The incumbent is a member of the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service team at Beckley VA Medical Center. The position primarily involves the collection, transport, evaluation, minimal processing and storage of clinical laboratory specimens; laboratory support position requires technical skills in phlebotomy and specimen collection, patient care, as well as clerical duties and rotate through a wide range of medical and clerical duties, in the hospital and outpatient clinical settings.

Duties

Duties include but are not limited to the following: Independently perform venipuncture with minimal failure on all inpatients, outpatients, and employees throughout the entire hospital complex utilizing universal blood and body fluid precautions, assigns priority to test requests. Follows procedures for performing positive identification of patient and specimen through entire process of phlebotomy, procurement, labeling, accessioning, receiving, allocating, distributing, and storage. Assess the accuracy of laboratory orders for items such as proper specimen, appropriate time of collection, etc. Rejects unacceptable specimens following the established guidelines. Provides training and guidance in phlebotomy techniques to medical technicians, medical technologists, nurses and/or new phlebotomy employees rotating through the blood collection area. Perform therapeutic phlebotomies on in-patients and out-patients. Process specimens sent to reference laboratories following established guidelines for packaging and shipping of laboratory specimen. Act as first line contact between the Clinical Laboratory and the patient and serves as an intermediary between laboratory and patient. Identifies and appropriately responds to adverse reactions such as fainting,nausea, vomiting, convulsions, and arrests. Controls the physical condition of samples and responds to time factors to ensure that the physiologic state of the specimen is maintained and specimen delay does not occur. Provides education to patients for proper collection techniques of all laboratory specimens including, but not limited to: Urine samples, sputum samples, stool specimens; semen specimens. 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. Position Description/PD#: Medical Technician (Phlebotomist)/PD002892 Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Time in Grade: Advancement to positions up to GS-5. Candidates may be advanced without time restriction to positions up to GS-5 if the position to be filled is no more than two grades above the lowest grade the employee held within the preceding 52 weeks under his or her latest non-temporary competitive appointment. ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. This position includes a Selective Placement Factor (skill, knowledge, ability or other worker characteristic basic to - and essential for - satisfactory performance of the job). Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. The Selective Placement Factor for this position is: Experience performing phlebotomy/blood draws on human patients. To qualify for this position at the GS-4 level, you must meet one of the following: EXPERIENCE: Specialized Experience Technical support work in a closely related field, e.g., biological laboratory technician work, that required application of the methods and techniques for the position to be filled. AND EDUCATION: Successful completion of: 1 year of study that included 6 semester hours in chemistry and/or the biological sciences, plus successful completion of: a full-time training course of approximately a year's duration in a medical or clinical laboratory assistant (or technician) school that included instruction in chemistry, hematology, blood banking, and microbiology (including serology) and that, in addition, included supervised laboratory practice incident to the diagnostic process and the treatment of patients; OR 2 years of study that included at least 12 semester hours of chemistry and/or biological science course work that must have been directly related to the specialization of the position to be filled. (Transcripts must be submitted at time of application) OR COMBINATION: Equivalent combinations of post-high school education and experience, as described above. (Transcripts must be submitted at time of application)You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Computer Skills Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) Patient Care Quality Assurance Specimen Collection Note: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hour worked per week. IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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.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; religious; 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.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/ PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: Requires finger dexterity and hand/eye coordination to perform phlebotomy on patients and to manipulate a variety of laboratory devices such s computerized instruments and computer terminals. May lift or otherwi8se assists personnel in positioning patients (average 200 pounds) for routing emergency procedures, position under/on top of laboratory counters or in instrument cabinets the reagent and supply items, some of which are in excess of 45 pounds also, prolonged periods of standing, walking, pushing, and reaching. Must wear personal protective equipment and film badges required for the designated work area. Requires physical exertion such as walking or bending to collect samples. In many situations the duration of the activity (most of the workday) contributes to the arduous nature of the job. In the lab, there may be special requirements for agility or dexterity such as hand/eye coordination. Work Environment: The position may at times involve exposure to a work environment that may include intermittent excessive noise, dust, slippery or uneven walking surfaces, working around moving objects or vehicles. The incumbent may also be exposed to infective patients and contaminated materials and may be required to don protective clothing in isolation situations or operative invasive procedures. The incumbent may occasionally be exposed to patients who are combative secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders; Emotional and Mental Stability: The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs. Must complete annual Employee Health requirements, such as annual TB screening or testing, as a condition of employment.

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 Beckley VA Medical Center 200 Veterans Avenue Beckley, WV 25801 US
• Name: James Caine
• Phone: 503-459-2594
• Email: [email protected]