The Medication Safety Officer provides leadership in formulating policy and instituting models that promote medication safety in all aspects of the medication management process. The Medication Safety Officer will facilitate the increased reporting of adverse drug events, perform follow up on reported occurrences, oversee analysis of data, and assist in development and implementation of process changes to improve medication safety for Keck Medical Center of USC. This individual serves as a liaison to pharmacy, nursing, and the medical staff leadership personnel.Essential Duties:

• Responsible for overall reporting/documentation of suspected adverse drug reactions and medication occurrences. • a. Performs follow-up on reported events to determine severity and to assess trackable event data. • b. Analyzes medication occurrence reports on a monthly basis. • c. Evaluate systems and process change recommendations on a system-wide level to determine where medication safety risks exist and opportunities for improvement are needed. Identify trends to determine if corrective actions are needed. • d. Develops system-wide plan for implementation of recommendations as well as increased awareness of the risks identified with this type of event.
• Serves as a team leader for the Medication Error Reduction Team (MERT), a subcommittee of the Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee.
• Participates in collaborative interdisciplinary practice through active participation in hospital committees (including MERT, Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee, SMU) • a. Ensure that all formulary decisions critically consider medication safety. • b. Minimize the potential for errors associated with medication products due to labeling, packaging, or medication names that look or sound-alike.
• Responsible for written policies and procedures related to adverse drug events and medication safety.
• Monitor compliance with proper medication control, safety, and security standards in pharmacy and patient care areas and serve as a resource. Facilitate changes needed to meet regulatory, accrediting, licensing, and government agency standards and laws. • a. Regularly review sources of new/revised laws and regulations determine applicability to the system and each entity, develop policies to ensure compliance, and educate stakeholders of changes implemented. • b. Report deficiencies in departmental compliance to Director of Pharmacy and Chief Pharmacy Officer. • c. Recommend improvements to achieve compliance. • d. Educates staff on changes in TJC/CDPH and other regulatory body standards. Provide medication safety information for inclusion in pharmacy newsletters and other educational efforts.
• Monitor drug recalls, drug shortages, and allocation processes in place from the vendor to ensure that these situations are communicated to clinicians and substitute products do not produce medication safety risks to the patient.
• Identify best practices for medication safety. Identify the extent of the health system’s adherence to published best practices and guidelines relevant to medication safety.
• Conducts HFMEA on topics of potential risk in medication safety. Performs, at minimum, one formalized HFMEA, which is presented to MERT and P&T, per hospital.
• Formulates educational sessions for pharmacists, nurses, physicians, and allied health professionals based on reports in the literature, responses to corrective action plans, and recommendations from committee activities.
• Preceptor for pharmacy students and residents in specialty area.
• Provides timely and appropriate performance feedback.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Req Doctorate Pharm.D degree from an accredited School of Pharmacy

• Req 2 years Hospital experience as a Pharmacist in a Hospital Pharmacy

• Req Demonstrated written and/or verbal communication skills necessary
• Req Demonstrates knowledge of rules, regulations, policies and laws pertaining to preparation, storage, procurement, use, and disposal of medications in the practice of Pharmacy for the State of California.
• Req Excellent analytical, problem-solving, planning and evaluation skills.
• Req Demonstrates ability to effectively work with physicians, staff, and patients.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Pref Specialized/technical training Completion of a residency program in a hospital setting

Required Licenses/Certifications:

• Req Registered Pharmacist (CA DCA) Registration with California State Board of Pharmacy with no disciplinary actions taken
• Req Basic Life Support (BLS) Healthcare Provider from American Heart Association
• Req Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) Healthcare Provider from American Heart Association
• Req Fire Life Safety Training (LA City) If no card upon hire, one must be obtained within 30 days of hire and maintained by renewal before expiration date. (Required within LA City only)

The annual base salary range for this position is $133,120.00 - $219,648.00. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.