Clarification from the agency

Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order: 1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility. 2. All other VA employees and HPT's 3. All other applicants NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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The Cincinnati VA Medical Center (CVAMC) is a two-division campus located in Cincinnati, OH and Fort Thomas, KY serving 15 counties in Southwest OH, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana with 6 Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Bellevue, KY; Florence, KY; Lawrenceburg, IN; Hamilton, OH; Clermont County, OH, and Georgetown, OH. The CVAMC also supports two off main campus locations in the Cincinnati area via an Eye Center and Mental Health Outreach Community Division.


Duties:
Clinical

• Evaluates a wide variety of patients assigned to the PACT and home-based primary care (HBPC) teams and in specialty clinics, makes appropriate recommendations on drug therapy; assesses for efficacy and toxicity, and develops pharmaceutical care plans, including establishment of outcome goals.
• Develops, implements and maintains Clinical Pharmacy Clinics as part of PACT, HBPC, and/or specialty clinics as assigned to ensure timely follow-up for patients.
• Serves as a liaison between Pharmacy Service and assigned clinical areas.
• Works with patients who have been identified as having compliance/adherence issues with their medications by conducting encounters, assessing barriers to compliance, and identifying and educating on ways to improve compliance.
• Works directly with assigned teams to help ensure continuity of care for patients leaving the hospital. Ensures timely completion of pharmacy chart reviews that assess safety and efficacy of medications for HBPC teams as assigned.
• Provides timely and accurate drug information to assist providers and other medical staff with the development of therapeutic plans and medication issues.
• Participates in the focused and ongoing professional practice (FPPE & OPPE) evaluation process.

Program Coordination for Student/Residents
Residency Support:

• Supports the RPD in various duties, including the possibility of residency recruitment, application review, and interview/selection processes, as well as organization of resident-student combined tasks (such as precepting rotations, education, etc).
• Coordinates the orientation process for the new residents.
• Coordinates the end of year residency retreat including current PGY1 residents and preceptors in order to review the program.

Student Coordination:

• Ensures that all pharmacists involved in the precepting of pharmacy students at the Cincinnati VAMC receive initial and ongoing training to ensure their competency in effectively carrying out the duties and responsibilities of being a preceptor.
• Establishes or oversees a mutually agreeable student rotation schedule with all pharmacy student preceptors annually.
• Communicates or oversees communication with each affiliated college of pharmacy to schedule pharmacy student rotations.
• Coordinates with pharmacy administration to ensure that all students complete all the required training and security checks prior to starting the student rotation.
• Coordinates or oversees coordination with Education Service to ensure all students coming to pharmacy are documented and have completed all the necessary paperwork (surveys, etc.)
• Coordinates or oversees coordination of Cincinnati VAMC preceptor responsibilities at affiliated colleges of pharmacy.
• Coordinates the training activities for all preceptors and preceptors in training and ensures training is documented.
• Plans, develops, implements, coordinates, and evaluates regular formal and informal preceptor development training and education of pharmacists, PGY1 and PGY2 pharmacy residents, and pharmacy students.
• Coordinates specialized pharmacotherapeutic education and training to pharmacy residents.
• Facilitates joint Residency Advisory Committee (RAC) meetings.
• Coordinates and manages continued review and updating of the PGY1/PGY2 Residency Manual.

Education/Research:

• Assesses and provides for educational needs of the patient and family to help ensure that pharmaceutical outcome goals are met.
• Provides patients and families with education on necessary lifestyles, preventive medicine and wellness issues to help achieve outcome goals.
• Provides educational programs to pharmacy and non-pharmacy staff and trainees.
• Serves as a primary clinical preceptor for pharmacy students and pharmacy residents.
• Plans, develops, implements, coordinates, and evaluates regular formal and informal preceptor development training and education of pharmacists, and PGY2 pharmacy residents, and pharmacy students.
• Designs and/or participates in research activities involving drug therapy or outcome measures.
• Completes all assigned training by the due date.
• Participates in self-development activities to maintain and improve professional competency.

Work Schedule: Monday -Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Telework: AD-HOC, per agency policy discretion.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 93500-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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:

• (1) 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.)
• (2) Graduates of foreign pharmacy degree programs meet 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.

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.

English Language Proficiency. Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d).

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: GS-13

Experience. In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.

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:

a. Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.
b. Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area.
c. Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise.
d. Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy.
e. Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.

Preferred Experience: Residency trained, PACT.

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is 13.

Physical Requirements: Work is mostly sedentary in nature. Work requires moderate lifting, walking, bending, stooping, standing, pushing, and pulling.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.