Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. consideration is: 1. Current, permanent employees of the Robley Rex VA Medical Center. 2. Current, permanent employees of the Veteran Health Administration. 3. Current, permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 4. Health Professions Trainees (HPT). Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. Open to the public. Veterans preference is applicable

Videos

VA Careers - Pharmacy: https://youtube.com/embed/Fn_ickNBEws

Duties include but not limited to:

• Quality Improvement and Risk Management
  1) Coordinates ongoing, proactive processes to evaluate and improve safe medication management strategies.
  2) Manages or assists with management of data collection, analysis, and review of medication safety related events and practices, including reports of Adverse Drug Events and medication errors.
  3) Participates and facilitates root-cause analysis of significant medication errors. Examines the system failures and human factors contributing to medication errors.
  4) Identifies the extent of the health system's adherence to published best practices and guidelines relevant to medication-use safety.
  5) Identifies opportunities for proactive change in the medication-use system suggested by published events or recommendations focused on medication-use safety. Ensure health-system adoption of modifications to the medication-use system on the basis of comparison with best practices, guidelines, published events, and recommendations.
  6) Participates in medical center and pharmacy service quality improvement initiatives.
• Legal and Regulatory Compliance
  1) Ensures compliance with accreditation standards and with federal, state, and local regulations related to medication use.
  2) Serves as a resource to pharmacy management and performance improvement departments on matters of medication safety.
  3) Serves as a liaison representing the Pharmacy Service in safe medication practice issues.
• Program Management
  1) Assists the Associate Chief of Pharmacy in developing medication safety goals and objectives.
  2) Assists pharmacy leadership in the development, approval, and implementation of policies and procedures that support medication safety.
  3) Participates in collaborative interdisciplinary practice through active participation in hospital committees, including serving as Co-Chair of Medication Safety Subcommittee.
  4) Coordinates interdepartmental and intradepartmental medication safety activities.
  5) Ensures that all patient-specific and medication-specific information needed to support effective medication-related patient care decisions is readily available in a useful form to physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other pertinent health care providers. 6) Consistently displays the principles of a Highly Reliable Organization supporting Just Culture and collaboration with other departments to improve the medication use process.
• Medication Standardization and Storage
  1) Ensures that parenteral solutions, medication concentrations, doses, and administration items are standardized whenever possible.
  2) Minimizes the potential for errors associated with medication products due to labeling, packaging, or medication names that look or sound alike.
  3) Ensures that medication storage is safe and secure throughout the institution and aligns with local and national policy.
  4) Ensures the safety of product changes.
• Medication-Use System Management
  1) Ensures that processes for prescribing and monitoring medication therapy minimize the potential for medication errors.
  2) Ensures that methods for the communication and transcription of medication orders minimize the risk of errors.
  3) Ensures that double-check and other verifications are in place to ensure the safety of medications requiring special preparation (e.g. medications requiring extemporaneous compounding, antineoplastic agents, and new medication with unique preparation requirements).
• Education and Training
  1) Participates in the training and in-servicing of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmacy residents, pharmacy students, and other medical center personnel as required.
  2) Is skilled at using both written and verbal communication techniques in teaching others.
  3) Serves as a preceptor for pharmacy residents and/or pharmacy students.
• Research Pharmacist Back-Up
  1) Coordinates the receipt and distribution of drugs in an investigational and/or clinical evaluation status upon patient discharge from the facility if Research Pharmacy Program Manager is unavailable.
  2) Conducts and coordinates clinical drug investigations and research under FDA guidelines and regulations and approval by the local R&D Committee.

The employee is administratively accountable to the Associate Chief, Pharmacy Operations, for professional licensure, competency, and continuing education.


Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 0730 - 1600
Telework: Adhoc only.
Functional Statement #: 41314-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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.
• 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 InternetBased 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: GS-13

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

(b) 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.

Facility Program Manager. Manages all aspects of a distinct program to include policy development, quality resources and specialty functions unique to the program to optimize cost effectiveness (budget) and patient outcomes. Coordinates a single program area of a complex pharmacy operation, or multiple program areas within a facility to develop, organize, manage, and control complex pharmacy programs. Develops, organizes, coordinates and manages single or multiple program areas within the medical facility; this may include a single program area at multiple facilities. The Program Manager title is reserved for those individuals who have one or more of the following: supervisory responsibilities for various sections within Pharmacy Service; a complex program requiring coordination of multiple locations such as medical center care facilities, Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs), rural health, telemedicine, etc; specialized areas of a complex nature such as nuclear pharmacy, quality assurance, pharmacy informatics, clinical applications coordinator, Home Based Primary Care, pharmacoeconomist or liaison pharmacist duties requiring the coordination of processes with other medical facilities or VISNs.

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: PGY1 and PGY2 residency in Medication Use Safety or Health-System Pharmacy Administration & Leadership preferred or certification in Medication Safety.

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-13.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

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.