Antimicrobial Stewardship and Clinical Pharmacy Specialist

 

Able to directly supervise the work of pharmacy staff (technicians, students, residents, and/or interns) to ensure safe and accurate preparation, dispensing, and delivery of medications to meet patient care needs and both federal and state regulations. Pharmacists are to be knowledgeable of all SOPs governing the work of pharmacy staff to mitigate harm to patients and staff.
Optimizes drug therapy for all admitted patients by designing medication therapies that meet the patient specific needs of an individual. Additional effort should make every effort to utilize the facility formulary whenever possible to ensure cost-effective care for our patients. Pharmacists are required to provide perpetual monitoring of assigned patients via chart investigation, discussion within the healthcare team (including but not limited to the patient, patients’ family members, other healthcare professionals), to identify potential for and/or remediation of adverse drug events.
Pharmacists serve as the medication expert for the team they are a part of (which can vary from individual units to the entire facility based on shift). The pharmacist is responsible to provide medication evaluation during verification, considering patient specific factors, potential for adverse drug reactions, and Drug-Drug / Drug-Disease interactions. The pharmacist should expect to provide recommendations and drug education to the team both when requested, or when it would benefit the care of a given patient.
Actions, monitoring of potential adverse drug reactions, and outcomes should be documented via interventions to ensure appropriate follow-up and tracking of pharmacist activities. Pharmacists should behave in a way to support continuous quality improvement both with their own actions, patient care, and actions within the pharmacy department to work to continually optimize patient care in a changing healthcare setting.
Pharmacists, like all team members, are expected to support the mission, values, and goals of the organization through behaviors that are consistent with the standards of Connecticut Children’s.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) and Patient Care Responsibilities:

 

• Participate in antimicrobial stewardship rounds, collaborating with infectious disease specialists and other healthcare providers to ensure appropriate antimicrobial use.
• Conduct patient care reviews, assess antibiotic therapy effectiveness, and recommend modifications based on lab results, clinical guidelines, and patient-specific factors.
• Monitor antimicrobial use and resistance patterns to help develop antimicrobial stewardship policies and contribute to their enforcement.
• Develop and teach healthcare professionals (providers, residents, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) and patients on antimicrobial resistance, appropriate antimicrobial use, and infection prevention strategies.
• Provide expertise in managing complex infectious disease cases, including pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic dosing adjustments for antibiotics.
• Lead the Antimicrobial Stewardship Meetings, which occurs monthly, by preparing agendas and direction of the meetings, minutes, and relevant materials as needed. 
• Monitor rates of RSV in collaboration with the Medical Director of ASP to direct treatment strategies for the care network.
• Participate as standing member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee to review drug shortages, policies, procedures, and guidelines that involve antimicrobial stewardship. 
• Contribute to academic/research projects with Infection Prevention/Quality Improvement/Infectious disease teams 
• Contribute to the creation and maintenance of Clinical Pathways and the CLASP program to be used as tools for providers within the enterprise.
• Review requirements from the Joint Commission to stay compliant with current standards for ASP management, including submission of required data to the CDC on a regular basis.
• Review ASP associated activities related to the electronic health record and ASP stewardship software [e.g. Theradoc] for reporting, vigilance, and therapy management. 
• Regularly review and update the Firstline platform for providers across the network
• Collaborate with the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory to update the antibiogram annually.

Pharmacy Clinical Specialist Responsibilities:

 

• Develop, validate, and oversee training programs for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, ensuring competency in all required areas.
• Create (when required) and maintain SOPs related to medication preparation, dispensing, and documentation to ensure compliance with best practices and regulatory requirements.
• Mentor pharmacists, interns, and residents, fostering a culture of continuous le