Clinical Pharmacy Specialist - Pain Management

Summary

The ambulatory care clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) plans, implements, and operates the clinical pharmacy programs assigned to them within the pain management interdisciplinary team. The CPS is the medication expert in these assigned areas and functions as a consultant to other health care professionals.

Duties

Major duties include, but are not limited to: Program Management Accepts a shared responsibility for the overall management of the clinic, including but not limited to developing & maintaining clinic grids, sustaining clinic utilization, managing missed opportunities, coordinating clinic cancellations, and restructuring as necessary to maintain patient care in response to staffing needs effectively. Accepts a shared responsibility in the development and ongoing review of all policies and operating procedures specific to clinical practice area. Responsible for the appropriate, effective, and safe use of pharmaceuticals within practice area. Initiates quality assurance and improvement activities, including but not limited to medication use evaluations, medication management, monitoring and safety, criteria development, and policy creation and/or revision, that demonstrate improved patient care outcomes. Responsible for identifying, measuring, and reporting relevant outcomes as related to specific clinical pharmacy practice. Contributes to budgetary stewardship by incorporating cost savings initiatives into clinical practice and identifying potential cost reduction opportunities to improve overall healthcare services. Independently resolves provider and patient care issues, concerns, and questions as related to clinical practice. Clinical Functions Provides clinical coverage in pharmacist-run pain management clinics. Operates independently under a defined scope of practice to initiate, change, and discontinue prescription and OTC medications, devices, and supplies in an outpatient clinical pharmacy practice setting. In collaboration with the appropriate provider, provides additional advanced medication services outside of defined clinical scope without need for provider co-signature and excluding controlled substances. Incorporates pharmacoeconomic considerations into clinical practice to promote cost-effective and evidence-based drug therapy, including but not limited to drug selection, dosage form, administration frequency, duration of therapy, monitoring, and efficacy. Actively participates in the process of medication reconciliation including updating the medication profile to reflect an accurate, active list of VA and non-VA medications, and discontinuing duplicate medications or medications that the patient is not taking. Manages out-of-stock situations by substituting alternate dosage strengths. Ensures adherence to the VA formulary and P&T Committee drug therapy & policy recommendations. Distributive Functions Verifies computer prescriptions (with provider order entry) for patients in their assigned clinic area or other areas as assigned. Coordinates medication orders with central pharmacy or CMOP when necessary. Participates with pharmacy management in formulating and implementing policies and procedures to ensure accurate preparation, compounding, and dispensing of all therapeutic and diagnostic agents and other supplies furnished by Pharmacy Service to beneficiaries through the various inpatient and outpatient functional areas. Educational Functions Precepts pharmacy students, PGY-1 and PGY-2 pharmacy residents, including providing constructive feedback regarding quality of educational experience and preceptor interaction/involvement. Participates in the education and training of new employees or employees introduced to selected practice areas. Administrative Functions Assumes an ownership role for administrative activities related to the advanced practice setting, including reviewing consults promptly, accurately completing and closing encounters, independently resolving provider and patient care issues, and assuring appropriate coverage for clinical services. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00AM to 4:30PM. Work schedule is subject to change based on agency needs. Telework: Ad-hoc. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 62093F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.

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: 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 (B.S. 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). All licensed pharmacists employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard (6/7/2012) 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. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements required in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: (1) Employees grandfathered into the GS-660 occupational series may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions; (2) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration, that meet all the basic req