Health Technician serves as a unit-based member of the healthcare delivery team under the supervision of the Nursing Care Coordinator. Performs routine venipuncture and physician orders to ensure proper collection, labeling, handling and delivery of blood specimen to the lab. Provides patient care to veteran patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Duties

Duties may include but are not limited to: Performs and documents patient/family teaching which includes patient instruction for home care concerning breathing exercises/treatments/rehab. Instructs patients to perform incentive spirometry and follows up on their performance. Records treatments, findings and progress in the patient record. Reports to the professional nurse or physician any significant signs, symptoms or behavioral changes observed in the patient. Performs standard 12 - lead EKGs and mounts tracings for interpretation. HT is responsible for routine maintenance, storage and cleaning of EKG equipment. Performs venipuncture according to written protocols to ensure proper collection, labeling, handling and delivery of blood specimens to the lab. Uses aseptic technique to obtain blood cultures. Collects specimens for blood glucose analysis, using the blood glucose monitoring instrument. Enters and verifies completed test results and reports results to appropriate individual& Calibrates, cleans and maintains the instrument. Completes appropriate laboratory slips to accompany blood samples to the lab. Observes patients' general reaction, rate of absorption of intravenous fluids - notifying nurse of changes in accordance with set limits. Taking, recording and reporting to nurse deviations in vital signs. Transports patients to required destinations. Prepares and assists with examinations, diagnostic and therapeutic tests according to written procedures and policies. Obtaining and preparing equipment and supplies for peritoneal dialysis. Hangs solution, empties bottles, records quantities and reports abnormalities. Carries out other duties as assigned. This includes performing described Health Tech duties for an additional unit, or in a reassigned unit or float position. The HT rotates to all tours of duty, days, evenings and nights. Caring for patients in isolation. Other duties as assigned. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: 7:30 am- 4:00 pm, with alternate weekends Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician/PD08272A Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/28/2023. Preferred specialized experience: successful completion and current of Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) certification GRADE DETERMINATIONS. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. GS5: GS5 Time in Grade (TIG) To be eligible for the GS-05 level, applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a grade at any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements. For this vacancy, applicants must have held grade GS-04 or higher for at least one year to be eligible for the GS-05. The grade must have been held in the Federal service but may have been in any occupation. (You must provide a copy of your last or most recent SF-50, "Notification of Personnel Action" to indicate your current federal status. You must also submit additional SF-50(s) to clearly demonstrate one year time-in-grade as required in the announcement. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate that you possess one year time-in-grade. In this instance, you should provide an additional SF-50 to clearly demonstrate one year time-in-grade.) And GS-05 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Responsible for records vital signs and treatments, findings and progress in the patient record, performs standard 12 - lead EKGs and mounts tracings for interpretation, collects specimens for blood glucose analysis, cleans and maintains instruments used for blood glucose monitoring, enters and verifies completed test results and reports results to appropriate individual. OR Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-05 level. EDUCATION (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): must have successfully completed a 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation, if required. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business or technical school, junior college, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. One year of full-time undergraduate study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business or technical school. COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): must have equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience are also qualifying. The combination described below are the GS-05 position. If education is used to meet specialized experience requirements, then such education must include courses directly related to the work of the position. (When crediting education, prorate the number of hours of related courses required as a proportion of the total education to be used.) For GS-5 level positions, only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. Two full academic years of study, or 60 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to l year of specialized experience. Determine the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the year of specialized experience required at the GS-5 level. Then determine the applicant's education as a percentage of the education that meets the requirements for GS-5. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for GS-5. GS6: GS6 Time in Grade (TIG) : One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Responsible for records vital signs and treatments, findings and progress in the patient record, performs standard 12 - lead EKGs and mounts tracings for interpretation, Performs venipuncture according to written protocols and physician orders to ensure proper collection, labeling, handling and delivery of blood specimen to the lab, knowledge and skills sufficient to understand and properly use equipment, materials and supplies in a large of diagnostic and treatment procedures that support specialized nursing care for critically ill patients. And GS-06 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Responsible for records vital signs and treatments, findings and progress in the patient record, performs standard 12 - lead EKGs and mounts tracings for interpretation, Performs venipuncture according to written protocols and physician orders to ensure proper collection, labeling, handling and delivery of blood specimen to the lab.. Knowledge and skills sufficient to understand and properly use equipment, materials and supplies in a large of diagnostic and treatment procedures that support specialized nursing care for critically ill patients. There is no educational substitution for the GS-06 level. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Clinical Data Collection/DocumentationCustomer Service (Clerical/Technical)Diagnostic Medical TestingPatient Care 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: The work requires standing and walking for long periods of time. The HT must frequently lift, bend, reach, stop and stretch to perform necessary procedures. 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

There is no educational substitution for the GS-6 grade level.

If using education as qualification for the GS-5 level, 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 VA NY Harbor Healthcare System 423 East 23rd Street New York, NY 10010 US
• Name: Maria Pelow
• Phone: 716-834-9200 X22439
• Email: [email protected]