Clinical Pharmacy Specialist: Primary Care - Internal Medicine Clinic Pharmacist - IRL

This outpatient pharmacy specialist works in the Internal Medicine clinic based at the Iowa River Landing (IRL) medical campus. The specialist works collaboratively with the multidisciplinary healthcare team to provide care for patients in the Internal Medicine clinic. They also follow patients in a pharmacist-run clinic under a Collaborative Practice including but not limited to, Anticoagulation, Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Hormone Replacement Therapy, and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The specialist also serves as a role-model/practitioner-educator for Doctor of Pharmacy students and pharmacy residents and carries out clinical practice responsibilities for the Department of Pharmaceutical Care.

Position Responsibilities

Patient Care – Participate in the provision of pharmaceutical care in select clinics

• Be present in clinics when patients are scheduled to see the clinical pharmacist and when clinical pharmacy services are required
• Work with physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care providers as a member of the multi-disciplinary team
• Provide disease state management and medication therapy management services through the use of collaborative practice agreements and protocols
• Complete a comprehensive patient assessment including medication history, pertinent physical assessment, and assessment of relevant laboratory values, patient interview, and an evaluation of past medical history for appropriate patients
• Provide in-depth patient medication assessment and education
• Evaluate patient-specific medication regimens to ensure the appropriateness of the following:
  • Indication
  • Correct dose
  • Route of administration
  • Drug-drug, drug-food, drug-lab, or drug-disease state interactions
  • Efficacy of therapy
  • Adherence to therapy
  • Dose adjustments for organ dysfunction
  • Adverse drug reactions
  • Potential drug misuse or abuse
  • Use of the most cost-effective therapy
  • Availability of medications on the UIHC Formulary (if applicable)
• Identify, evaluate, and prevent adverse drug events through appropriate interventions
• Communicate therapeutic recommendations to the health care provider
• Provide follow-up of therapeutic recommendations through telephone calls, virtual visits, and return clinic appointments as appropriate
• Complete patient follow-up to address side-effects/adherence
• Document relevant clinical information in the electronic medical record
• Coordinate medication-planning activities including facilitation of prescription writing, patient education, coordination with family members or home health care providers, etc.
• Collaboratively address financial issues to ensure receipt of needed medications
• Provide drug information and education to health care professionals
• Serve as liaison for ambulatory pharmacy staff regarding patient medication therapy

Residency Training and Student Teaching Programs

• Develop goals and objectives for pharmacy residency programs and Doctor of Pharmacy advanced pharmacy practice and introductory pharmacy practice experiences
• Prepare and administer pharmacy student and / or resident rotation evaluations
• Participate in the formal experiential training and didactic teaching required to conduct the pharmacy residency programs and Doctor of Pharmacy advanced pharmacy practice and introductory pharmacy practice experiences 
• Participate in recruiting activities for pharmacy residency programs

Provide daily communication and follow-up to other clinical pharmacists, pharmacy areas, and other health care professionals as needed

• Provide in-service education to pharmacists as needed
• Provide in-service education to members of the health care team as needed 
• Assist physicians, nurses, health care team members, and patients with medication questions, medication access and continuity of care issues

Documentation of patient care activities:

• Clinical services and patient care activities in the electronic medical record
• Patient assessment and therapeutic plan recommendations
• Medication errors into standard reporting system
• Adverse drug reactions into standard reporting system
• Patient allergies and height/weight information as needed
• Medication counseling provided
• Interventions with prescribers and other health care providers
• Clinic and follow-up telephone encounters
• Others as required

Develop and provide new department clinical service initiatives, which may require any or all of the following:

• Participate in the rotation of 24-hour, 7-day/week on-call coverage to ambulatory care patients for drug therapy issue problem solving
• Develop or contribute to the development of protocols related to appropriate prescribing, dispensing, and monitoring of medications
• Provide a leadership role in department or interdisciplinary hospital committees involved with drug therapy issues
• Develop or contribute to the development of drug information resources such as pocket cards and practice guidelines that are distributed hospital wide to foster cost effective, rational prescribing
• Design, implement, and coordinate development of the clinical components of the pharmacy or hospital-wide information systems

Administration

• Coordinate therapeutic decision-making when there is a paucity of literature or experience for reference
• Serve as the primary reference source on new drug therapy advances in the specialized area of practice
• Identify and resolve significant/highly unusual patient drug therapy problems
• Develop and coordinate completion of clinically oriented departmental goals
• Develop policies, procedures, and clinical reference documents relevant to the clinical applications of new therapies
• Manage and analyze events related to medication errors – including participation in informal multi-disciplinary sentinel event review teams
• Interview and evaluate prospective professional pharmacy practitioners
• Adhere to all department policies and procedures
• Contribute to the department budgetary process by reviewing, designing, implementing, and monitoring budget initiatives that address hospital-wide or unit-specific issues 
• Participate with the implementation and monitoring of new programs developed either by the Department or through another means (e.g., P&T Committee)

Quality Improvement

• Provide a leadership role in university committees involved with drug therapy
• Develop and conduct measurement activities that demonstrate Pharmacy Service value, including adherence and outcome measures
• Prepare and administer evaluations assessing the clinical skills of professional staff
• Perform quality assurance monitoring of services provided by the Department of Pharmaceutical Care 
• Develop educational programs to certify the clinical competence of pharmacists and improve the technician understanding of medical conditions being treated

Other

• Conduct research in area of expertise and present/publish results at professional meetings or in professional journals
• Consistently demonstrate the WECARE Values and Service Excellence culture of UIHC
• Complete and maintain compliance with all competencies and educational requirements.

Percent of Time: 100%

Schedule: 40 hours/week primarily scheduled between Monday through Friday.

Location: Iowa River Landing

P&S Pay Plan: https://hr.uiowa.edu/pay/professional-and-scientific-compensation  

Benefits Highlights:

Regular salaried position located in Coralville, Iowa

Fringe benefit package including paid vacation; sick leave; health, dental, life and disability insurance options; and generous employer contributions into retirement plans. For more information, click here.

About:

University of Iowa Health Care—recognized as one of the best hospitals in the United States—is Iowa's only comprehensive academic medical center and a regional referral center. Each day more than 12,000 employees, students, and volunteers work together to provide safe, quality health care and excellent service for our patients. Simply stated, our mission is: Changing Medicine. Changing Lives.^®​​​​​​​

University of Iowa Health Care–Iowa River Landing offers the world-class, academic-level medicine you expect from UI Hospitals and Clinics in a convenient medical office building that makes visiting the doctor a pleasant experience. Our pledge at UI Health Care–Iowa River Landing is that our patients will receive the best possible care in a friendly, compassionate, efficient way.

For more information about Why Iowa?, click here.