The Health Technician position is located at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center (RHJ VAMC). It will be in Nursing & Patient Care Services within the Ambulatory Care Center Section. The RHJ VAMC is a 144-bed hospital includes six community-based outpatient clinics, women's health, and the full range of inpatient and outpatient care including Medical and Surgical Intensive Care.

Duties

The Health Care Technician is-a member of the Ambulatory Care team and provides assistance to registered nurses, physicians and other team members. The Health Care Technician works as a team member under the direction of the Nurse Manager of the GI Lab & ACC or registered nurse designee. Duties include: Transport patients throughout procedural/operative areas. Assist with lifting, moving, and transferring patients as needed. Works and communicates with nurses and and ancillary staff. Transports laboratory specimens to the lab. Maintains adequate stock of blankets and linen in all ACC rooms. Obtains and transports blood products in a timely manner. Provide basic customer service for patient questions and concerns surrounding their surgery/ procedure. Delegating more complex questions to the appropriate staff. Answer the telephone and refer calls to appropriate staff. Utilize universal precautions and follow all infection control policies/procedures when handing specimens, supplies and equipment. Assist in room turn over by cleaning RME, obtaining linen, dressing stretchers, etc. Maintain BLS and respond to emergency situations and assist in performing resuscitation measures under supervision of professional staff. Perform non-technical maintenance of equipment to prevent malfunctions recognizing potential hazardous situations and takes corrective action. Perform all other duties as indicated and required (of similar nature). Work Schedule: Monday - Friday (6:00am - 2:30pm and 11:00am - 7:30pm) Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician/07826-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/13/2024. 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-4 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-3. 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. Health Technician GS-0640-4 requires the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) General Experience: 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. Experience would be: Monitoring testing equipment, recording vital signs, assisting patients with tasks like bathing, grooming, and eating and ensuring that medical equipment functions properly. Clerical duties, such as checking patients in and out of a facility, scheduling appointments, answering phones, and adding relevant notes to patient files. OR Education and Training For GS-4: Successful completion of (2) years of study that included at least (12) semester hours in subjects related to the position. In conjunction with the basic requirements above you must also meet the specialized experience or education as described below for GS-4: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-3 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience performing clerical and administrative duties. Knowledge of basic anatomy, physiology, medical terminology, and infection control guidelines. Ability to provide pathology care and handling of specimens. Experience properly positioning patients depending on patient needs. Ability to provide professional customer service support internally and externally and interpersonal skills to function as a team member. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-4 level. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed two (2) years above High School education with (12) semester hours related to a study in medical, health, or related fields. 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. OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-4 level. You must have a combination of college level education beyond one (1) year with course(s) related to a study in medical, health, or related fields, and General and/or Specialized Experience to meet total experience requirements. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-04. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Veteran and Customer Focus Customer Service Infection Control Flexibility Emergency Care Critical thinking Agility Problem Solving Attention to Detail 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: Duties regularly require providing manual assistance in lifting and positioning patients, most of which are at stages of unconsciousness. There are extensive periods of regular and recurring standing, walking, bending, lifting, pushing, reaching, prolonged stretching and computer use. The incumbent must be able to travel to among different treatment areas with ease. 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.

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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Ralph H Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 109 Bee Street Charleston, SC 29401 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]