What use would medicine be if no one could make and distribute it? Pharmacists are an indispensable group of professionals, especially in busy and densely populated places like the Greater Pittsburgh region, also known as the Steel Valley. Consisting of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, Weirton in West Virginia, and Steubenville in Ohio, this metro area is known for its diversity and close ties to early American history. With such a wide array of needs, pharmacists can find great success there.
Sometimes, the only obstacle in their way is a complaint that threatens to encumber their professional license with sanctions. If you’re a pharmacist concerned about your career in the Steel Valley, stay ahead of the game by partnering with the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team. To get started, call our offices today at 888.535.3686 or fill out this contact form.
Who Is the Authority on Pharmacist Licenses in the Steel Valley?
Since the Steel Valley spreads across three states, pharmacists in the area could answer to three different boards. There’s the Pennsylvania State Board of Pharmacy, located in Harrisburg; the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, headquartered in Columbus; and the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, found in Charleston.
Each board may differ slightly from the others in terms of its rules and requirements for pharmacists. For example, the Pennsylvania board wants its pharmacists to have PhDs in pharmaceutical studies, although a bachelor’s degree will suffice if it’s accompanied by at least 1,500 hours of experience as pharmacy interns. The Ohio board agrees, except that applicants without doctorate degrees must document a minimum of 1,740 hours of supervised clinical experience. By contrast, the West Virginian board generally requires a relevant PhD, no exceptions.
However, all three boards concur that aspiring pharmacists must also achieve passing scores on the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLE) and the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination (MPJE). Pharmacists who immigrate to these states from other countries may also have to provide the boards with certificates of completion from the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Council (FPGEC).
Furthermore, the boards expect each pharmacist to evolve their skills and keep themselves informed through continuing education courses. Common options cover topics like ethics, legal issues, personalized treatment plans, and the newest or best medicines for specific diseases and medical conditions.
To the board, every requirement has the same end goal—ensuring that everyone throughout the Steel Valley offers the highest quality pharmaceutical care possible.
Pharmacist Professional License Violations in the Steel Valley
Each state board in the Steel Valley has its own legislation describing the code of ethics and professionalism with which pharmacists must comply. Naturally, non-compliance equates to a violation that could prompt disciplinary action with the governing board. Again, some of the details may vary from board to board, but they could all summarize the types of violations thusly:
Alcohol or Substance Abuse
Pharmacists are supposed to be in the business of safely providing drugs, not abusing them. Addiction to controlled and/or illegal substances makes a pharmacist more likely to make serious mistakes due to a lack of mental clarity, motor control, or other issues.
Unfit to Practice
Drugs and alcohol aren’t the only things that can render you incapable of dependably fulfilling your duties as a pharmacist. Certain physical, mental, and emotional disabilities and disorders can have the same effect. That’s why the board may choose to sanction you for them.
Illegal or Deceitful Drug Distribution
Since drugs are harmful when used incorrectly, pharmacists are responsible for distributing them in accordance with both federal and state laws, which are designed with public safety in mind.
Nevertheless, since pharmacists have easier access to drugs than most, some fall into making, stealing, and/or selling them without prescriptions. The boards want to hold pharmacists accountable for spreading and enabling harm to others through drugs.
Sanctions in Another State
If you’ve already gone through the disciplinary process with a different state board and received license sanctions because of it, the board investigating you now may choose to uphold those sanctions. In fact, the board might even add more sanctions if you’ve committed fresh violations or sought to hide your past records.
This is especially problematic if the sanctions occurred in another state in the Steel Valley. With such a large metro sprawled across three states, sanctions in one could ultimately prevent you from practicing in the others.
Dishonest Actions
Integrity and transparency are key to safe and responsible pharmaceutical work. The boards tend to deal harshly with pharmacists who lie to them or their employers about their qualifications, as well as those who create misleading advertisements, misrepresent their knowledge or authority, or forge, alter, or falsify prescriptions and other documents.
Criminal Conviction
You might think that a crime you committed is irrelevant to pharmaceutical work, but the boards could sanction you for convictions. This is because many crimes suggest that you lack integrity, self-control, or a sense of care. Harassment, bullying, stalking, assault, intimidation, theft, and embezzlement are all likely to trigger disciplinary action, especially if they’re felonies.
Unlicensed Practice
Pharmaceuticals are an exact science that demands extensive training and careful attention to perform properly. Practicing without a current and valid license—or allowing others to do so—is almost certain to hurt someone and result in disciplinary action.
Restricting Consumer Freedom or Exerting Undue Influence
Consumers must be able to get their medicine from whatever pharmacy they prefer. Trying to force or pressure them into working specifically and solely with you or your pharmacy is a surefire way to invite sanctions.
Offering Bribes or Splitting Profits
One way to make more money as a pharmacist is to bribe medical professionals or promise to share the profits with them if they steer their patients toward you. However, it’s also another way to suffer severe punishments from the boards.
Unprofessional Conduct
The term “unprofessional conduct” covers a wide range of actions and behaviors. A few of the most common are bullying, discrimination, sexual harassment, and inappropriate sexual relationships. Pharmacists who engage in these activities create hostile work environments and destroy patients’ trust, which is why they could end up sanctioned.
