The Surgical Technician (ST) is a member of the surgical team and provides assistance to the surgeon(s) and other team members during surgical procedures at the Health Care Center at Harlingen. The Surgical Technician participates in the planning and implementing of simple to complex procedures under the general supervision of the surgeon(s), members of the surgical team and the Operating Room (OR) Nurse Manager.

Duties

***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Major duties and responsibilities include: Provides assistance to the surgeon and other team members during surgical procedures. Functions as a primary scrub person responsible for handling instruments, supplies and equipment. Prepares, organizes and maintains highly complex sterile surgical setups. Plans and discusses each procedure with surgical team to ensure all supplies and equipment are available prior to surgical procedures. Provides guidance and support to professional staff during surgical procedures. Understands the proper procedure and safety precautions for disinfecting surgical instruments. Performs non-technical maintenance of equipment to prevent malfunctions. Recognizes potentially hazardous situations and takes corrective action. Assesses equipment needs and maintains adequate stock of supplies and materials. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:00am to 3:30pm, alternate schedules may be necessary to meet the needs of the organization. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

Qualifications

IN ORDER TO MEET THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION AT THE GS-7 LEVEL YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING: ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. ~AND~ SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess at least one (1) year of specialized experience that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of a Surgical Technician. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-6 grade level in Federal service. Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists. Therefore, technician experience is experience that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled. Specialized experience for this position includes gathering and preparing sterile surgical field with all required items for specified procedure; using knowledge of universal precautions and implementing infection control policies and procedures; performing proper cleaning techniques, as well as the proper handling and rotation of sterile supplies; participating in the planning and implementing of simple to complex procedures. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE.) ~OR~ SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE: You must have successfully completed one year (18 semester hours) of graduate education or an internship in course matter that must include courses directly related to this position as a Surgical Technician such as anatomy and physiology, surgical technology, aseptic techniques, etc. NOTE TO APPLICANTS: One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study; if that number cannot be obtained from the transcript, 18 semester hours will be considered as one full academic year of graduate study. (COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION) ~OR~ COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: You must possess equivalent combinations of experience and education as described above to fully meet the requirements of this position. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE AND COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION) You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: CommunicationForward ThinkingOrganizational StewardshipPatient CareTechnical Credibility IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. 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; religious; 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. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA TX Valley Coastal Bend HCS 2601 Veterans Drive Harlingen, TX 78550 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]