This position is assigned to the Rehabilitation and Extended Care Line (RECL), Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Section. The incumbent serves as a Health Technician under the supervision of the Outpatient Therapy Supervisor. The incumbent functions in a supportive role of the professional, technical, and administrative staff of the Rehab Care Section for the therapy staff. The incumbent assists as needed to provide expedite and deliver quality patient care.

Duties

Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Remains alert to any environmental safety hazards, such as malfunctioning equipment, wheelchairs, gurneys, etc. and reports deficiencies noted to clinic staff and/or supervisory personnel. Monitors inventories, orders, and stocks linens. Manages expendable supply inventories for the various therapy clinics. Performs other clinical duties related to the therapy sections as directed by the Therapy Supervisors, Rehabilitation Therapist, or designee. Prepares evaluation and treatment handouts, and patient/family education materials as directed by clinical staff. Works closely with patients scheduled for difficult and complex rehabilitation therapy procedures. Utilizes tools to assemble or assist with the assembly, storage and management of specialty, custom, or stock wheelchairs and powered mobility in the wheelchair clinic. Obtains equipment and supplies from Prosthetics and delivers said equipment/supplies to ordering therapists or patients as directed. Adjusts equipment/supplies as directed by supervising therapist or therapy assistant. Provides assistance to therapy clinical staff as directed through the performance of non-skilled procedures such as assisting with transfers and ambulation, instruction and monitoring patients while they complete routine exercise programs. Assists with maintaining assigned therapy, clinical, storage, and common areas in a clean and orderly appearance. Utilizes appropriate infection control procedures and guidelines, cleans mat surface, and other therapy reusable supplies and equipment items. Performs cleaning and routine safety inspection of equipment. Completes annual review training and all other required training in a timely manner. Assists with orienting volunteers, students, and other new staff to the therapy clinical areas and general functions and procedures of the area. Receives patients, families, visitors, and other staff to the assigned therapy areas. Appropriately answers questions and directs inquiries to appropriate persons. Appropriately answers telephone calls. Queries callers to obtain pertinent information necessary to take messages and properly relay information to all therapists and other staff. People skills for relating closely with patients, families, visitors, rehabilitation therapists and physicians, the primary care teams and other professional and non-professional personnel in the facility. Work Schedule: Full time, Monday thru Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm, subject to change based on the needs of the agency Position Description Title/PD#: Health Technician - Occupational Therapy/PD040460 Physical Requirements: The work can be physically taxing and will require long periods of standing, walking and sitting and frequent stooping, bending, handling of wheelchairs, and lifting in conjunction with treatment of patients. It may require transporting wheelchairs or other wheeled equipment throughout the facility. It may also involve lifting and moving patients into and out of bed or and positioning of patients who are severely disabled required considerable effort and working in awkward positions. Heavy lifting of totally incapacitated patients is accomplished with the help of others or lifting equipment. At times, there may be undue heavy lifting due to unforeseen circumstances such as preventing a patient from falling.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
• Subject to a background/suitability investigation
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• May serve a probationary period
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• A complete application package; Resume, Transcripts, etc
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. GS-05 grade level: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: basic understanding of medical terminology and medical physiology; wheelchair assembly/repair; utilize tools and equipment to properly assemble, set-up, and adjust wheelchair or power mobility devices; knowledge of proper body mechanics as related to safe and efficient transportation, movement and lifting of patients; coordinating multiple tasks at one time, good organizational skills. NOTE: Your experience must be fully documented in your resume and must include job title; duties; month & year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. OR Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-05 level. Successful completion of a full four (4) year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with a major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to this position. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business or technical school, junior college, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-05 level. Equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education (beyond the second year) and specialized experience, as listed above. The education portion must include courses directly related to the work of the position. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. NOTE: Your experience must be documented in your resume and transcripts are required. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-05. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/.

If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education.

Contacts

• Address Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center 2002 Holcombe Boulevard Houston, TX 77030 US
• Name: Mark Johnson
• Phone: 318-272-2896
• Email: [email protected]