This position serves as the Management and Program Analyst, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System (SLVHCS) within the Infection Control section of the Quality Management service. The Infection Control section is vital to achieving the goals of the Quality Management service and SLVHCS in providing safe, high quality patient care with zero harm.

Duties

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Duties include, but not limited to: Conducts rounds in various clinical and non-clinical areas of the facility (including but not limited to inpatient wards, outpatient clinics, sterile processing service, sterile compounding areas, engineering plant, operative and procedural areas) to conduct visual inspections and tracers evaluating infection control and prevention practices, documents findings of these rounds and compiles, tracks, and trends these findings to use in presentations and recommendations to leadership on the effectiveness of the practices and any changes needed for processes, policies, or resources. Reviews electronic and material data and applies qualitative and quantitative analysis methods to the data in order to track and trend various types of infections including specific organisms (such as Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff)) and types of infections (such as Surgical Site Infections (SSI), Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI), and Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)). Analyzes reports for infectious deviances and outliers, bringing such information to the attention to the Quality Manager and the Infection Control Committee as well as any other related committees (Facility Surgical Work Group, Executive Committee of the Medical Staff, Environment of Care Committee, Reusable Medical Equipment Committee for example), makes recommendations based on evidence and best practice to address outliers and deviances. Performs routine audits to ensure quality control and data integrity of surveillance data. Develops and maintains infection control statistical databases for the facility that are then used to inform recommendations on changes to policies, procedures, and resource utilization to improve infection control and prevention throughout the facility, develops interpretative graphs and other visual aids for reporting results of analyses performed; presents this work to service management, senior leadership, and management in other related services regularly as a part of meetings and committee standing and ad-hoc reports and makes recommendations based on this work to the committee or to leadership on changes to programs, policies, or resource utilization. Tracks, trends, analyzes, and reports hand hygiene compliance data to present at the director's morning report, infection control committee, and the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff monthly and makes recommendations based on findings to improve infection control and prevention practices throughout the facility. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: HR Specialist Total Rewards Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 am - 4:00 pm, subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Management and Program Analyst - Infection Preventivist/PD07351A and PD07352A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required This position is covered by AFGE bargaining unit. Per the AFGE Master Agreement, the Area of Consideration will be: 1st Area of Consideration - Current Facility and CBOC employees; 2nd Area of Consideration - VA Nationwide applicants; 3rd Area of Consideration - Other Status candidates

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/25/2023. 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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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. GS-9 - 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 GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Skilled in the development new procedures and approaches needed to identify and resolve issues. Develop relationships with key programs and staff within the agency. Consult on a wide range of medical policies, regulations, and directives applicable to the administration of the program. OR Education: Substitution of a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related (transcripts required). OR Combination of Specialized Experience and Education: Combination of specialized experience as described above, and graduate education as described above which totals in excess of the first year or an excess of 18 credit hours (transcripts required). [To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.] GS-11 - 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 GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Skilled in the use of analytical and evaluative methods and techniques and ability to quickly adapt to changing circumstances in a complex healthcare environment in order to develop new procedures and approaches to identify and resolve significant issues relating to infection control and prevention practices throughout the facility. Planning, organizing, and directing team work and effectively negotiating with management to gain acceptance and implementation of recommendations intended to improve infection control and prevention effectiveness within the organization. Conduct detailed analyses of complex functions and work processes including but not limited to hand hygiene compliance, isolation and bundle compliance, culture collection techniques, sterile processing services, sterile compounding services, construction projects, facility design and climate controls. Use of the various software programs available, such as basic and advanced word processing (Microsoft Word), file cabinet, list/sort processing, time management, CPRS/VISTA applications (Mailman and clinical programs), spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel), statistical packages (SPSS), data management (Microsoft Access), desktop publishing, Microsoft Visio and graphics (Microsoft PowerPoint) and End Not. Fact gathering techniques used in outbreak investigations, basic specimen gathering methods and regulations for transportation of biohazardous materials preferred. OR Education: Substitution of a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related (transcripts required). OR Combination of Specialized Experience and Education: Combination of specialized experience as described above, and graduate education as described above which totals in excess of the second year or an excess of 36 credit hours (transcripts required). [To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.] You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analytical ReasoningComputer SkillsHealth Risk Analysis 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: Walking and moving throughout the facility including taking stairs, standing for long periods during rounding, bending and stooping to observe practices in multiple settings both clinical and industrial, wearing of personal protective equipment as needed. Lifting up to 10 pounds of materials for education or training. Computer work. 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 New Orleans VA Medical Center 2400 Canal Street New Orleans, LA 70119 US
• Name: KELLY WRIGHT
• Phone: (813) 415-8857
• Email: [email protected]