This position is located at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center in Clinical Nutrition Section of Nutrition and Food Services. The Clinical Dietetic Technician has the responsibility of providing a high-level of technical assistance and support to the Clinical Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in providing all steps of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Nutrition Care Process and for participating as an Interdisciplinary Care Team member.

Duties

DUTIES Collecting and analyzing data from the medical record. Providing nutrition care to inpatients and outpatients. Interviewing patients to obtain information (such as diagnoses, medications, food-related preferences, allergies and intolerances, swallowing or digestions issues, unplanned weight loss / gain, etc.). Providing technical support to dietitians by conducting calorie counts and meal rounds as part of a nutrition monitoring process. Comparing patients' nutrition data to pre-established screening criteria to determine appropriate level of nutritional care. Working with a Registered Dietitian (RD) to develop and carry out nutrition interventions and plans. Making recommendations for patients' diet prescriptions and / or nourishments according to patient needs and preferences. Monitoring acceptance of nourishments and / or intolerance to diet. Conducting screenings of patients for weight management programs (including readiness to change, medical need, etc.) based on medical records and patient interviews. Initiating nutrition counseling for patients on modified diets, including overviews of dietary restrictions. Evaluating and recording patient understanding of nutrition education or counseling. Scheduling appointments for assigned patients. Providing appointment reminder phone calls, emails or letters to assigned patients. Providing nutrition education to patients and / or significant others regarding basic diet modifications and prescribed diets (ie: high fiber, low fiber, no added salt, low sodium, American Heart Association Guidelines, weight reduction, weight gain, etc.). Work Schedule: 8:00AM-4:30PM, working holidays and rotating weekends. Position Description/PD#: Clinical Dietetic Technician/PD99792S Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Bargaining Unit: AFGE

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/12/2024. 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. 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. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: To qualify at the GS-6 grade level: Specialized Experience: You must possess at least one (1) year of progressively responsible specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade (GS-5) in the field of clinical dietetic technology in which you have demonstrated successful use on the following knowledges, skills, abilities and other characteristics: 1) Knowledge of human nutrition requirements in health and disease 2) Ability to gather data from the medical record and document information pertinent to nutritional care 3) Ability to monitor and influence the patient's nutritional intake 4) Ability to provide nutrition education for selected groups of patients 5) Skill in patient interviewing and nutrition counseling 6) Ability to interact and communicate orally with people from a variety of backgrounds, and 7) Ability to function effectively in a support position within a Clinical Dietetic section of a general medical and surgical and/or psychiatric hospital. GS-6 Qualifying specialized experience includes: Developing and revising nutrition care plans; Interpreting significance of abnormal laboratory values related to nutritional status; Performing nutrition screening, assessing meal intakes and adjusting meal plans as appropriate; Providing nutrition education; Communicating with patients and other health care team members regarding patients' nutritional needs; Using nutrition technology applications; and Assessing the effectiveness of nutrition care plans, documenting care plans using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) guidelines. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Clinical Data Collection/DocumentationCustomer ServiceTechnical CompetenceTechnical 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: Some of the work is sedentary but considerable standing and walking throughout the Medical Center is involved and carrying of light-weight items. 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 at this grade level.

Contacts

• Address West Palm Beach VA Medical Center 7305 North Military Trail West Palm Beach, FL 33410 US
• Name: David Furnas
• Phone: 913-758-6436
• Email: [email protected]