The Disciplinary Process for Pharmacist License Violations in the Steel Valley
Depending on what state has licensed you to practice, the disciplinary process will look a certain way that it would not in either of the other Steel Valley states. Still, all three processes have more similarities than differences. It will always go something like this:
Complaint Evaluation
Upon receiving a written complaint alleging a violation on your part, the governing board will submit it to an evaluation to see if it appears credible and legitimate. If not, they will dismiss the complaint without further research. Otherwise, they’ll assign an internal committee or third party to embark on a formal investigation.
Formal Investigation
The committee or third party investigating the complaint will strive to compile a thorough report on everything pertaining to it in order to give the board a clear picture of your guilt (or lack thereof).
Victim recollections, witness testimonies, character statements, site inspections, and expert opinions are all common elements of an investigative report. Photographs, recordings, videos, communications, contracts, informational documents, and other pieces of evidence are equally important.
Settlement or Hearing
Sometimes, the board will use the investigation report to propose a settlement with you. It typically includes a summary of their findings and recommended sanctions. You can either agree or contest it.
Should you opt for the latter, the board will arrange a disciplinary or administrative hearing. Together with the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team, you can cross-examine witnesses, offer new evidence or testimonies, and argue different interpretations of the facts and laws.
Adjudication
When everything is said and done, the governing board will have to decide what to do with you. Although you can hope that they’ll simply dismiss the complaint, you must prepare yourself for every possible adjudication, which would include any of the following sanctions:
Civil Penalties or Fines
Each state board may impose a different sum of civil penalties or fines depending on its laws and the offense you committed. However, the amount typically totals anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
With such a large amount of money to pay off, your lifestyle and financial goals could suffer. You’d also be less able to afford continuing education courses and other tools or resources that are important to your career, which could put you in even more trouble with the board.
Reprimand
In most cases, reprimands are the lightest possible sanction. It lets the board express its disapproval and warn against future offenses without complicating the matter further.
Nevertheless, don’t underestimate the impact a reprimand can have on your career. They’re usually available publicly, so the employers who find them may be hesitant to hire you. Who knows what opportunities a simple reprimand could cost you in a busy place like Steel Valley?
Probation
If the board assigns you probation, you get to keep working like usual, but only if you comply with certain conditions for as long as they require. For example, you might have to adhere to strict schedules or shifts, limit yourself to particular fields or locations, or submit to the supervision of an authority figure.
Being able to work is important, but probation can feel stifling and even patronizing to some pharmacists. It could reduce morale or make you vulnerable to conditions like depression or anxiety, potentially worsening your performance and setting you up for more complaints.
License Suspension
The board may suspend your license to prevent you from working until they say otherwise. Suspensions usually last for predetermined periods of time and/or until you fulfill requirements that convince the board you’re ready to work again.
The good news about suspensions is that they’re temporary, but they can still overshadow your career aspirations, especially if they last longer than a few weeks. The gap in your resume could cause employers to doubt your skills, capability, integrity, and dependability.
In other words, this sanction could easily mean fewer opportunities to work with some of the biggest pharmaceutical employers in the Steel Valley, such as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, West Virginia University Health System, Allegheny Health Network, Trinity Health System, Weirton Medical Center, and Bolger Healthcare. Fewer opportunities mean a stalled or stagnant career.
License Revocation or Denial
Perhaps the most stressful outcome would be for the board to revoke your license or deny a new one. This would permanently ban you from working as a pharmacist in the state that the board governs, greatly limiting your opportunities in the entire Steel Valley.
Fortunately, each state will eventually let you apply for reinstatement. Ohio requires that you wait one year, as does West Virginia, though it increases to two years with every subsequent revocation or denial. Pennsylvania doesn’t impose a specific amount of time; you can reapply whenever you’re ready to try again.
However, the damage may be difficult to overcome. The same employers who would be wary of a license suspension are typically even more suspicious of candidates whose licenses were revoked or denied. You may have to settle for an unideal job and circumstances to try to restore your reputation, putting your career goals further out of reach.
Substance Abuse Treatment Program
For violations fueled by substance abuse, state boards often encourage or require offenders to enroll in treatment programs, stipulating that they cannot continue working until they’ve completed said programs. It’s both compassionate and practical.
It also means that you’ll probably still have a job when you’re done. Nevertheless, being away from work for so long can have the same effect as license suspensions, revocations, and denials.
What Does the LLF National Law Firm Bring to the Table?
No matter the circumstances or consequences, complaints and disciplinary actions are hard pills to swallow. Luckily, the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is just the medicine you need.
The board needs to see things from your perspective and understand you as a whole person, not just as the subject of a complaint. They need to comprehend the value that you bring to the pharmaceutical field and see your potential for making a difference. All these things must matter more to them than whatever evidence may or may not weigh against you. The LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is your best chance at protecting your honor against the board.
Don’t Stop Working as a Pharmacist in the Steel Valley Metro Area
The role of a pharmacist in the Steel Valley requires enormous skill and remarkable trustworthiness. You’ve worked to earn those things, so don’t let anything take them away, not even a complaint or violation. Partnering with the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is the surest way to keep your license intact, so call our offices today at 888.535.3686 or fill out this contact form and schedule a consultation.