Pharmacist Medication Safety

Overview:

St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center is New York State's only specialty designated cardiac center. A member of Catholic Health, St. Francis is consistently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a national leader for Cardiology & Heart Surgery, as well as for Gastroenterology & GI surgery, U.S. News rates St. Francis as high performing in Geriatrics, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, and Pulmonology. Nursing care at St. Francis is also nationally recognized, with multiple Magnet designations, as well as the AMSN PRISM Awards and Beacon Awards. St. Francis has regularly out-scored other hospitals on Long Island.

St. Francis Hospital is dedicated to providing a supportive environment, committed to the highest standards of patient care, where health care professionals can develop their expertise and strengthen their credentials.

The Medication Safety Pharmacist will work collaboratively with healthcare professionals to serve as the designated expert in safe medication use and maximize positive clinical and safety outcomes. The successful candidate will have an unique opportunity to make impactful changes and reach every aspect of the Department and institution such as but not limited to many roles, such as educator, preceptor, mentor, evaluator, researcher and provider. A typical day may include attending safety rounds, precepting pharmacy students and residents, writing policies, reviewing adverse drug events and medication error reports, developing error-prevention strategies, evaluating utilization of drug therapies and identifying opportunities for improvement, leading process-improvement teams, implementing action items, reviewing smart pump libraries, ensuring safe use of automated medication dispensing systems, assessing safety of research initiatives and managing research protocols, orienting new professional staff, designing and optimizing the medication reconciliation process, conducting tracers to ensure compliance with accreditation standards (e.g., Joint Commission medication management), working with practitioners to resolve acute events, attending medical staff meetings, and educating staff and leaders across the hospital on the culture of safety.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Medication Safety

• Serve as resource on medication safety for the organization.
• Collaborate with other departments (e.g., pharmacy, risk management, patient safety), hospital or health system senior leadership, frontline staff, and nursing and medical staff leadership to identify and prioritize safety issues and develop risk-reduction strategies to identify opportunities to improve medication safety.
• Evaluate and compose reports (medication use review, adverse drug reactions) and presents findings and recommendations to relevant Committees
• Manage changes in the medication-use system to enhance medication safety, ensure that appropriate measures are taken to address and resolve medication safety issues, and see that hospital staff and faculty are supported in providing safe care for patients.
• Contribute the medication safety perspective to internal and external emergency-preparedness planning.
• Serve as the Departments liaison to investigate medication safety events or issues and develop recommendations for action
• Serve as an integral member of the medication safety committee or other relevant committees, whose duties may include setting the agenda, reviewing general and specific error reports, and examining the progress of projects and initiatives assigned to the medication safety team
• Be knowledgeable in the application and use of a variety of quality-improvement methodologies and tools
• Collect, review, and analyze the organizations medication-use process, medication errors, adverse drug reactions, and continuous quality-improvement data such as markers of adverse drug events, smart pump event data, triggers and surveillance information, bedside barcode scanning)
• Maintain knowledge of trends and developments in the patient safety field through continuous professional development: reading articles, journals, and related material such as Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)
• Participate at local and national levels in patient safety and medication safety organizations and initiatives
• Evaluate safety and efficacy of drug usage for institution
• Develop policies and procedures for to review and maximize reimbursement and compliant charging
• Develop analytical tools to audit and analyze hospital pharmacy data elements to ensure accurate billing
• Actively research and stay current with important billing and revenue related compliance and optimization
• Develop process flows, education, and communications to improve revenue integrity and compliance
• Other relevant tasks as assigned by management

Research and education:

• Design and assist in the implementation of research programs such as but not limited to education, orientation, and documentation of research programs to ensure safe medication use
• Serve as Department steward for medication accountability, safety & required documentation for investigational drug studies
• Develop staff competencies
• Provide effective ongoing education to promote culture of safe medication use
• Conduct medication-use safety research through well-designed, externally validated studies and implement evidence-based practices for medication safety.

Leadership:

• Ensure that pharmacy services are provided in a safe and timely manner
• Develop a vision of an ideal safe medication-use system for the organization
• Oversee the planning, creation, review, and refinement of medication safety plans
• Proactively develop and lead implementation of error prevention strategies based on practice standards, best practice guidelines and/or recommendations)
• Build a culture of safety through lesson learned education and communication across the entire organization
• Participate in the planning, design, and implementation of the organizations medication-use technology and automation systems
• Work independently with minimal supervision; effectively organize and prioritize work assignments.
• Ensure compliance with state and federal regulatory and legal requirements relating to medication safety and assist in the accreditation process by ensuring that the organizations medication-use processes meet applicable medication management standards
• Provide leadership and direction in accordance with departmental goals and policies.
• Support administrative decisions within the department.
• Act as a resource to pharmacy staff, professional staff, and patients.
• Participate in the training and orientation of new employees.
• Support pharmacy operations when necessary and requested by pharmacy administration

REQUIREMENTS:

Education:

• Graduate of an ACPE-accredited School of Pharmacy with a BS in Pharmacy, an MS in Pharmacy or a Doctor of Pharmacy required
• Successful completion of PGY1 pharmacy residency within the past seven years, preferred.
• Board Certification in Pharmacotherapy (BCPS) preferred and required within one year of employment in the position

Experience/Skills:

• Minimum 3 years health-system pharmacy experience, required
• Previous experience in formulary management and drug root cause analysis review
• Clinical expertise and a broad understanding of health care systems and processes to facilitate accurate interpretation of clinical events.
• Knowledge of and experience with all aspects of the medication-use system, including procurement, prescribing, transcribing, preparation, distribution, administration, documentation, and monitoring.
• Knowledge of performance-improvement methodology and tools, including root cause analysis (RCA), failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), cause-and effect diagramming, process-flow mapping, and methods for monitoring projects and measuring the progress of performance-improvement initiatives.
• Knowledge of process for approving and managing research
• Knowledge in health-system processes for formulary review and approval
• Knowledge in design and compilation of drug use evaluations & monographs
• Knowledge in pharmacy revenue cycle and reimbursement
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills
• Excellent writing, speaking, and editing skills, including use of Powerpoint and Excel
• Previous experience in assessing, evaluating, and presenting medication/drug use evaluations
• Strong belief that resolving the problem of medication errors is a systems issue and not an individual health care provider issue.
• Strong belief in the concept of a just culture and transparency fosters a lessons learned environment in an organizations medication error reporting system
• Basic and advanced computer skills; proficient in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Able to work collaboratively on a multidisciplinary team.

This range serves as a good faith estimate and actual pay will encompass a number of factors, including a candidates qualifications, skills, competencies and experience. The salary range or rate listed does not include any bonuses/incentive, differential pay or other forms of compensation that may be applicable to this job and it does not include the value of benefits.

At Catholic Health, we believe in a people-first approach. In addition to the estimated base pay provided, Catholic Health offers generous benefits packages, generous tuition assistance, a defined benefit pension plan, and a culture that supports professional and educational growth.