The Health Technician in the Orthotic and Prosthetic Lab assists in the process to provide custom molded and custom-made orthoses/prostheses including but not limited to upper, lower limb and spinal orthoses. The primary purpose of the position is to perform technical work is to assist in the design, fabrication, repair, and modification the many varieties of orthotic devices prescribed by a physician.

Duties

The major duties of the Health Technician in the Orthotic and Prosthetic Lab include, but are not limited to, the following: Provides clinical, administrative, technical, and direct patient care support. Establishes goals and sets priorities due to the fluctuating needs of the clinical staff. Repairing, fabrication, and modification of orthotic and prosthetic devices for the treatment of patients. Assists the professional staff in the treatment and care of Veterans to include amputees, spinal cord injury patients and those with related disabilities requiring the use of orthotic, prosthetic and footwear devices to take the place of, or assist, a part of or function of the body which is lost or impaired. Selection of materials, fabrication and fitting under the supervision of the Orthotist and/or Prosthetist. Scan limbs and feet, use impression boxes and design plaster cast for the fabrication of Prosthetics and Orthotic devices. Maintain stock of materials and supplies for fabrication and off the shelf prosthetic and orthotic devices; working with logistics and/ or prosthetics to obtain the materials and supplies. Submitting, packing and shipping necessary items as related to work, and items that were fabricated. Maintaining Orthotic Lab work orders in computer system accurately. Maintaining electronic progress notes on patients that he/she has treated with support from the Orthotist and/or Prosthetist. Keeping the following organized, clean and neat: lab, workbench, general work and storage area. Complies with all safety/fire prevention rules/regulations, using protective equipment when required and provided. Work Schedule: Primarily Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (Orthotics and Prosthetics Lab. Technician)/PD92941A Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/18/2023. This Health Technician, GS-640, occupational series has an Individual Occupational Requirement in addition to the Group Standard for Technical and Medical Positions. Individual Occupational Requirement Specialized Experience: 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. Group Standard for Technical and Medical PositionsGS-07 Grade Level: Experience One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-06 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, but is not limited to: Fabricating, adjusting and repairing orthotic/prosthetic appliances; mechanical function of prosthetic and sensory aids; reading patient charts; using standard medical terminology; taking patient measurements utilizing the appropriate equipment; monitoring inventory levels and ordering lab supplies; entering data using the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System; accurate maintenance of information in a patient database; and following established techniques and sequences in the development of orthotic/prosthetic appliances. OR Applicants may substitute education for the experience required. Education: You may substitute graduate education or an internship for the required specialized experience only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have at least one (1) full year of graduate education directly related to the work of the position. (Transcripts must be provided.) OR Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify. Combination of Experience and Education: Applicants may also combine graduate education and specialized experience to qualify at this level. Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements and may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining the applicant's education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. (Transcripts must be provided.)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. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS 07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS 06. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. 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. Physical Requirements: The position demands a moderate degree of exertion and a high degree of dexterity, long periods of standing and long-distance walking from clinic to clinic may be required. Other physical demands will include but not limited to; bending, kneeling, some lifting (not to exceed 50 lbs.) and work with some power tools. The work environment is a manufacturing facility. Exposure to occasional toxic and caustic fume and when so, wear appropriate protective breath gear. Exposure to occasional high oven temperatures and when so, wear appropriate protective thermal gloves. Exposure to occasional small particles when grinding or sanding or using power tools and when so, wear protective eyeglasses. The bulk of the working time is in a lab manufacturing setting, machine room, fume room and computer, or product storage. 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

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 Ann Arbor VA Medical Center 2215 Fuller Road Ann Arbor, MI 48105 US
• Name: Elise Jones
• Phone: 424-610-6419
• Email: [email protected]