Assistant Chief Pharmacist

Under general supervision of the Chief Pharmacist, the Assistant Chief Pharmacist provides leadership and oversight as well as direct pharmaceutical care in the pharmacy program within Winslow Indian Health Care Center. Assistant Chief Pharmacist, under the guidance of the Chief Pharmacist directs, develops, implements, and evaluates specific program areas within the pharmacy.  The Assistant Chief Pharmacist provides oversight and training of the specific program development and integration into the pharmacy department. Upholds the principles of WIHCC’s Vision, Mission, and Value Statements. Maintains confidentiality of all privileged information at all times. Duties are 50% clinical and 50% administrative.

This list of duties and responsibilities is illustrative only of the tasks performed by this position and is not all-inclusive.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Maintains regular attendance and punctuality.
• Improves staff effectiveness by motivating, coaching, counseling, training and recommending disciplinary action for employees; planning, delegating, monitoring, appraising job tasks and results in a timely manner, and approving time sheets.
• Complete pharmacist staffing schedule for final review and approval by the Chief Pharmacist.
• Assists Chief Pharmacist with annual pharmacist performance evaluations.
• Assist the Chief Pharmacist to develop and direct specific pharmaceutical program(s). Independently provide accountability for the program area, functioning with a high degree of autonomy, and offering expertise in the program area inter- and intra-departmentally and to the community.
• In collaboration with the Chief Pharmacist, updates pharmacist workflows as indicated and assists in the development of new pharmacy workflows.
• Assists the Chief Pharmacist to develop, review, and update policies and procedures of assigned program(s).
• Directs the operation of the assigned area in the pharmacy department.
• Provides oversight for prioritization of program activities.
• Regularly assigns, instructs and checks the work of pharmacists and other staff.
• Participates in the training, development, and education of pharmacists.
• Collaborates with Chief Pharmacist to assure pharmacy staff training and competency assessment occurs in a timely manner.
• Participates in quality improvement activities for the assigned program area.
• Assures compliance with all pharmacy laws and regulations.
• Provide drug information and in-services to physicians, nurses, patients, and pharmacy staff.
• In collaboration with the Chief Pharmacist and/or Pharmacy Technician Lead, updates pharmacy technician workflows
• Maintains regular attendance and punctuality.
• Takes the appropriate health history, follows and adjusts the developed treatment plan and monitors the patient’s outcome to the prescribed treatment plan.
• Takes the appropriate history and performs limited physical assessment related to the specialized pharmacy clinics, such as insulin titration or anticoagulation management. Discriminates between normal and abnormal findings to recognize early stages of serious physical, emotional or mental problems.
• Documents all clinical activities, updates lists and medication allergy information in the medical record.
• Orders and interprets laboratory tests.
• Refers to appropriate services as needed via consultations. May provide appropriate treatment plan as described by consultant.
• Medications may be monitored, titrated and/or altered per Pharmacy clinics.
• Provides pharmaceutical services to focus on therapeutic drug monitoring. Analyzes medication regimens to ensure the most effective, least toxic, and most economical treatment plan, and communicates recommendations to ordering or primary care provider.
• Interviews and evaluates patients to ascertain significant past medical history and medication history.
• Evaluates medication regimens for appropriateness, drug interactions, therapeutic duplications, non-compliance and adverse drug events.
• Serves as therapeutic consultant to the medical staff.
• Fills and dispenses accurate prescription and over the counter drugs on orders of physician, optometrist, physician assistant, family nurse practitioner, and dentist.
• Counsels patients on the use, storage, cautious and side effects of all medications dispensed as well as documentation of cognitive services provided.
• Cancels prescriptions if the patient is no longer using the medication, the medication is being replaced by another, or if the medication is adding no therapeutic benefit.
• Initiates prescriptions for approved formulary agents, medical supplies as documented in clinic guidelines.
• Renews prescriptions up to 30 days if they have expired or were previously canceled in error; may change doses on existing medications.
• Provides formal and informal education and in-services to medical staff, pharmacy, and nursing staff as requested.
• Provides training for pharmacy residents, pharmacy students and medical students.
• Provides guidance, training, and mentoring for Clinical Pharmacists.
• Prepares formal lectures for the professional students training within the Service Unit.
• Provides education to patients and their families about medications, common disease states and information on health promotion.
• Works with physicians and other providers to develop protocols for medical and administrative research related to pharmacy.
• Directs and/or participates in the preparation of articles for publication.
• Collaborates with other health professionals to develop treatment protocols, standards of practice and policies. Participates in ongoing quality assurance and performance improvement activities including audits, chart reviews, development of review criteria.
• Requires completion of tasks or duties assigned by a supervisor.
• Upholds all principles of confidentiality and patient care to the fullest extent.
• Adheres to all professional and ethical behavior standards of the healthcare industry.
• Adheres to WIHCCs Personnel Policies and Procedures, departmental policies, rules, and regulations.
• Interacts in an honest, trustworthy and dependable manner with patients, employees, visitors, and vendors.
• Possesses cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Maintains compliance with all Human Resources requirements.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

