Licensed Pharmacist(Service Chief)

Description:

The Chief, Pharmacy Service is responsible for planning, coordinating, managing, and maintaining comprehensive clinical, distributive, logistical, educational, research and administrative Pharmacy programs and services to support the Federal Health Care Center's mission in this multispecialty facility, complexity level 1c.

Requirements:

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.
• English Language Proficiency: Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d).
• 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.) (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) OR
  • Must be a graduate of a foreign pharmacy degree program that meets the educational requirement if the 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). (DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED)
• 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. (MUST PROVIDE A COPY OF LICENSURE)

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 : In addition to the basic requirements above, applicants must meet the following grade requirements .

Licensed Pharmacist

• Experience, GS-15
  • You must have at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-14). Examples of specialized experience may include but not limited to: Skill in persuading others and gaining cooperation to accomplish goals, Ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing regarding complex clinical and technical issues, Skill in utilizing regulatory and quality standards to develop and implement operational programs, Skill in managing multiple people or programs, Skill in utilizing available resources to support the mission and goals of the organization, Ability to plan, organize and direct the functions of the pharmacy staff
• AND
• In addition to the experience listed above, the Chief Licensed Pharmacist must demonstrate the following KSA's:
  • Skill in persuading others and gaining cooperation to accomplish goals
  • Ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing regarding complex clinical and technical issues
  • Skill in utilizing regulatory and quality standards to develop and implement operational programs
  • Skill in managing multiple people or programs
  • Skill in utilizing available resources to support the missions and goals of the organization
  • Ability to plan, organize and direct the functions of the pharmacy staff.

Must also meet all of the following requirements:

1. Manages a complex medical center based pharmacy program that is defined as having multiple practice settings (e.g. hospital ambulatory care, long-term care, behavior health care) that require Joint Commission review as separate standards.
2. In addition to the medical center pharmacy, has responsibility for pharmacy services at one or more of the following: CBOCs, Rural Health Program, domiciliary, or provides dispensing and/or clinical services to State Veterans Home.
3. Presence of advanced clinical pharmacy programs that include pharmacist(s) that have approved scopes of practice with prescriptive privileges.
4. Pharmacy provides clinical pharmacist services to three (3) or more specialty areas such as, but not limited to, hemodialysis, oncology, operating room or an emergency department.

Must also meet at least two of the following:

1. An ASHP Accredited Pharmacy Residency Program.
2. A Research Program that is accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP).
3. Actively involved in committees or advisory/work groups at the VISN and/or National level.
4. An ongoing pharmacy student rotation in both the intermediate and advanced practice experience settings.

An ASHP Accredited Pharmacy Residency Program. Creditable Experience: To be creditable, the experience must have demonstrated the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with professional pharmacy practice. Professional practice means paid/non-paid employment as a professional or unlicensed graduate pharmacist as defined by the appropriate licensing board. Residency and fellowship training programs in a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice may be substituted for creditable experience on a year-for-year basis. The pharmacy residency program must be accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). A fellowship program that is not accredited by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) will need to have comparable standards for experience to be creditable (Professional Standards Board refers to the Deputy Chief Consultant for Professional Practice for the determination).
Quality of Experience: Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to pharmacy experience at the next lower level. Experience as a Graduate Pharmacist is creditable provided the candidate was used as a professional pharmacist (under supervision) and subsequently passed the appropriate licensure examination.
Part-time Experience: Part-time experience as a professional pharmacist is credited according to its relationship to the full-time workweek. For example, a pharmacist employed 20 hours a week, or on a 1/2-time basis, would receive 1 full-time workweek of credit for each 2 weeks of service.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/ .

The full performance level of this vacancy is 12.

Physical Requirements: The work involves prolonged periods of standing with some walking of generally short distances. There may be occasional lifting of weights up to 30 lbs. There may be mental fatigue due to repetitive screening and interpretation of medication orders. Applicants must be able to distinguish basic colors.