Clinical Pharmacist

• Division: Eskenazi Health
• Sub-Division: Hospital
• Schedule: Full Time
• Shift: Varied (Days/Evenings)

Eskenazi Health serves as the public hospital division of the Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County. Physicians provide a comprehensive range of primary and specialty care services at the 333-bed hospital and outpatient facilities both on and off of the Eskenazi Health downtown campus including at a network of Eskenazi Health Center sites located throughout Indianapolis.

FLSA Status: ExemptJob Role Summary

The Clinical Pharmacist serves as an essential member of the healthcare team providing expertise in the medication use process and optimizing medication regimens for hospitalized patients.

Services provided include: interdisciplinary patient care rounds, medication reconciliation, medication therapy monitoring, medication orders management, patient education, drug information, drug dosing, and various scholarly activities.

The Clinical Pharmacist performs both clinical and distributive tasks necessary to ensure that patients’ medication therapy is safe, effective, timely, and efficient. The Clinical Pharmacist will provide training and education for learners through practical and didactic experiences.

The pharmacist ensures that medication use is compliant with the department's policies, rules and regulations promulgated by the Board of Pharmacy, and other applicable regulatory bodies.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

• Optimizes medication regimens for assigned patients by collecting necessary information needed to evaluate medication therapy and develop patient-specific pharmacotherapy plans, considerate of therapeutic duplication, potential drug interactions or contraindications, therapeutic goals, safety, efficacy, and financial stewardship
• Develops and helps implement appropriate therapeutic regimens and monitoring plans for patients; carries out therapeutic drug monitoring, drug therapy protocols, and required chart documentation according to departmental or health-system standards
• Performs and/or supervises transitions of care activities including medication history, medication reconciliation, medication education, coordinating follow-up care, and ensuring access to medications at admission and discharge
• Assists with formulary management and medication use processes in any of the following capacities: critically evaluates non-formulary requests; adheres to drug use criteria and recommends therapeutic alternatives to prescribers; or assists with development of alternative strategies during drug shortages
• Consistently and accurately enters/verifies orders into the electronic health record and ensures medications are accurately prepared and labeled prior to dispensing; prepares/oversees preparation of IV admixtures, including parenteral nutrition and chemotherapy; understands departmental workflows; offers and implements suggestions to improve quality and efficiency; understands and consistently utilizes all information systems
• Promotes a culture of safety by identifying, mitigating, preventing, and reporting potential or actual medication incidents and adverse drug reactions
• Performs the following supervisory skills: supervises and directs pharmacy technicians, students, and residents; provides feedback on performance to area manager; analyzes and adapts to changes in volume and staffing; organizes, deploys, and redeploys staff to maintain workflow; ensures efficient use of downtime; works with a sense of urgency to assist customers and encourages the same sense of urgency in others; resolves crisis situations in a calm, constructive, and professional manner
• Engages in teaching which may include new employee onboarding, precepting, shadowing experiences; additional opportunities may include direct instruction, mentorship, in-services, assistance with research projects, and Grand Rounds
• Maintains responsibility for regulatory compliance, to include the following: performs controlled substance accountability duties in assigned work area; ensures 100% timely completion of unit inspections; ensures constant state of readiness for all regulatory bodies
• Consistently maintains compliance with all hospital and departmental policies and procedures; completes all required educational activities and competencies in a timely manner; remains up to date on departmental processes by attending staff meetings, reviewing meeting minutes, and reading email communications

Job Requirements

• Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree required, or Bachelor of Science (BS) in Pharmacy with equivalent experience
• Licensure in the State of Indiana or licensure eligible (if licensure eligible, attainment of license within 90 days of hire)
• Completion of an ASHP-accredited PGY1 Pharmacy Residency or a minimum of three years full-time experience in hospital/clinical pharmacy required
• Completion of an ASHP-accredited PGY2 Pharmacy Residency preferred
• Certification through the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (e. g., BCPS, BCCCP, BCSCP) and/or specialty credential preferred
• Basic Life Support (BLS) and/or Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification as required by job assignment
• Participation in continuing education activities to meet licensure and certification requirements

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Knowledge of medication classes, pharmaceutical terminology, abbreviations, symbols; knowledge of manufacturing, packaging and labeling of drug products, use of pharmaceutical instruments and equipment; knowledge of metric system/mathematical calculations; knowledge of regulatory standards related to sterile and non-sterile compounding and hazardous drugs
• Knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of patients served; must demonstrate knowledge of the principles of human growth and development over the life span and possess the ability to assess data/interpret appropriate information needed to identify each patient's requirements relative to age specific needs; age-appropriate cognitive abilities, skills, techniques and communications are detailed in the department/area/unit job specific/age specific competencies
• Demonstrates effective interpersonal skills through completion of daily activities; effectively interacts with interdisciplinary members of the healthcare team to work toward optimal patient experience and outcomes; communicates effectively in writing and verbally with staff members from pharmacy and other departments; anticipates service needs and proactively resolves issues
• Ability to effectively work and communicate with patients or their representatives, as applicable, as a member of the interdisciplinary healthcare team
• Must maintain age-specific and job-specific competencies and licensure as described according to departmental competencies
• Maintains knowledge of relevant federal and state laws pertaining to all aspects of pharmacy practice, and knowledge of professional practice standards and regulations from healthcare stakeholders, including The Joint Commission, CMS, and ASHP

Accredited by The Joint Commission and named as one of Indiana’s best employers by Forbes magazine for two consecutive years and the top hospital in the state for community benefit by the Lown Institute, Eskenazi Health’s programs have received national recognition while also offering new health care opportunities to the local community. As the sponsoring hospital for Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services, the city’s primary EMS provider, Eskenazi Health is also home to the first adult Level I trauma center in Indiana, the first verified adult burn center in Indiana and Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center, the first community mental health center in Indiana, just to name a few.