Doctor of Pharmacy degree (PharmD) is required.  Must be a graduate of an accredited school of Pharmacy and Licensed by a State Board of Pharmacy with in the United States.  Three years of practice within a clinical pharmacy setting. One year leadership activities or supervisory experience.  BLS certification is required. ACLS certification is required within a year of hire.  Bilingual skills in English and Navajo language preferred. Must maintain a valid unrestricted and insurable driver’s license. Must successfully pass a background investigation and maintain suitable requirements for a Child Care position. This position is considered as a Child Care position, which requires a satisfactory background check investigation and is subject to the requirements of the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act, as amended (henceforth referred as the ICPFVP Act).

Knowledge, Skills, Ability:

• Knowledge of the theories, principles, practices and techniques of clinical and basis pharmacy to provide direct patient services.
• Knowledge of the physical and chemical properties and characteristics of substances, therapeutic action of drugs and principles of chemical, biological, pharmacological and biopharmaceutical science.
• Knowledge in planning, monitoring, and evaluating drug therapy in a clinical setting.
• Knowledge of the diagnostic, preventative and therapeutic approaches related to the various chronic disease states which specialized pharmacy clinics are created.
• Knowledge of appropriate resource and reference material and their use.
• Knowledge of strong work ethics in the workplace.
• Knowledge of basic application of confidentiality.
• Knowledge of basic computer skills, e.g. Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Knowledge of WIHCC policies and procedures.
• Ability to communicate with patients regarding the disease state, desired outcomes, laboratory tests, proper administration, use, actions, precautions and storage of their medications.
• Ability to communicate with other health providers in regards to the total treatment of the patient.
• Ability to identify and develop educational activities related to patient care for all health professionals and students.
• Ability to collect, organize, record and communicate in a meaningful way, relevant primary health assessments, medical history and physical findings and selective laboratory tests to function as independent practitioner.
• Ability to be dependable in attendance and job performance.
• Ability to meet attendance, overtime (if necessary), and other reliability requirements of the job.
• Ability to accept and learn from feedback.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to provide exemplary customer service at all times.
• Ability to interact positively with others and possess great interpersonal skills.
• Ability to multitask and perform well under pressure.
• Ability to have self-confidence.
• Ability to be a great team player.
• Ability to accept and learn from supervisor/peer critique.
• Ability to be flexible and adaptable to the changing needs of the organization.

Physical Demands:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee regularly is required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee frequently is required to taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Work Environment:

Work is performed in a clinical pharmacy setting with a moderate noise level. Work environment may involve exposure to physical risks, such as blood borne pathogens and operating dangerous equipment or working with chemicals. Evening and/or weekend work may be required. Extended hours and irregular shifts may be required.

As required by P.L. 93-638, absolute preference will be given to qualified Navajo applicants.  If there is no qualified Navajo applicant, preference will be given to qualified American Indian applicants.