Inpatient clinical or specialty pharmacy--federal government

[clarkbar]

To join the federal government in a clinical (non-staffing hospital) or a specialty role (e.g. oncology, transplant, etc.), can staffing or dedicated critical or dedicated acute care satisfy hiring requirements or make one competitive?

Are these jobs common (for instance smallish community DoD hospitals seem to have such dedicated roles?) Are some agencies, IHS vs. VA, more apt to host such positions?

Which positions mentioned above have more autonomy and how would that autonomy compare to ambulatory care pharmacy, which seems to enjoy independent practicing with disease states, etc.?

Extremely difficult for an outside guy/gal to get this information?

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[bacillus1]

There's a saying "if you've been to one VA, you've been to one VA". All the VAs are different in terms of autonomy, protocols, etc. Usually the GS13 positions are the ones with at least some forms of "prescriptive authority" and it's hard to get into those unless you either have experience in the field, a residency, or are going very rural. Not sure about IHS or DoD.

 

[clarkbar]

That sounds like you are talking about amcare?

What about the specialty pharmacy roles, like transplant or oncology, what background certs, etc. does that require? I hear DHA is moving to board certification for clinical roles, ambcare or ED or otherwise. How strict is that (currently suspended rule) and how does IHS or VA work with this issue?

Is clinical split with staffing at most DoD hospitals? VA?

 

[bacillus1]

I am not talking about amcare. I am talking about literally any CPP (Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner) position be it medicine, surgery, critical care, onc, etc... See my above response. Experience, residency or very rural. It all boils down to who else applies.

 

[bacillus1]

If you have any pain experience...you could always be a PMOP coordinator. They seem to be begging for those, and federal experience isn't always required. Erie just posted one that was 100% remote but I think it closed (though they just got burned by someone they hired from the private sector, so they might be scared of that now).

 

[Dred Pirate]

There's a saying "if you've been to one VA, you've been to one VA". All the VAs are different in terms of autonomy, protocols, etc.

this surprises me - I fgured as big of an aorganization the VA is - there would be standardized protocols across the board - literally you pay one person to develop (for example) a heparin protocol - then just tell everybody to follow it

 

[bacillus1]

this surprises me - I fgured as big of an aorganization the VA is - there would be standardized protocols across the board - literally you pay one person to develop (for example) a heparin protocol - then just tell everybody to follow it

Would be nice, wouldn't it. Problem is that all these institutions are of different sizes with different levels of comfort that nursing etc... has, so there's always lots of fighting and fragmentation. Also union is OK with different things at different institutions, since they are different union chapters (and sometimes dfferent unions altogether).

 

[clarkbar]

Would general hospital experience suffice for a transplant, ID or oncology role, or is residency and/or board certs pretty much required to be competitive. It appears that it's not a requirement. Also, would applying as a government employee improve chances?

 

[bacillus1]

I would say general hospital experience would not be enough for any of these, just like in the private sector. A PGY1 with some experience in the field MIGHT qualify you for onc or transplant, since those positions are so hard to fill...but def not just general hospital experience without significant exposure to those fields. They are pretty involved, so I don't think the VA would spend time basically giving you PGY2-level training without doing one. I think I could maybe pull off getting an onc position somewhere, but then again I did some onc during my PGY1 and had to deal with lots of onc patients while being an internal med CPP.

 

[clarkbar]

What other speciality or clin pharm roles are available with the government? Can federal employees do a residency and still keep their job or if not, how does that work? You mentioned rural, what stations or agencies would be best to look into?

Is ED, ICU similar? Are there strict ABX stewardship roles and how do these work?

Also, I notice VA labels staff-hybrid pharmacfists as "clinical pharmacist," What do they label pure (no staffing or low staffing component) clinical pharmaists? Thanks!

 

[clarkbar]

If you have any pain experience...you could always be a PMOP coordinator. They seem to be begging for those, and federal experience isn't always required. Erie just posted one that was 100% remote but I think it closed (though they just got burned by someone they hired from the private sector, so they might be scared of that now).

What constituted the burning?

 

[bacillus1]

What constituted the burning?

Someone left after a week.