Clinical Pharmacist

Outpatient Clinical Pharmacist

The incumbent serves as an Outpatient Clinical Pharmacist, exercising full professional authority, knowledge, and judgment in the delivery of outpatient pharmacy services. Key responsibilities include training and rotating through the various tasks in the outpatient pharmacy, including the controlled substance vault, conducting inventory counts, and maintaining accurate inventory. Accurately interpreting physicians' orders, filling and dispensing medications, managing drug availability and accountability, and ensuring optimal patient drug therapy. The Clinical Pharmacist performs over 25% of their duties in a clinical, non-distributive capacity, providing pharmaceutical care in specialty areas such as Psychiatry, Medicine, Oncology, Surgery, IV Therapy, Long-term Care, Ambulatory Care, and Home-based Care. They ensure comprehensive care by communicating with healthcare providers about allergies, side effects, and other relevant information, both orally and in writing. The incumbent documents recommendations and interventions, reviews patients' medications and medical records to resolve medication-related issues, performs State Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) checks, and provides refill extensions and partial medication supplies when necessary. They also take health and medication histories, perform medication reconciliation, and assist in formulary management, including therapeutic substitutions, non-formulary reviews, and medication usage evaluations, conferences, and in-service programs, and it is desirable that they hold membership in a relevant pharmaceutical organization. The incumbent ensures that Veterans receiving community care receive the same level of service as those using VA services. This includes maintaining compliance with VHA metrics and parameters for timely delivery of pharmacy consumables to Veterans and staying current with local and national changes in Outpatient Pharmacy directives and policies. They are responsible for maintaining professional relationships and collaboration with other service lines involved in providing VA services to Veterans. The position requires a working knowledge of the electronic health record (EHR), pharmacy policies and procedures, DEA regulations, and the inbound fax and electronic prescription process. The incumbent must possess exceptional customer service skills and the ability to follow verbal and written instructions. The Clinical Pharmacist is expected to maintain a high degree of accuracy, productivity, and attention to Veteran needs while adhering to the VA ICARE values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect, and excellence.

Clinical Functions:

1. Provides the full range of resources as a medication expert in drug information covering a wide range of therapeutic classes.
2. Reviews the patient's medication profile for therapeutic appropriateness and any possible drug allergies, incompatibilities, interactions, duplications, or compliance problems, and when necessary, advises other members of the interdisciplinary team to ensure safety.
3. Serves as the pharmacy representative on interdisciplinary teams when assigned. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, reviewing patient medication profiles, monitoring outcomes, and/or recommending alternative therapy. Must have appropriate knowledge of disease states and clinical pharmacology.
4. Provides medication counseling to patients, their families, and caregivers.
5. Serves as a drug information resource by providing up-to-date drug information to prescribers, other health care professionals, patients and caregivers.
6. Reports adverse drug events (ADE), near misses, and medication errors in alignment with the VA ADERS reporting program.
7. Implements P&T Committee policies, including therapeutic interchanges and automatic substitutions, to include appropriate patient and provider education
8. Adjudicates Community Care prescriptions, including assessing authorizations, determining eligibility, prescription evaluation (including appropriateness of prescription), nonformulary management, PDMP inquiries, and other relevant interventions.

Additional Functions include, but are not limited to:

• Screening prescriptions
• Maintaining adequate drug stock.
• Educating healthcare providers.
• Reviewing controlled substance destruction process.
• Ensuring compliance with Federal regulations.
• Provide professional and technical advice.
• Professionally treat customers.
• Guides, directs, orients, and trains employees, students, and residents.