Ophthalmology Technicians in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) perform functions such as technical clinical care to patients who have received care provided by Ophthalmologists for diagnosis, treatment, prevention, follow-up care and patient counseling. The Ophthalmology Technician performs screening procedures such as patient history, pupil responses, visual acuity, and color vision testing and may analyze lens prescriptions and fit eyeglasses and/or complex optical devices.

Duties

Major duties include, but are not limited to the following: Ability to obtain, document and record demographic and medical information from patients in order to develop an accurate medical record. Knowledge of basic disinfection of non-critical reusable medical equipment. Knowledge of anatomy and function of the eye and basic ocular pharmacology. Knowledge of outpatient eye care policies and procedures in a health care environment. Ability to use basic ophthalmic diagnostic equipment to perform preliminary ocular testing. Ability to perform minor extraocular surgical assisting. Ability to provide eye care patient education. Ability to perform advanced tonometry and pupil evaluation. Ability to perform calculations for selection of intraocular lens. Knowledge of clinic based ophthalmic surgical assisting. Knowledge of eye anatomy and physiology. Knowledge of medication effects and proper instillation in the eye. Knowledge of optics. Knowledge of proper cleaning and maintenance of clinic equipment. Demonstrated leadership and managerial skills, and skills in interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team leaders, providers, and managers. Ability to perform the full range of supervisory duties, which includes responsibility for assignment of work to be performed; performance evaluations; selection of qualified staff; and recommendation of awards, advancements, and, when appropriate, disciplinary actions. Ability to plan, organize, coordinate clinical workflow, set short and/or long-term goals for the section, and conduct studies on technical and administrative problems, including personnel shortages, organizational structure, and new technology. Oversees the integration between ophthalmic medical devices and the electronic medical record system. Serves as the point of contact and lead for the Eye Care electronic health record and serving as the liaison between other departments and services. Performs supervision, administrative management, and direction of auxiliary staff. May exercise full administrative and professional responsibility for planning and directing staff activities for the service or equivalent unit at an independent outpatient clinic. Exercises supervisory responsibility over a section or equivalent work unit. Typical duties include preparing work assignments, monitoring clinical performances staff, conducting performance appraisals, and other clinical and administrative responsibilities to ensure that the mission of the service and the medical center has been satisfied. Assures compliance with accrediting agency and regulatory requirements, establishes, and monitors the quality of the preanalytical processes as part of the overall service quality management program, and assures corrective action is initiated as needed. Assures orientation and competency assessment of assigned staff and supervises interactions of staff with affiliate ophthalmology residents. Develops policies and procedures, manages document control, develops performance standards, position descriptions and functional statements, and is responsible for professional and administrative management of an assigned area to include budget execution. Maintains interdepartmental relations with other services to accomplish medical center goals. May have overall responsibility for planning, assessing, and evaluating programs to ensure proper coordination between care delivered by the program and overall delivery of healthcare within the facility, or coordination of non-VA care as appropriate. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8am - 4:30pm Telework: Ad Hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Experience and Education: Experience: One year of experience in a health care field, such as but not limited to nursing, medical assistant, or health technician -OR- Education: Two years above high school with a minimum of six semester hours directly related to a health care field or associate's degree in a health care related degree. -OR- Experience/Education Combination: Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying. Examples are listed below: Six months of experience in the health care field; and one year above high school -OR- Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, medical service specialists, or ophthalmology technicians given by the U.S. Armed Forces -OR- Six months of experience in the health care field and completion of an independent study course in Ophthalmic Medical Assisting. Certification: All applicants must be certified as a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA) with the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO). The COA certification is JCAHPO's entry-level certification examination for a Health Technician (Ophthalmology). English Language Proficiency: Health Technicians (Ophthalmology) must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) and 38 U.S.C. 7407(d). May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Requirements GS-09: Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-8 grade level, which includes, but are not limited to the following duties: Ability to perform advanced tonometry and pupil evaluation. Ability to perform calculations for selection of intraocular lens. Knowledge of clinic based ophthalmic surgical assisting. Knowledge of eye anatomy and physiology. Knowledge of medication effects and proper instillation in the eye. Knowledge of optics. Knowledge of proper cleaning and maintenance of clinic equipment. -AND- Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA): In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Demonstrated leadership and managerial skills, and skills in interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team leaders, providers, and managers; Ability to perform the full range of supervisory duties, which includes responsibility for assignment of work to be performed; performance evaluations; selection of qualified staff; and recommendation of awards, advancements, and, when appropriate, disciplinary actions; and Ability to plan, organize, coordinate clinical work flow, set short and/or long term goals for the section, and conduct studies on technical and administrative problems, including personnel shortages, organizational structure, and new technology. Assignment: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Supervisory Health Technicians (Ophthalmology) at the GS-9 grade level generally are found in Complexity Level 2 (Medium Complexity) or Complexity Level 3 (Low Complexity) facilities. Supervisors may perform other complex ancillary assignments and program management duties such as overseeing the integration between ophthalmic medical devices and the electronic medical record system, serving as the point of contact and lead for the Eye Care electronic health record and serving as the liaison between other departments and services. The supervisory Health Technician (Ophthalmology) is responsible for the supervision, administrative management, and direction of Health Technician (Ophthalmology) auxiliary staff. May be delegated full administrative and professional responsibility for planning and directing the Health Technician (Ophthalmology) staff activities for the service or equivalent unit at an independent outpatient clinic. Has full supervisory responsibility over a section or equivalent work unit. Typical duties include preparing work assignments, monitoring clinical performances of Health Technician (Ophthalmology) staff, conducting performance appraisals, and other clinical and administrative responsibilities to ensure that the mission of the service and the medical center has been satisfied. The supervisor assures compliance with accrediting agency and regulatory requirements, establishes and monitors the quality of the pre-analytical processes as part of the overall Health Technician (Ophthalmology) service quality management program, and assures corrective action is initiated as needed. Assures orientation and competency assessment of assigned staff, and supervises interactions of Health Technicians (Ophthalmology) with affiliate ophthalmology residents. Develops policies and procedures, manages document control, develops performance standards, position descriptions and functional statements, and is responsible for professional and administrative management of an assigned area to include budget execution. Maintains interdepartmental relations with other services to accomplish medical center goals. May have overall responsibility for planning, assessing, and evaluating programs to ensure proper coordination between care delivered by the program and overall delivery of healthcare within the facility, or coordination of non-VA care as appropriate. References: VA Handbook 5005/98, Part II, Appendix G5

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 Nebraska-Western Iowa HCS - Omaha 4101 Woolworth Avenue Omaha, NE 68105 US
• Name: Kimberly Harvey
• Phone: 208-891-5798
• Email: [email protected]