Clarification from the agency

Current VA employees only. *You will need to upload your most recent SF-50 from 2025 to be considered*.

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Duties Include but, are not limited to the following:

• Provides consultation to other practitioners regarding pharmaceutical services and drug information. Helps Pharmacy staff, when required, in obtaining needed information in order to problem solve.
• Helps and supports Pharmacy staff in counseling patients with problems regarding medications and VA policies in obtaining medications, in addition to basic patient counseling. Medication counseling utilizes the Indian Health Service model of open-ended questions.
• Serves as drug therapeutic consultant to the medical and nursing staff. This function includes educating fellow Primary Care Team members in aspects of rational, cost-effective drug therapy prescribing and new therapeutic agents.
• Supports enrollment of patients into the Audible Prescription Program for blind veterans including review of consults to evaluate eligibility.
• Will support any vaccination efforts as assigned.
• Will properly cross train all staff in the various duties that are essential to successfully provide pharmacy service to the veterans as well as to the clinic staff.
• Prepares daily work assignments for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Prepares a working schedule for all staff. Post or provides access to work assignments/schedules for the staff to view.
• Runs administrative reports e.g. pending report, finishing report, as well as other reports that would identify need for improvements or deviating from compliance per VHA directives. Runs and shares with staff on a routine basis to ensure compliance.
• Resolves drug distribution problems and conflicts arising in the Outpatient Pharmacy or anything related to outpatient. This includes establishing priorities and deadlines while coordinating efficient staff activities.
• Ensures that the Outpatient Pharmacy meets VA, JCAHO, DEA, and professional pharmacy standards/regulations/laws. Ensures patient and employee safety as mandated by V ANCHCS. Recommends policy and procedure changes to the Chief of Pharmacy Service.
• Participates with investigators, clinical pharmacists and/or hematology/oncology pharmacist in the planning and implementation of protocol drug studies in Ambulatory Care. Serves as backup research pharmacist for drug studies involving outpatient medications.

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.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• 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).

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.

Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).

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).

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/. TRANSCRIPTS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH APPLICATION

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 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). YOU MUST SUBMIT A COPY OF FPGEE AND TOEFL WITH YOUR APPLICATION

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. YOU MUST SUBMIT A COPY OF CURRENT LICENSE WITH THE APPLICATION PACKAGE.

Creditable Experience: Knowledge of Professional Pharmacy Practices. 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: 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.

GRADE DETERMINATIONS. In addition to the basic requirements for employment stated above, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Preferred Experience: 5 years Outpatient experience.

GS-13:

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.

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. e. Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.
• Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters.

• Ability to effectively supervise subordinate staff.
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions.
• Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards pertaining to pharmacy.
• Skill in managing people or programs.

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.