Outpatient Pharmacist

Job Summary

Under indirect supervision, the Outpatient Pharmacist provides patient care, clinical activities, and patient consultations within the scope of pharmacy practice. This role optimizes medication therapy and promotes health, wellness, and disease prevention. The Outpatient Pharmacist provides direction to Pharmacist Residents, Pharmacist Interns, Pharmacy Technicians, and non-licensed personnel. Responsibilities include dispensing, compounding, procuring, storing, furnishing, ordering, administering, and distributing pharmacy products and drug tests. They also perform drug conversions and participate in the evaluation and management of diseases and health conditions in collaboration with other health care providers. The successful candidate is accountable for maintaining updated clinical skills, knowledge of regulatory changes, and ensuring workplace safety and a healthy working environment. This position involves providing medical personnel and patients with medication information and product identification, and performing other duties as required.

Essential Responsibilities

• Upholds Kaiser Permanente's Policies and Procedures, Principles of Responsibilities, and applicable state, federal, and local laws.
• Completes knowledge and skills-based training assessments and competencies.
• Interviews patients to obtain information regarding drug use, drug allergies, and sensitivities, documenting this information in appropriate records of the pharmacy information system.
• Advises patients verbally and with written materials on significant precautions, proper drug therapy and administration, the use of related devices, and the coordination of drug therapy with diet, according to established policies and procedures.
• Reviews and interprets prescription orders and verifies accuracy and completeness of patient labeling and input into the pharmacy information system.
• Dispenses, compounds, procures, stores, furnishes, orders, administers, and distributes pharmaceuticals and pharmacy products and drug-related tests, including antineoplastics and/or other sterile products as required, according to legal requirements, established policies and procedures, under protocol, and accepted professional standards of practice.
• Evaluates and resolves real or potential drug therapy problems related to interpretation of prescriptions, drug furnishing irregularities, service complaints, and issues such as drug procurement or equipment problems, according to established policies and procedures.
• Confers with medical personnel concerning care and treatment of patients, related critical diagnoses, drug dosage, interactions, dosage forms, and other factors which might influence the course of treatment and the activity of medications; suggests changes in drug therapy and/or use, as appropriate to assure optimum therapeutic results and cost-effective prescribing.
• Participates in cost-effective prescribing programs and assists in promoting adherence to formulary by providing immediate feedback to prescribers, educational or in-service presentations, publication of newsletters, and compilation of prescribing and drug usage data as coordinated by the Drug Education Coordinator (DEC) and/or pharmacy management.
• Makes recommendations to management regarding systems or operational improvements.
• Ability to interact effectively with co-workers and contributes as a team player.
• Maintains work area and equipment in an organized and clean condition; maintains a safe and efficient work environment.
• Supports a collaborative Labor-Management Partnership environment.

Experience

• Must have 1 year of recent (within 3 years) experience as a pharmacist, pharmacy intern, or completion of residency.

Education

• Degree in Pharmacy meeting minimum education requirements for licensure.

License, Certification, Registration

• Pharmacist License (California) required at hire.
• Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System Registration required at hire.
• National Provider Identifier required at hire.

Additional Requirements

• Must be able to meet physical demands of the job including frequent standing, walking, bending, reaching, pushing, pulling, lifting of material up to 30 pounds.
• Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of Federal and State laws, regulations, and standards regarding the provision of pharmaceutical services.
• Comprehensive knowledge of current pharmacological/biopharmaceutical principles, medical terminology, pathologies, disease state, age-appropriate therapy, and other information as it pertains to medical or pharmaceutical care.
• Demonstrated ability to extract pertinent information from the patient or other sources and relate it to the patient's medical management plan.
• Experience operating pharmacy computer systems and other equipment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a high-volume pharmacy preferred.
• Doctorate of Pharmacy, Pharm.D.

Key skills/competency

• Medication therapy optimization
• Patient consultation
• Drug dispensing
• Sterile compounding
• Formulary adherence
• Regulatory compliance
• Patient safety
• Interdisciplinary collaboration
• Pharmacy information systems
• Clinical pharmacology