The Birmingham VA Healthcare System, Nursing Acute Care Service is seeking a full-time Medical Instrument Technician (Echocardiography Technician) for the VA Medical Center in Huntsville Alabama.

Duties

The Echo Technician executes position responsibilities that demonstrate leadership, experience, and creative approaches to managing complex systems. They identify and record anomalies indicative of disease, injury or other medically significant condition from ultrasound imaging and simultaneous recordings of the Doppler. They incorporate causes and results of a variety of symptoms and conditions into a plan of ultrasonic diagnostic examination. They change and develop sounding techniques to accommodate such variables as limited patient mobility, variation in physical condition or dimension of the patient, presence of prosthesis or foreign objects, and ultrasound response of different body parts. Major duties include, but are not limited to:

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. 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). Grade Determinations: GS-06: To meet the requirements for the GS-06 grade level MIT (Echocardiography) do you possess at least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: 1. Knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the heart and great vessels. 2. Knowledge of cardiac arrhythmias and their relationship to hemodynamic conditions of the cardiac cycle. 3. Knowledge of basic cardiac ultrasound physics and the acoustic mechanisms by which high quality cardiac images are obtained. 4. Ability to set up and adjust the ultrasound equipment to meet the conditions of the examination and the patient and to operate the equipment for standardized, routine procedures. 5. Ability to interact with patients explaining procedures and positioning the patient for the procedure. GS-07: To meet the requirements for the GS-07 grade level MIT (Echocardiography) do you possess at least 1 year of specialized experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. This would be experience which provided knowledge of proper performance of endoscopic equipment and procedures. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: 1. Ability to scan transthoracic echocardiograms in all views with colorflow and some Doppler. 2. Ability to conduct cardiac testing to determine the severity and variety of cardiac problems, i.e., valvular dysfunction, myocardial wall akinesia, effusions, endocardial lesions, etc. 3. Knowledge of the set-up for transesophageal echocardiograms. 4. Ability to set up and adjust the ultrasound equipment to meet the conditions of the examination and the patient and to operate the equipment for more complex, but standardized procedures. GS-08: To meet the requirements for the GS-08 grade level MIT (Echocardiography) do you possess at least 1 year of specialized experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. This would be experience which provided knowledge of proper performance of endoscopic equipment and procedures. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: 1. Ability to produce diagnostic quality images and Doppler frequency shift recordings using M-mode, two-dimensional, pulsed and continuous wave Doppler spectral display, and colorflow Doppler imaging. 2. Knowledge of normal echocardiographic findings and deviations produced by a wide variety of cardiovascular diseases. 3. Ability to perform complex procedures such as cardiac studies of the four chambers of the heart and valves using sector scanning techniques to detect stenotic and incompetent valves, chamber enlargement, and pericardial effusion and cardiovascular studies deriving pressure gradients across obstructed valves, etc. 4. Ability to perform complementary ultrasonic examinations (including noninvasive) transthoracic, Bubble studies and contrast echocardiography, (invasive) stress echocardiography, and transesophageal echocardiography. 5. Ability to adapt transducer positioning, instrument controls, and examination techniques to the individual patient being studied and the problem being evaluated including recognizing pertinent abnormalities and documenting abnormal findings. Certification. Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certifications are desirable References: VA Handbook 5005/15 Part II Appendix G27 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-8. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-6 to GS-8. Physical Requirements: Able to meet the physical demands of the position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing duties of this job the Echocardiography Technician is frequently required to stand walk, bend and reach. Must be able to lift and/or move over 50 pounds.

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

Contacts

• Address Birmingham VA Medical Center 700 South 19th Street Birmingham, AL 35233 US
• Name: Kara Wanner
• Email: [email protected]