Clinical Pharmacy Specialist - Pain Management

Job Title

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.

US Department of Veterans Affairs