circumstances [e.g., deadlines, complex requirements.] Possesses sufficient knowledge, training, and experience to be capable of successfully delivering program or product results without support and instruction from others. Able to train and educate by setting examples, giving technical instruction, providing leadership, and generally raising the level of performance of others while on the job.
• Medication Management (Expert): Is a recognized expert and authority in Medication Management. Occupies the position that is the last internal resource for support or direction. Takes the lead role in developing best practices in medication management. Has the ability to determine the clinical appropriateness of each medication taken by the patient, determine the appropriateness of the dose, dosage form, indication, contraindications, potential adverse effects and potential problems with concomitant medications. Able to monitor for therapeutic duplication or other unnecessary medications, interpret, monitor and assessing patient's laboratory results as they relate to medication therapy and provide drug information to other healthcare professionals, patients and their families.
• Pharmacy Data Management (Advanced): Demonstrates the ability to apply diverse areas of business knowledge to successfully meet broad Data Management objectives. Able to converse intelligently with users, customers, and management on the impact of this technology. Capable of discerning the impact of subtle changes in business and technology, and their impact on Data Management.
• Pharmaceutical Drug Preparation & Dispensing (Intermediate): Demonstrates proficiency in drug preparation and dispensing including practical applications of a difficult nature. Possesses sufficient knowledge, training, and experience to review, prepare and dispense prescribed medications. This includes being proficient in the general principles of aseptic technique utilized to compound sterile preparations (CSPs) to minimize the risk of contamination. (where applicable) Able to train and educate by setting the example, giving instruction, providing leadership, and generally raising the level of performance of others while on the job.
• Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance & Compliance (Expert): Demonstrates expert knowledge of the appropriate rules and regulations as they apply to the organization. Demonstrates expertise in process improvement, quality assurance practices and/or programs. Demonstrates a commitment to continuous quality improvement and ensures compliance with a federal, state and local regulations as well as organizational policies and procedures. May represent the organization at regulatory and industry groups for discussing rules and regulations.

Allied health is among the fastest growing occupations in healthcare today. This area can be defined as credentialed professionals who perform supportive, diagnostic, and therapeutic health care services to promote health and prevent disease in a variety of settings.

These areas are crucial to Vanderbilt Health's reputation for excellence in these areas that has made us a major center for patient referrals from throughout the Mid-South.

Each year, people throughout Tennessee and the southeast choose Vanderbilt Health for their health care because of our leadership in medical science and our dedication to treating patients with dignity and compassion.

Core Accountabilities:

Organizational Impact: Delivers projects/assignments that have a direct impact on goals/objectives of the unit/department that the job is in. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Conducts extensive analysis of situations or data to resolve numerous, complex issues; may involve the input/work of others. Breadth of Knowledge: Has in-depth level of knowledge within a professional area and working knowledge of other areas. Team Interaction: May lead mid-sized projects; coaches and guides team members.

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues: - Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas. - Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships. - Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences. Delivering Excellent Service: - Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.- Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions. - Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly. - Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.- Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area. - Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities. Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches. - Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short‑term challenges. - Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.

Position Qualifications:

• Responsibilities:

Certifications:

LIC-Pharmacist License - TennesseeTennessee

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level :

2 years

Education:

Bachelor's (Required)

This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within Vanderbilt Health, supported by a comprehensive benefits package which may include health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings to enhance your well-being and professional growth.

Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. EOE/Vets/Disabled.