You will serve as a Health Technician for the Nursing Service's Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (MHRRTP) with the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Washington. The program has a 64-bed residential facility which operates an 18-bed homeless program, a 20-bed residential substance abuse program, 18-bed PTSD programs, and 8-beds for the Restorative Pain program. Recruitment or Relocation Incentive: May be authorized for highly qualified candidate.

Duties

Perform diagnostic support duties such as taking, reporting, and recording vital signs. Obtain laboratory specimens and prepare them for transport. Arrange and pass medical instruments or supplies to medical provider or registered nurse during procedures such as dressing changes, wound care, nail care/clipping, foot care, and post-operative patient care. Monitor patients, identify, and document any changes, and report any concerns to the medical provider and treatment team members. Perform direct patient care activities including intakes, breathalyzers, obtaining vital signs, 12-lead EKGs, educational reminders, medication reconciliation, and any other procedures requested by the medical provider. Adhere to safety and infection control procedures. Initiates first aid and basic life support in the event of an emergency such as cardio-pulmonary failure or distress, hemorrhaging, or shock. Provides crisis intervention in medical, psychiatric, or behavioral situations. Recognize signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and those at high risk. Recognize the signs of suicide and promptly takes action to intervene by providing emotional support, encouragement, and escort to a medical provider. Perform other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday. 7:30 am to 4:00 pm OR 3:30 pm to 12:00 am. Tour of duty will be discussed during interview process. Position Description Title/PD#: Health Technician/PD41369A Recruitment / Relocation Incentives: May be authorized. Physical Requirements: Overall duties require occasional lifting, carrying 50+ lbs., sitting, standing, walking, climbing stairs, climbing ladders, kneeling, bending, stooping, twisting, pulling/pushing, simple grasping, and reaching above shoulder. Conditions may also include heat, cold, excess humidity, work with chemicals, dust, noise, driving a vehicle, fire manipulation. Work Conditions: The work is performed both in the milieu providing medical/psychiatric care directly to patients in public use spaces and offices. The employee performs independent work with Veterans in the exam rooms, nursing station, medication room, group rooms, in vehicles, and outdoors both on and off grounds. Special health and safety precautions such as the use of personal protective equipment are required. The employee regularly conducts inspections, supervises building cleanup, and may be required to make rounds throughout the medical center including hospital buildings, dining hall, etc. Depending on training needs, the employee may need to attend trainings outside of the MHRRTP buildings which will primarily be located at the main VA facility, clinic or in the surrounding community.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
• Subject to a background/suitability investigation
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• May serve a probationary period
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• A complete application package; Resume, Transcripts, etc
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• The Selected Applicant must pass an initial pre-employment medical examination and an annual medical examination.
• 5 CFR § 330.502 - General restriction on movement after competitive appointment applies.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. 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-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. 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. Preferred Experience: Ideal candidate would have 1-2 years Emergency Department work experience or military Medic, or Corpsman experience or 6 months Phlebotomy experience. GS-05 grade level: 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: Assists medical and nursing staff through technical and specialized support services which aids in the diagnosis or treatment of patients; Performs clinical, laboratory, and administrative work in support of the inpatient services; Takes vital signs of human patients; obtains laboratory specimens and prepares them for transport by labeling and sealing within biohazard bags; Performs Urine Drug Screens to determine illicit substances used by human patients; Arranges and passes medical instruments or supplies to medical provider or registered nurse during procedures such as dressing changes, wound care, nail care/clipping, foot care, and post-operative patient care management; Gathers diagnostic information for medical providers by monitoring patients using specialized machines including continuous pulse oximetry monitoring, point of care whole blood glucose testing, orthostatic blood pressure monitoring, halter monitoring, and 12-lead EKG; Educates patients on the use of medical devices such as TENS units, CPAP machines, BPAP machines, nebulizers, and splints. 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. OR EDUCATION (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Have successfully completed a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. This education must have been obtained in an accredited school, junior college, college, or university. One year of full-time academic 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. OR COMBINATION: EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Have a combination of specialized experience as described in A but less than one year, and I have some education more than the first 60 semester hours (i.e., beyond the second year) is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours) beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience. I have computed the percentage of these requirements that I meet, and the total is at least 100%. (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.) 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.

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.

Contacts

• Address VA Puget Sound Health Care System 1660 South Columbian Way Seattle, WA 98108 US
• Name: Christian Sheehy
• Phone: 253-583-1445
• Email: [email protected]