SSM Health - Pharmacist Regional Coordinator, Antimicrobial Stewardship

Antimicrobial Stewardship Regional Clinical Coordinator

Department: Pharmacy

Company: SSM Health

Position Summary:

The Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Coordinator (ASCC) is responsible for the provision of safe, effective, appropriate and cost-effective antimicrobial therapy to patients in the area of Infectious Diseases. 

Qualifications:

Required:

1. PharmD degree from an accredited school of pharmacy Required state(s) pharmacist license 3 years of clinical experience, 1 of which has been in Infectious Disease/Antimicrobial Stewardship Excellent communication, presentation and leadership skills Demonstrates self-motivation, time management, organizational and priority-setting skills

Preferred:

1. Completion of a PGY2 residency in Infectious Diseases or Antimicrobial Stewardship Certification by the Society for Infectious Disease Pharmacists (SIDP) Board Certification in Infectious Diseases Pharmacy (BCIDP) Experience using Epic electronic health record Intermediate knowledge and skill of MS Office including Excel, Word, and Outlook

Responsibilities:

General:

• Performs job responsibilities in accordance with organizational and departmental policies and procedures, performance improvement objectives and environmental/infection control standards.
• Develops and implements processes to comply with the Joint Commission and regulatory requirements.
• Identifies opportunities for process improvements, develops and implements policy and procedures for prompt, safe and efficient patient care.

Local:

• Coordinates AMS program efforts across the hospital and with the AMS Medical Director.
• Periodically evaluates the use of restricted antimicrobials to ensure appropriate utilization.
• Reviews SLUH patients flagged by the EPIC antimicrobial stewardship scoring tool to identify opportunities for interventions including de-escalation and discontinuation of antimicrobial therapy, dose optimization, IV to PO conversion and additional interventions as appropriate.
• Documents clinical activities and AMS interventions accurately and completely via i-vents, sticky notes, chart messages, and progress notes as appropriate.
• Collaborates with physicians, pharmacists, and other providers to deliver prospective and retrospective feedback to optimize antimicrobial regimens.
• Participates in daily AMS rounds with the AMS Medical Director to discuss complex patient cases and make antimicrobial recommendations to providers.
• Annually reviews and reports antimicrobial resistance patterns (via antibiograms) in collaboration with the microbiology team to the clinical staff.
• Tracks and reports antimicrobial utilization and intervention data to the local, and system AMS committee; reports to the Pharmacy, Therapeutics, (P&T) committee quarterly.
• Utilizes data to formulate action plans to improve antimicrobial use when appropriate with follow-up monitoring to determine effectiveness of the initiative.
• Serves as a reference to all assigned regional ministries.
• Assists in roll out of all system initiatives.
• Provides and maintains educational competencies for their ministry and region Region/System:
• Participates in the System ID Subcommittee, presenting local initiatives to the system and implementing system initiatives within the hospital.
• Assists in the development and maintenance of antimicrobial treatment algorithms and order sets based on best practices, Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) guidelines, and other evidence-based information to aid prescribers in selecting the appropriate antimicrobial agents, doses, routes of administration and durations.
• Participates in the development and maintenance of system and regional guidelines, policies, protocols and other monitoring and intervention strategies for antimicrobial use to streamline prophylactic, empiric, and definitive antimicrobial therapy.
• Collaborates with the System Microbiology-Molecular SubTeam on lab driven protocols, culture and susceptibility reporting, and other initiatives as appropriate.
• Assists in the development and maintenance of an antimicrobial formulary and establishes criteria for restricted antimicrobial agents.
• Manages and develops clinical initiatives and determines therapeutic alternatives when drug shortages are identified and communicates with medical staff leadership and key stakeholders
• Maintains regulatory standards for their region.
• Develops strategies and programs to enhance the clinical, medication outcomes, and pharmacy services at ministries within the organization.

Education: 

• In conjunction with the Pharmacy Clinical Manager, coordinates staff training, competencies, certification and continued education of pharmacists and pharmacy residents on the appropriate use of antimicrobials.
• Coordinates, facilitates, and promotes education, training, and performance improvement of other healthcare professionals on the appropriate use of antimicrobials.
• Serves as an AMS resource to clinical staff; assists clinical staff pharmacists with therapeutic monitoring, patient assessments, interpretation of lab values, and pharmacokinetic calculations
• Provides direction and oversight for pharmacy students and residents.
• Provides medication education and information to clinical staff (e.g., physicians, pharmacists, nursing, etc.) on existing and/or processes to ensure implementation of the medication use system in the region.

Position descriptions are not intended to be and should not be constructed to be a complete list of all the duties and responsibilities performed by incumbents. Duties, responsibilities and expectations may be added, deleted or modified at any time at the discretion of the supervisor.