Clinical Pharmacy Specialist

Clinical Pharmacy Specialist

The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist provides pharmaceutical care services through direct interaction with patients and clinicians, at the highest level of clinical practice, working in close collaboration with other clinical team members and serves as a consultant for intensive medication therapy management services. The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist may also serve as pharmacy representative to health center committees as requested; assist in student preceptor programs; participate in research programs where appropriate; and provides appropriate leadership to other pharmacy staff. The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist reports directly to the Director of Clinical Pharmacy.

Major duties and responsibilities include provision of safe, effective, appropriate, and cost-effective medication therapy to patients in area of Ambulatory Care. Under direction of the Director of Clinical Pharmacy, the Clinical Pharmacy Specialist will assist in the planning, organizing, and monitoring of the delivery of ambulatory care pharmacy services for the Chase Brexton Health Care (CBHC). This role will support all HIV/ID programs at CBHC, including Ryan White funded programs (i.e.: HIV Pharmacy Adherence Support Team [ASTRx]), PrEP (POWER) Clinics, Hepatitis C Program, HIV/PrEP Long-acting Injectables, and Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. These responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Performance Management: Writes and delivers performance evaluations for clinical pharmacy technicians. Provides appropriate coaching and counseling.
• Analytical and Critical Thinking: Use broad scope of skills and pharmacotherapy knowledge for providing direct patient care, as well as providing complex, in-depth clinical services. Provide services such as, but not limited to, monitoring patients in specialty services, collecting patient-specific data, interpreting drug related laboratory data, performing relevant physical assessments, interviewing patients, and identifying patient goals of therapy. Review and assess patient-specific drug therapy by evaluating therapy appropriateness and identifying potential interaction or adverse effects. In collaboration with the Director of Clinical Pharmacy, review and analyze relevant data to improve drug usage, patient adherence, and pharmacoeconomic impact to improve clinical programs.
• Teamwork: Work with Director of Clinical Pharmacy to coordinate, improve, expand, and deliver ambulatory care services within Chase Brexton Health Care centers. Coordinates continuing education activities for medical clinicians, nursing, and pharmacy staff and orients new staff on pharmacy practice and procedures. Collaborate with pharmacy leadership for submission of pharmacy newsletter, participate in journal clubs and provide in services to all professional staff. Work closely with CBHC pharmacies and mail order teams to coordinate all aspects of pharmacy management including prescription processing, delivery, storage, security, returns, copayment collection, documentation, etc. Serves as preceptor to pharmacy students, residents, and volunteers.
• Patient Focus: Responsible for medication management for HIV treatment and prevention, also with a focus on chronic disease state management, hepatitis, antibiotic stewardship, and outpatient antimicrobial therapy. Participate in patient care activities and work as part of an interdisciplinary team in a patient-centric care environment with emphasis on patient safety and drug therapy management.
• Problem Solving and Decision Making: Design and recommend a comprehensive drug therapy and patient education plan for patient-specific problems and appropriately justify recommendations based on patient specific pharmacological and evidence-based information. Perform periodic and ongoing review of pharmacy related processes and make appropriate recommendations to the Director of Clinical Pharmacy.
• Communication: Report and document drug errors, adverse drug reactions, allergies, and patient adherence issues. Participate in on-site clinical/department meetings, and committees as appropriate.
• Compliance, Policy, and Procedure: Maintain compliance with all relevant CBHC Policies and Procedures, CBHC drug formulary, and regulatory agency guidelines such as Board of Pharmacy, DEA, JCAHO, etc.

Other duties as assigned.

Skills and abilities include ability to function independently and/or collaboratively within a team setting. Highly effective problem solving, planning, and organization skills. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Able to make verbal presentations to large groups. Excellent computer skills and knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Good drug information retrieval skills.

Education and/or experience: Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) required. Completion of an ASHP-accredited postgraduate year one (PGY1) residency required. A minimum of two (2) years of recent pharmacy experience as a clinical pharmacist and/or experience in internal medicine or Infectious Diseases in either the inpatient or outpatient setting. Current professional license to practice pharmacy in the state of Maryland. Must become certified in Basic Life Support (BLS). National Provider Identifier must be obtained upon hire. Preferred: Completion of PGY2 residency training in Infectious Diseases, Ambulatory Care or related specialty is preferred. Preferred: Board of Pharmacy Specialties certification (i.e.: BCPS, BCACP, BCIDP, AAHIVP) is preferred.

Working conditions/physical demands: Work is typically performed in an office environment.