Clarification from the agency

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

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Pharmacy Technician-Automation is assigned to the automation specialized area as the subject matter expert. The incumbent must have expert understanding of the complexity of the Automation program. The incumbent has work leadership responsibility for the daily maintenance and oversight of all inpatient and outpatient pharmacy automated dispensing equipment at the local facility level. The incumbent will consistently demonstrate independent technical judgement and comprehensive and thorough working knowledge of associated VA policies and procedures. Mandated accountability and control of medications makes this a particularly sensitive position that is considered critical by all levels of management. This position performs any duties or special projects deemed necessary by the Chief of Pharmacy, for proper operation of the Pharmacy Service.

This position requires thorough knowledge and understanding of federal, VA, and facility regulations regarding medication and pharmacy processes in general and involves performing complex procedures over a range of functions. Duties of this position at the VA Western New York Healthcare System include, but are not limited to, all services involving storage, fill, dispense, transfer, inventory, administration, waste, or destruction of medications per Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Handbooks and Directives, as well as all Office of Inspector General (OIG) Directives and Health System Policy. The incumbent is expected to assist inspectors, review teams, and other staff during routine inquires and inspections per Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Handbooks and Directives, as well as all Office of Inspector General (OIG) Directives and Health System Policy.

The incumbent must be highly organized and demonstrate a concerned and critical attitude toward accuracy, detail, control and loss management, and function with minimal supervision. The incumbent is expected to maintain a high degree of accurate productivity and performance while being extremely sensitive to specific contribution to total patient care. This position involves all aspects of automated equipment for medication management and accountability for dispensing to VA Western New York inpatients, CLC patients, clinic patients and/or ambulatory patients.

The incumbent must have technical knowledge of drug and medication brand names, generic names/chemical names, general and special storage requirements, expiration date requirements, manufacturer/distributor sources, dosage forms, applicable systems of weights and measures and medical terminology to interpret providers' orders and verify correct drug, dosage form, strength and dose is prepared and/or distributed; working knowledge of drug use and dosage forms available to be able to screen drug orders for propriety and assist the pharmacist in solving potential drug related problems; working knowledge of hospital computer system(s), specifically the applicable VISTA and CPRS and Class-III software applications and processing options. This includes, but is not limited to, BCMA, unit dose, outpatient prescription processing, ScriptPro®, SIM, MILT-4® (or comparable) packager, Pyxis (or comparable) automated dispensing machines. The incumbent is expected to have working-knowledge of the operation, daily maintenance, and minor repair of equipment.


Work Schedule: Rotating tours to include nights and weekends
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
Paid Time Off: 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.
Parental Leave: 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.
Child Care Subsidy: 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.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 10323F
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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• 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 or Experience:
  • (1) None required.
  • (2) For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level.
• Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either:
  • (1) Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). OR
  • (2) National Healthcareer Association (NHA), Certified Pharmacy Technician (ExCPT).
• Grandfathering Provision: Pharmacy technicians employed in VHA on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure/certification/registration that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements in this standard but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:
  • (1) Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
  • (2) Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/ registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/ certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels.
  • (3) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
  • (4) Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.
  • (5) Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.
• Foreign Education: To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service.
• English Language Proficiency: Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

Grade Determinations: Pharmacy Technician, GS-08

• Experience: Candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and demonstrate the KSAs below.
• Certification: For positions above the full performance level, the employee must pass a national certification exam and hold an active national certification through either:
  • (a) PTCB as a CPhT. OR
  • (b) NHA as a ExCPT.
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs for all GS-08 assignments and meet any additional KSAs for the assignment, if indicated:
  • Comprehensive knowledge of concepts, principles, methodology and policies in a specialized area or section of pharmacy (such as sterile compounding, controlled substances, automation, clinical pharmacy, contact center, etc.) Note: See Specialized Area in the Definitions Section.
  • Skill in training and orienting new and existing pharmacy facility employees and students on proper policies and procedures.
  • Ability to evaluate, analyze and coordinate workflow and work activities within a specialized area or section of the pharmacy.
• Assignments: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Pharmacy technicians at this level have a higher level of responsibility for specialized areas of pharmacy and are expected to independently carry out assigned tasks of considerable difficulty. Pharmacy technicians at this grade level may be appointed to one of the following assignments:
  • Pharmacy Technician: Pharmacy technicians in this assignment specialize in areas such as sterile compounding, oncology, controlled substances, medication history review, clinical specialist (anticoagulation, pain, infectious diseases), clinical informatics, automation, immunizations and any other specialized area in the advancement of the profession. The pharmacy technician will serve as a subject matter expert and key resource in the day-to-day technician duties of the specialized area. The technician will be performing assignments such as compounding sterile products, filling controlled substance prescriptions while maintaining compliance with Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regulations, taking medication histories and counseling patients, managing automation, managing workflow and training and orienting staff in the specialized area.

Preferred Experience: Hospital Pharmacy Experience

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-08.

Physical Requirements: Employees are expected to work 40 hours per week. This includes nights, weekends. and/or holidays as assigned. Mandating to cover other shifts may occur resulting in exceeding a 40-hour week but compensated via overtime or compensatory time at the employee's discretion. Work demands include standing, walking, stooping, kneeling, bending, twisting, repetitive use of hands and fingers, carrying light loads (up to 50 pounds) and pushing/pulling large/heavy carts. Normal ranges of hearing and vision are required to perform work and communicate effectively, must have the visual ability to distinguish between basic colors and shades of color as well as small font (tablet imprints, expiration dates, lot numbers etc.) Work demands the ability to perform tasks requiring rapid mental and muscular coordination functions simultaneously if necessary. Must be physically capable of operating various types of equipment used for the job.

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.