This Health Science Specialist (Pedorthist) vacancy is located at the Eastern Oklahoma VA Healthcare System in Prosthetics Service. The primary function as the Health Science Specialist is providing foot care in development of the foot orthotic and footwear treatment plan, analyses patients with unusual/complex conditions and to recognize physical abnormalities, deviations and complicating conditions with potentially life-threatening implications.

Duties

As the Health Science Specialist the incumbent serves as the subject matter expert in foot care to develop the foot orthotic and footwear treatment plan. The work includes complex patient analyses for patients with unusual foot conditions, multiple complex foot conditions. As the Health Science Specialist your duties will include but are not limited to: Independently provide comprehensive assessment of patients with impairment of human movement or musculoskeletal abnormalities for treatment of the foot and ankle function as it relates to therapeutic footwear and orthotics. Use and maintain technical equipment including digital scanner, digital carving mill, vertical jigs, grinders, routers, and vacuum forming equipment. Use of technical equipment to obtain scans of body parts and for use in fabrication of prescribed devices. Independently provide formulation and implementation of a treatment plan based upon a comprehensive assessment. Development of evaluation of the prescription rationale, development of functional goals and plan of care and medical documentation. Participation in planning, workflow, documentation guidelines, limited maintenance of technical equipment, promotion of professional competency and enhancement of pedorthic professional practice. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: 8:00-4:30 Monday-Friday Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Science Specialist/PD12700-O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/18/2023. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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. Individual Occupational Requirements Basic Requirements All applicants for this position, must possess the basic Individual Occupational Requirement of a Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree with major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. Note: This degree must be from and educational program an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Applying knowledge of pathology, disease, diagnosis and treat as it relates to pedorthics; performing patient screenings relative to a prosthetics program; assessing patients' impairments of movement or musculoskeletal abnormalities; advising on the benefits and risks associated with different pedorthic devices; formulating treatment plans for patients to alleviate limitations; implementing and following up on treatment plans to reassess patient goals and document adjustment; utilizing various software systems for tasks such as inventory management and reordering. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond graduate education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analytical ReasoningApplies Technology to TasksAttention to DetailCommunicationConflict ManagementCreative ThinkingCustomer Service (Clerical/Technical)Decision MakingEducation and TrainingInterpersonal Skills 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: Work requires movement throughout the medical center, standing, bending, sitting, reaching, and lifting up to fifty pounds. There exist prolonged periods of working at a computer terminal. Ability to retrieve equipment from a storage room is required. Climbing associated with stocking of equipment and other items in storage areas is necessary. Normal safety precautions are utilized as appropriate for office, hospital, and warehouse settings. The work involves moderate discomfort when visiting sites away from the office. At times the employee may be required to wear personal protective equipment (i.e., mask and gown) when visiting work areas with other environmental exposures including wheelchair repair area or Prosthetic and Orthotic Laboratory. Patient transfer, frequent bending and lifting is required. 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 Jack C Montgomery VA Medical Center 1011 Honor Heights Drive Muskogee, OK 74401 US
• Name: Shaffona Zayas
• Phone: 3032028165
• Email: [email protected]