This position is located in the Perioperative Patient Care Center at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY. This position functions in an advanced capacity, the full-performance level of a Surgical Technicians, which is a member of the surgical team and provides assistance to the surgeon and other team members during surgical procedures.

Duties

The advanced Surgical Technician performs the following major duties:

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/31/2023. 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. 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. Certificate: Certified Surgical Certificate is Required Active Basic Cardiac Life support (ACLS) provider card American Heart Association Individual Occupational Requirements Specialized Experience (for positions at GS-4 and above): 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 GS-06: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of a Health Technician (Surgical Technician) in a developmental capacity and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Qualifying specialized experience is defined as experience performing work as a surgical technician, operating room assistant, or surgical technologist performing scrub duties for all inpatient and outpatient surgical procedure; setting up for the surgical procedure; assembling equipment and supplies as well as monitoring and maintaining aseptic techniques throughout the procedure; coordinating or participating in the positioning and prepping of patients and obtaining supplies; specimen handling; and assisting the surgeon by performing such procedures as preparing skin graphs, suctioning, holding retractors, applying skin staples and cuffing sutures. Specialized Experience GS-7: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of a Health Technician (Surgical Technician) and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Qualifying specialized experience is defined as experience utilizing universal precautions and following all Infection Control policies and procedures when handling specimens, supplies and equipment; Handling all specimens appropriately; prepares, organizes and maintain highly complex sterile surgical setups; Assisting in training residents, medical students, nursing students, operating room technology students and new Operating Room (OR) staff in the operation of equipment, sterile techniques, handling of instrument, and Operating Room procedures to include the scrub role in surgical procedures, and Function as a second circulator for complex surgical procedures. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-07 level: Must have successfully completed one full year of graduate education to meets the requirements for GS-7. Progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a major field of study related to the work of the position which provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of this position. (NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH THE APPLICATION. OR, Combination: Combination of specialized experience and education is acceptable. Education must be in excess of a 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation. (TRANSCRIPTS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH THE APPLICATION). Certified Surgical Certificate is Required. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to DetailInfection ControlMedical InformationPatient 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: Duties regularly require providing manual assistance in lifting and positioning patients, most of which are stages of unconsciousness. There are extensive periods of regular and recurring standing, walking, bending, lifting, pushing, reaching, and prolong stretching to provide easy accessibility of instruments and supplies for the surgeon. The surgical technician must be dexterous in passing instruments to surgeons without compromising principles of aseptic technique and in a manner requiring little or no effort from the surgeon. 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 Bronx VA Medical Center 130 West Kingsbridge Rd. Bronx, NY 10468 US
• Name: Keisha Smith
• Phone: 520-339-8112
• Email: [email protected]