This position is located in the Nutrition and Food Service of the VA Medical Center in Temple, TX. The Health Technician (Dietetics) - NFC Ambassador provides administrative and customer service support for the VA hospital food service program.

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities will include: Handling patient meal service orders in person or by answering patient calls using phone system; Entering meal orders into a Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Dietetics Software system; Interacting with Veterans, dietitians, nursing staff, and other medical center employees; Providing excellent customer service, acting professional and courteous at all times; Collaborating with Dietitians regarding Food/Drug Interactions, notifying clinical staff of potential issues with meal service and delivery; Receiving patient meal orders and preferences, meal and nourishment requests from nursing, clinical staff, and other members of the interdisciplinary team; Following local-facility policies and standard procedures for patient feeding, including but not limited to missed patient meals, late tray requests, patient meal ordering, and adherence to prescribed therapeutic diet; Taking whatever action necessary, within authority, to maximize patient satisfaction with meal service; Printing, preparing, and reviewing meal tickets according to local facility procedures; Completing select and non-select menus as required; Triaging calls from inpatient units or outpatient clinics and procedure areas relating to patient meal trays or nourishments at the lowest level and will refer issues that cannot be resolved to Food Service Supervisor or other as determined by local policy; Retrieving computerized information/printouts to assist with tray and/or nourishment assembly such as standing orders, nourishment labels, tabulated recipe lists, and other simple information to assist in meal delivery; Providing education and information on local facility therapeutic diets to patients, guests, and nursing staff; Completing quality monitors to ensure food items and menu selections for regular and therapeutic diets are prepared and served appropriately (i.e. accuracy, timeliness, appearance, and temperature, dysphagia food testing); Assisting patients in selection of the proper foods according to their individual diet; Performing clerical and administrative duties in support of the service; Performing related duties as required. 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. Work Schedule: 5:30 am - 2: pm, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, or 10:00 am - 6:30 pm, days off and tour rotates every 28 days Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (Dietetic)/PD99855S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized 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, 07/19/2024. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-3: Experience: At least six (6) months of general experience that demonstrates the ability to perform the work of the position or that provided a familiarity with the nutrition/dietary subject matter and/or processes of this Health Technician (Dietetic) position. Experience may have included documenting dietary information; able to use computer equipment, phone systems, printers, etc.; following verbal and written instructions. This position requires effective communication skills both verbally and in writing and good customer service. OR Education: Successful completion of one (1) year of study that included study in medical, health or other 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. (Transcripts required) OR Combination: An equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education and experience, as described above, which meet the total qualification requirements for this grade level. This education must have been obtained at an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. (Transcripts required) GS-4: Experience: At least six (6) months of specialize experience and six (6) months of general experience that has given you the particular knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of this Health Technician (Dietetic) position. Specialized experience includes documenting dietary/nutrition information and updating patient records; knowledge of tray assembly area procedures; using dietetics software programs; following verbal and written instructions; and using computer equipment, phone system, and printers. This position requires effective communication skills both verbally and in writing and good customer service. General Experience is any type of work that demonstrates the ability to perform the work of the position or which provides a familiarity with the nutrition environment. OR Education: Successful completion of two (2) years of study that included at least 12 semester hours in subjects directly related to this position A bachelor's degree or four (4) years of education above the high school level with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position (i.e. nutrition, dietary therapy, food and nutrition science, food service systems management, etc.). 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. (Transcripts required) OR Combination: An equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education (beyond the first year) and specialized experience, as described above, which meet the total qualification requirements for this grade level. This education must have been obtained at an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university. (Transcripts required) GS-5: Experience: One (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-04) in the Federal Service that has given me the particular knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of this Health Technician (Dietetic) position. Specialized experience includes performing duties in food service in a hospital environment; knowledge of tray assembly area procedures; using dietetics software programs; familiarity with regular and modified diets; assisting with food selections; following verbal and written instructions; and using computer equipment, phone system, and printers. This position requires effective communication skills both verbally and in writing and good customer service. OR, Education: A bachelor's degree or 4 years of education above the high school level with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position (medical, health, etc.). 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. Transcripts required. OR, Combination: An equivalent combination of specialized experience and post-high school education as described that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position. For the GS-05, only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours may be used to combine with experience. Transcripts required, and experience must be detailed in your resume to receive credit. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Computer SkillsCustomer Service (Clerical/Technical)Food Service 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: The work requires walking, standing, bending, lifting and carrying of light items, such as food trays, instruction materials, books, and manuals. NCC Associate functions require long periods of sitting and moving about in an office environment, including repetitive motion activities of the hands and fingers for extensive keyboard and computer mouse use, and office tasks such as answering and holding a telephone phone, and writing. The work may require walking indoors, outdoors or to and from other areas of the medical center. It may be necessary to lift and/or push equipment. The employee is subject to periods continuous standing, sitting, walking and frequent stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending. Frequently lifts or moves objects weighing up to 20 pounds and pushing loaded carts of trays and/or nourishments. Work is performed in a hospital and involves some exposure to contagious diseases. The employee must observe ergonomics pertaining to working in an office setting with electrical and stationary equipment. Employee must be alert to wet floors, gas, steam, electrical equipment, and general safety precautions including correct lifting techniques in all potential work areas. Discomfort may exist due to changes in temperature and/or humidity. Standard precautions may necessitate the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in situations of potential exposure. 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

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 VA Central Texas Health Care System 1901 Veterans Memorial Drive Temple, TX 76504 US
• Name: VISN 17 SSU USAS Group
• Email: [email protected]