The incumbent is assigned to the Inpatient section within the Behavioral Health Service Line. Staff psychologists diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological or neuropsychological assessments, treat mental disorders through a variety of modalities, provide adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders, and may conduct research.

Duties

CLINICAL RESPONSIBILITIES Provides a full range of psycho-diagnostic services, including psychological assessment services appropriate to acute psychiatric setting. Patient population includes voluntary and involuntary committed patients with wide range of conditions inclusive of serious mental illness, acute lethality risk and comorbid substance use disorders. Performs evaluations for the full range of mental health clients, particularly those with acute psychiatric symptoms, serious mental illness, and comorbid substance use disorders. Serves as active member of interdisciplinary team in care of Veterans from admission through discharge. Assists with post discharge planning and transition to outpatient or residential care. Leads psychotherapy programming on inpatient units, inclusive of providing consultation to other multidisciplinary team members who provide psychotherapy and supportive interventions. Provides consultation as needed to medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues Serves on Disruptive Behavior Committee and Code Blue Team Collaboratively completes treatment plans for all new admissions using Mental Health Suite. Attend regularly scheduled treatment team meetings, daily huddles, and other staff-related consultation meetings. Establishes and implements outcome measures using data-driven quality assurance processes as appropriate. Contributes to coordinating, developing, and implementing programming for the Psychiatric Inpatient Unit. Serves as a consultant, liaison, and point of contact for programs within Behavioral Health. Participates fully in peer review, assessing the quality of professional psychology standards provided in the organization. Responsible for timely completion of all clinical charting and documentation required by the Medical Center or healthcare system, as appropriate. Assuming responsibility for professional development by attending relevant training and regularly reviewing the literature to improve clinical competencies. Participates actively in Performance Improvement (PI) activities. Participates in a variety of meetings as directed and approved by the Chief of BH Inpatient and Chief of Psychology. Participates in education/CME lectures, research, specialty care programs, and/or clinics as assigned by the Chief of BH Inpatient or Chief of Psychology. Participates in local, VISN, and national committees/community networking activities as requested by BHS or facility leadership. Participating in research as appropriate through case finding and referral of patients to clinical investigators engaged in research or through participating in research studies. Promoting patient independence and achievement of optimal health through appropriate psychosocial education and community referrals. Applying new approaches to patient care through integration of approved investigative and research methods in clinical practice, basing interventions on evidence of effectiveness. Rounds with treatment team and offers independent observations and recommendations that contribute to diagnosis, conceptualization, and treatment planning. Advises team when more in-depth psycho-diagnostics evaluations and/or formal capacity evaluations are clinically indicated. Conducts chart reviews on new patients to ensure continuity from ongoing outpatient care to acute inpatient episode. Works with discharge planning to promote and ensure continuity of care moving forward ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIILITIES: Assists the Inpatient Program Manager in the design, development and implementation of psychological services and programs within the section and coordinates these services with the assigned team or treatment providers. Assists the Inpatient Program Manager in the execution of ongoing program evaluation and data driven quality improvement projects to monitor the effectiveness of the clinical program. May provide clinical supervision to various disciplines and levels of training, including trainees seeking licensure in psychology. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible:not authorized Telework: not authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: Psychologist GS-180-13, # 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: authorized EDRP Authorized: Contact , the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. 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. English Language Proficiency Requirement: Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English. Education Requirement: You must have a doctoral degree in psychology from a graduate program in psychology accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS), or the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) at the time the program was completed. The specialty area of the degree must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. OR, have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully completed a re-specialization program meeting both of the following conditions: a) the re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and b) the specialty in which you were retrained is consistent with the assignment you are am applying for; OR, have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature. Internship Requirement: You must have successfully completed a professional psychology internship training program that was accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed and that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed; OR, New VHA psychology internship programs that are in the process of applying for APA accreditation are acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement, provided that such programs were sanctioned by the VHA Central Office Program Director for Psychology and the VHA Office of Academic Affiliations at the time that the individual was an intern; OR, VHA facilities that offered full-time, one-year pre-doctoral internships prior to PL 96-151 (pre-1979) are considered to be acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement; OR, Applicants who completed an internship that was not accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed may be considered eligible for hire only if they are currently board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in a specialty area that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. (NOTE: Once board certified, the employee is required to maintain board certification). NOTE: Applicants who have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature may fulfill this internship requirement by having the equivalent of a one-year supervised internship experience in a site specifically acceptable to the candidate's doctoral program. If the internship experience is not noted on the applicant's official transcript, the applicant must provide a statement from the doctoral program verifying that the equivalent of a one-year supervised internship experience was completed in a site acceptable to the doctoral program. Licensure: Candidates must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice psychology at the doctoral level in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the United States, or the District of Columbia. 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). In addition to the basic requirement you must also meet the grade determination and knowledge skill and abilities. Grade Determinations: GS-13 Staff Psychologist Experience: At least two years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 grade level (Knowledge of and ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations; Ability to design and implement effective treatment strategies; Ability to incorporate new clinical procedures; Ability to conduct research activities, such as designing and implementing clinical research projects (staff psychologists with specified research job duties); Ability to perform basic research tasks of scholarship and research execution within the context of an established research team, including research participant relations, research documentation, data acquisition, maintenance, and collaboration.). Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to the full range of patient populations. Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional psychology and behavioral health. Knowledge of clinical research literature. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005, PART II, APPENDIX G18 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the GS-13. Physical Requirements: ???????Work is primarily sedentary, but requires use of fingers; both hands required; walking (up to 4 hours); sitting (up to 8 hours); near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing (aid permitted); light lifting (under 15 pounds); mental and emotional stability.

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 Pittsburgh VA Medical Center 1010 Delafield Road Pittsburgh, PA 15215 US
• Name: Jonathan Davis
• Phone: 405-439-1259
• Email: [email protected]