The Surgical Technician is a member of the surgical team and provides assistance to the surgeon and other team members during surgical procedures. This position is located at the VA Medical Center in Little Rock, AR. The Surgical Technician participates with the surgical team members in planning and implementing the complex procedures under the general supervision of the surgical team.

Duties

***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Major duties and responsibilities include: Functions as a primary scrub person responsible for handling instruments, supplies, and equipment during all surgical procedures such as: open heart, thoracic, major vascular, neurosurgery, microsurgery, and total joint replacement surgery. Ensures all supplies and equipment are available prior to the surgical procedure. Sets up sterile field with all required items for each procedure such as air-powered equipment, fiber optic equipment, laparoscopic equipment, microscopes, lasers, arthroscopy equipment, urological equipment, recording devices, and other operating room supplies and equipment. Prepares and maintains highly complex sterile surgical setups. Observes and responds promptly to each stage of the surgical procedure and anticipates the needs of the surgeon by maintaining a high level of concentration for extended periods of time. Utilizes universal precautions and follows all infection control policies and procedures. Assist with the sponge and instruments counts. Assist the surgeon by performing such procedures as preparing skin grafts, suctioning, holding retractors, applying skin staples, and cutting sutures. Prepares prosthesis and surgical devices. Assists in training residents and students. Functions as second circulator for complex surgical procedures. Assess and maintains adequate stock of supplies, materials, and performs non-technical maintenance of equipment. Provides guidance and support to Nursing Assistants and other Surgical Technicians. Supervises volunteers, aides, students, and non-surgical team members recognizes and takes corrective action regarding potentially hazardous situations. Performing other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, 6:15am 2:45pm, 8:00am 4:30pm including weekends and holidays (Subject to change based on the needs of the Agency) Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: May be authorized for highly qualified candidates Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

Qualifications

IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION AT THE GS-7 LEVEL YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING: ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. ~AND~ SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess at least one (1) year of specialized experience that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of a Surgical Technician. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-6 grade level in Federal service. 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. Specialized experience for this position includes utilizing knowledge of medical instruments, human anatomy, physiology, and aseptic technique to prepare and protect sterile field during surgery; exercising sterile technique to include sterilizer operations and tests to determine the effectiveness of sterilization, packaging, storage, and shelf life; handling medical instruments, supplies and equipment during all surgical procedures; performing proper cleaning techniques, as well as the proper handling and rotation of sterile supplies; handling contaminated items, quality control, and personal hygiene, using knowledge of universal precautions and implementing infection control policies and procedures. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE.) ~OR~ SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE: You must have successfully completed one year (18 semester hours) of graduate education or an internship in course matter that must include courses directly related to this position as a Surgical Technician such as anatomy and physiology, surgical technology, aseptic techniques, etc. NOTE TO APPLICANTS: One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study; if that number cannot be obtained from the transcript, 18 semester hours will be considered as one full academic year of graduate study. (COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION) ~OR~ COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: You must possess equivalent combinations of experience and education as described above to fully meet the requirements of this position. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE AND COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION) You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Attention to DetailCommunicationsManages and Organizes InformationQuality AssuranceSpeaking IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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. 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 prolonged stretching to provide easy accessibility of instruments and supplies for the surgeon. Incumbent must be dexterous in passing instruments to surgeons without compromising principles of aseptic technique and in the manner requiring little or no effort from the surgeons. 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

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 John L McClellan Memorial Veterans' Hospital 4300 West Seventh Street Little Rock, AR 72205 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]