This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Duties

Work Schedule: 8:00AM-4:30PM Monday-Friday Compressed/Flexible:Not Authorized. Telework: Ad hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. EDRP Authorized: Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required. Duties: This position is located in the Audiology and Speech Pathology Service at the Greenville, NC, VA Health Care Center. The duties and responsibilities are carried out throughout the health care center including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the service. The speech-language pathologist at this level plans, conducts, and coordinates all aspects of diagnostic assessments and evaluations and therapeutic and rehabilitative services for speech, language, voice, fluency, cognitive, and swallowing disorders. The speech-language pathologist at this grade level must demonstrate professional knowledge of, and skill in applying, a wide range of theories, principles, and methodologies of the practice of speech-language pathology to a wide range of populations. The speech-language pathologist at this level conducts, plans, and coordinates all clinical and administrative aspects of a full range of services associated with contemporary speech-language pathology practice. Is responsible for independent diagnostic assessment and evaluation of cases that are referred to Speech-Language Pathology without limitation as to difficulty or complexity. Is responsible to conduct interviews with the patients and appropriate family members and/or friends, selects, administers and interprets the diagnostic test necessary to detect and evaluate any type of speech, language, voice, fluency, cognitive, and/or swallowing disorders. The incumbent is responsible for the adequacy of assessment and for the reporting of the findings to other professional workers with whom he/she or other members of the speech-language pathology service may cooperate in formulating diagnostic and clinical judgments; assesses patient condition from close observation and consultation with other members of the inter-disciplinary health care team; and utilizing all diagnostic and evaluative procedures and techniques consistent with contemporary speech-language pathology practice. Is responsible for planning, conducting, coordinating, and monitoring the effectiveness and clinical outcomes of patient-centered treatment and rehabilitative services to maximize and restore to the greatest extent possible physical and social functioning. The incumbent is responsible for the administration of a full range tests of speech, language, voice, fluency, and cognition including modal level and variation of vocal pitch and loudness; variability of the rate of vocal utterance; frequency and complexity of speech disfluency; consistency and adaptation of disfluency in sustained or repeated speaking and aural reading; phonetic analysis of speech designed to identify and evaluate patterns of misarticulation, such as distortions and omissions of sounds, as well as phonemic substitutions, including patterns of variation and speech sound articulation; and identification of phonetic and semantic factors related to this variation. Develops an effective and comprehensive plan of care for swallowing disorders in collaboration with other health care practitioners; establishes and maintains an effective therapy relationship with the patient, family and caregivers; and adjusts treatment plan to patient response and indicators of progress. Incumbent serves as a consultant to other facility personnel involving the most difficult and complex cases and is a recognized subject matter expert on matters related to speech, language voice, fluency, cognitive, and swallowing disorders. The incumbent will remain current with new developments in speech-language pathology and will maintain professional competency by reading professional journals and engaging in continuing education activities and professional learning experiences and by communicating with other professionals in the profession and related professions. Communication is required by this position and the incumbent will be expected to attend regular staff meetings and inter-disciplinary health care team meeting as appropriate; review policies and procedures, and attend in-service training. The incumbent will be responsible for supervising, mentoring, and precepting student trainees in speech-language pathology and maintaining liaisons with affiliated colleges and universities. Although limited research is conducted in the clinical setting, the use of carefully executed procedures may be a part of a research design. The incumbent may perform ancillary assignments, including program management duties on an occasional basis, where the complexity and amount of the work is not substantial.

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. Education and Experience: (1) A master's degree, or its equivalent, in speech-language pathology, communication disorders or a directly related field from an accredited college or university and one year of creditable experience (see paragraph 2.g.). or (2) A doctoral degree in speech-language pathology, communication disorders and sciences or a related field, from an accredited college or university. Licensure: Individuals must hold a full, current and unrestricted license in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth or the District of Columbia. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): In addition to the experience requirements, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Skill in applying principles and techniques of diagnosis and treatment associated with contemporary speech-language pathology following evidence-based practice for adult patients exhibiting the full range of speech to the full range of patient populations. (b) Skill in administering and interpreting instrumental swallowing evaluations. (c) Ability to assess the effectiveness of clinical outcomes and adapt clinical procedures and techniques to accommodate unique patient conditions. 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). Preferred Experience: Significant experience with instrumental swallowing evaluations. References: VA Handbook 5005/153 Part II Appendix G30 Physical Requirements: This position requires visual acuity, keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity. This position requires mostly periods of continued walking, standing, stooping, sitting, bending, pulling, and pushing. Transferring patients and objects may be required. The incumbent may be exposed to infected patients and contaminated materials and may be required to don protective clothing in isolation situations. The incumbent may occasionally be exposed to patients/residents who are combative secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders. The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on stakeholder needs.

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 Durham VA Medical Center 508 Fulton Street Durham, NC 27705 US
• Name: KARI LEPINE
• Phone: 906-396-9895
• Email: [email protected]