This position serves as the Mental Health Technician that provides technical patient care, personnel, computer, and data management support services for the Nursing Service Mental Health Unit at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System (VASNHS).

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities will include: Perform a wide range of patient personal care, diagnostic services, treatment, and charting activities in a psychiatric or substance abuse treatment unit Assists the interdisciplinary team in the care and treatment of patients receiving medical care for psychiatric or substance abuse treatment, PTSD, and other behavioral health conditions. Observes, collects data, documents, and reports to the professional team changes in patient behavior, attitude, physical complaints, appearance, vital signs and/or changes in the patents' condition that may be related to medications, sensory distortions, or medical conditions. Performs a range of diagnostic support duties such as collecting, recording, and reporting to RN deviations in vital signs/withdrawal symptoms, collecting and labeling specimens for the laboratory. Determines technical factors, sets daily controls, and operates equipment, instruments, and monitors. Uses equipment properly such as vita1 sign machines, EKG, AED etc. Provides detailed instructions and collect data for various procedural tests and the requirements needed to complete the test, that include but not limited to urine drug screening, measurement-based care metrics such as Columbia, GAD?, and PHQ9, EKG, and glucometer and provide results to appropriate team members. Designated Drug-Testing Position: Applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test result is received. Work Schedule: Various, 12 hour shifts Compressed/Flexible: No Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician/PD02602A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/27/2024. 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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: must have knowledge and skill of practical anatomy and physiology, major disease processes, and diagnosis such as various mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and substance abuse and addictions with the skills to manage therapeutic conversations, containment, and recognize withdraw symptoms. The incumbent must have knowledge and skill on procedures and tests such as Electrocardiogram (EKG) machines, Automated External Defibrillator (AED), vital sign machines, glucometer for blood sugar readings, and urine drug screen tests. The incumbent must have the knowledge of secure messaging system, phone systems, Sail metrics, and CPRS and the skill to retrieve, review, and audit data, delegate to appropriate staff, and document in CPRS/patient charts when appropriate. The incumbent must have the knowledge of administrative duties that include Release of Information (ROI), patient scheduling, appointments, admissions, triage with the skill to ensure patients have appropriate ROI and scanned appropriately to patient chart, skill of scheduling, ensuring appointments are correct and timely, and the skill to assist nursing with patient triage. (This experience must be well documented in your resume.) You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and ManagementCustomer ServiceHuman FactorsPatient CareTechnical Documentation 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 regular reoccurring, periods of standing and walking. The duties also require occasional bending and lifting that is 45 pounds or more, reaching, carrying, pushing, stooping, stretching, and similar activities. The incumbent assists in protecting patients' self and other team members from physical harm by hostile and/or confused patients by therapeutically applying physical restraints that may require bending and stretching. The position requires the strength and stamina to perform duties, ability to sit at a desk for long periods of time, look at a computer for long periods of time, walk and stand for 4 hours. Must be able to maintain effective audio, visual discrimination and perception needed for making observations, communicating with others, reading, and writing, and operating office equipment. Must be able to use a telephone to communicate verbally and a keyboard to communicate through written means, to review information and enter/retrieve data, to see and read characters on a computer screen. 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.

Contacts

• Address Las Vegas VA Medical Center 6900 North Pecos Road North Las Vegas, NV 89086 US
• Name: Teresa Inch
• Phone: 702-791-9000 X14898
• Email: [email protected]