Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (Acute/Surgical Care)

The Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (Acute/Surgical Care) serves in a surgical setting and is responsible for pharmacotherapy management, the provision of drug information services, and the development and management of related pharmacy programs.

The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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.
• Education:
  • Graduate of an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accredited College or School of Pharmacy with a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy (BS 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 2 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).

Grade Determinations:

• Experience: In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.
• Assignments: Candidates at this grade level are to be in one of the assignments listed below. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.
• Clinical Pharmacy Specialist: The clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) functions at the highest level of clinical practice, works independently under their scope of practice as defined by the individual medical center to directly care for patients. A CPS plays a defined role in budgetary execution and serves as a mid-level provider who functions to initiate, modify or discontinue medication therapy and as a consultant for intensive medication therapy management services. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: designing, implementing, assessing, monitoring and documenting therapeutic plans utilizing the most effective, least toxic and most economical medication treatments; helping achieve positive patient centric outcomes through direct and indirect interactions with patients, providers, and interdisciplinary teams in assigned areas; performing physical assessments; and ordering laboratory and other tests to help determine efficacy and toxicity of medication therapy.
  • Pharmacists assigned to this position must demonstrate the following KSAs:
    • Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.
    • Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area.
    • Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.
    • Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy.
    • Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.

Preferred Experience: Training and experience to support request for scope of practice for surgery services/acute care, such as ASHP Accredited PGY-1 training (to have been by August 1, 2026 or equivalent direct patient care experience/training. Preferred prior/current provider status for direct patient care experience or applicable PGY-2 training (surgery services/acute care). Preferred credentials include practice area applicable Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties certification.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

This position is above the full performance level.

Physical Requirements: Applicants must be able to distinguish basic colors.

Responsibilities:

Major Duties

• Medication therapy management as an Advanced Practice Provider within the individual's scope of practice.
• Serves as a consultant to other health care providers for intensive medication therapy management services.
• Documents in the medical record of all relevant findings from drug therapy monitoring and management activities in a timely manner for other health care professionals who are responsible for patient care.
• Conducts in-service education programs for physicians, nursing, pharmacy staff, and others as assigned.
• Participates in the training of pharmacy residents and students.
• Assists Pharmacy and Surgery Services in accomplishing the mission and goals as related to the provision of pharmaceutical care.
• Contributes to medical center committees when assigned to provide thoroughly investigated, unbiased, well-documented drug information.
• Develops, implements, and monitors formulary management protocols and programs.
• Evaluates requests for non-formulary and formulary-restricted medications.
• Participates in MUE development, collection, and analysis to provide feed-back regarding medication use.

Work Schedule: 12:30pm-9:00pm
Compressed/Flexible:Not Available
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS):Not Authorized

Salary : $153,709