The Health Technician works at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Nursing Service, Ambulatory Care, and works closely nurses, physicians, and other members of the Ambulatory primary and Specialty Clinics. She/he provides clinical, programmatic, technical, and clerical support in the interdisciplinary outpatient clinic setting.

Duties

Duties to include but not limited to the following: Clinical Duties / Patient Care 75% Required to interview patients and complete basic health screening clinical reminders. He/she collects patient data specific to PACT / Specialty needs including vital signs, pain level, weight, height, and observation of overall condition. Assists with diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and exams by preparing patients, ensuring privacy, and applying aseptic principles. Recognizes the need for, and assists with emergency measures, including CPR. Takes appropriate action in response to patient emergency situations. Organizes patient care activities and makes adjustments as patient care priorities change. This includes obtaining meals and nourishments, assisting with transportation needs, communicating between various departments, and coordinating delivery of medications to patients. Must be trained and demonstrate competency in performing BLS. Recognizes, reports, documents, and responds appropriately to unusual patient behavior, i.e., hostile, abusive, violent and or changes in patient's conditions. Recognizes any communication by patient with depressed, suicidal, or homicidal behaviors; remains with patient and reports immediately to Charge Nurse or Physician. Provides and reinforces patient education, as appropriate. Performs a variety of specified diagnostic tests and treatments: Collects, labels, and transports patient specimens, including Glucometer testing, stool guaiac, and urine specimens. Performs 12 lead ECG's. Performs quality control checks on Glucometer. Changes dressings, applies binders/bandages. Assists with Infusion Center procedures. Assists in data collection, patient scheduling, and consult recall, and comply with VA and National Patient Confidentiality and Privacy Guidelines, and scheduling requirements Serves as the first line of communication to the patients, family members, clinical and support staff on varied issues via phone & in person. Accepts phone calls and elicit administrative and clinical information from callers through utilization of interviewing skills and a sound ambulatory-care knowledge base. Assists with helping identifying goals of care - utilizing health coaching techniques Assist nursing and medical personnel in the care or treatment of patient illnesses or medical conditions Participates in the daily communication huddle (MESS) with the Patient aligned care team to receive information and direction of delegated duties Assists with basic patient tele-video appointments, using two patient identifiers, seats patients properly and cleans tele-video equipment properly Performs a variety of routine tests including but not limited to, glucose-meter sticks, respiratory equipment, EKG, Bladder Scanner and related equipment Performs dressing wound care as appropriate Has knowledge of and adheres to professional standards, hospital policies and procedures, federal, state, and local requirements, and Joint Commission standards including the National Patient Safety Goals Participates in New Patient Orientation classes Maintains inventory and supply of patient education materials needed in clinic, restocks examination rooms and waiting areas as needed Assists with duties such as scanning/faxing documents, completing release of information forms, assisting patients with use of Kiosk, etc. as appropriate Additional Duties 25% Provides in customer service, data collection, medical records management, patient scheduling, and consult tracking. Assists the Assistant Nurse Manager and/or Charge Nurse with improvement projects as assigned. Performs other duties as assigned by Nurse Manager to facilitate effective functioning of the Clinics. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 7:30 am to 6:00 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician/PD06600A 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, 09/29/2023. 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 06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS 05. 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 (IOR) 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. 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 05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: collects patient data specific to needs including vital signs, pain level, weight, height, and observation of overall condition, assists with diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and exams by preparing patients, ensuring privacy, and applying aseptic principles, recognizes, reports, documents, and responds appropriately to unusual patient behavior, i.e., hostile, abusive, violent and or changes in patient's conditions, responsible for doing intake and rooming patients to exam room to prepare for exam. . OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Graduate education or an internship meets the specialized experience required in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED/Internship documentation) . 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 above information. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Oral CommunicationPatient CareTechnical Competence 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: Good hearing and visual acuity are required. The work involves standing long hours, walking, bending, and reaching on a routine basis. The work requires the incumbent be mobile throughout the Medical Center as needed, involving standing, walking, bending, pushing, and lifting (moderate to heavy). The incumbent must be capable of prolonged standing/walking and be physically capable of pushing equipment, and escorting patients that may be in wheelchairs and/or gurneys. Travel to other clinics may be 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 Palo Alto VA Medical Center 3801 Miranda Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304 US
• Name: Desiree Carter
• Phone: 504-314-5492
• Email: [email protected]