Pharmacy Technician - Informatics and Medication Safety

Job Title

Allied Health Professional

Duties

The duties include:

• Automation and Informatics
• Medication Safety

Automation and Informatics:

• Serves as a subject matter expert and key resource in the technical areas of pharmacy automation and informatics.
• Organizes, coordinates, and manages the technical aspects of multiple pharmacy automation systems under the supervision of informatics pharmacists. Develops workflows and related training and orientation of pharmacy staff.
• Manages the technical aspects of multiple pharmacy automation systems under the supervision of informatics pharmacists. Coordinates hardware and software across ICVAHCS and Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) to ensure timely, safe, efficacious, and cost-effective services.
• Ensures maximum system availability. Resolves system issues or escalates appropriately. Notifies affected staff and pharmacy leadership of system outages. Proactively communicates planned outages and contingency plans.
• Provides front-line technical support. Serves as liaison to Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Healthcare Technology Management (HTM, "BioMed"), and vendors. Submits and monitors service tickets. Coordinates installations and support.
• Participates in system testing.
• Develops, maintains, and provides pharmacy system orientation and training. Contributes to standardized and vetted orientation and training plans for all new pharmacy employees.
• Develops and runs reports as needed. Responds to operational information requests before applicable deadlines.
• Establishes and maintains record keeping systems.

Medication Safety:

• Assists the Medication Safety Officer with data collection, event reporting, medication safety surveillance, quality improvement activities, and educational support.
• Serves as a resource for staff on medication safety processes and reporting procedures.
• Provides administrative support to the Medication Safety Subcommittee.
• Assists in the collection, entry, and tracking of medication-related safety events, including adverse drug events (ADEs), medication errors, and near misses, using designated reporting platforms such as JPSR and VA Adverse Drug Event Reporting System (ADERS).
• Conducts preliminary review of event reports for completeness and accuracy prior to pharmacist or Medication Safety Officer review.
• Supports pharmacists in monitoring facility compliance with VHA, FDA, DEA, OIG, and Joint Commission medication safety standards by gathering and organizing compliance data.
• Runs and compiles standard reports from safety databases as directed, distributing them to designated staff for analysis.
• Assists in the preparation of de-identified summaries of medication event data for pharmacy management and interdisciplinary sharing.
• Maintains up-to-date records of ISMP alerts and communicates related notifications to pharmacy staff as instructed.

Supports the department's residency program through participation in informatics and medication safety rotation activities.

Performs specialized automation, informatics, and medication safety duties at least 25% of the time. Performs other professional or administrative tasks as assigned by the Pharmacy Informatics Supervisor, Medication Safety Officer, or Chief of Pharmacy Service.

Work Schedule

Full-Time, Monday through Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm

Benefits

The benefits include:

• Competitive salary and regular salary increases
• 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
• Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience.
• After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
• After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
• Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
• Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

US Department of Veterans Affairs