Summary: The Phoenix VA Health Care System is recruiting for a Lead Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). This position is within the Audiology and Speech Language Pathology Service and the duties and responsibilities are carried out throughout the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center, including outpatient clinical and other inpatient care areas involved with the service.

Duties

The incumbent conducts a full range of speech, language, voice, and swallowing diagnostic evaluations and rehabilitative treatment. In addition, the speech-language pathologist program manager ensures that work assignments of the other members of a clinical team are carried out by performing a range of administrative duties. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Develops coherent treatment strategies. Incorporates new clinical procedures sufficient to perform clinical services independently. Identifies, defines, evaluates, diagnoses, and treats disorders of human communication and swallowing associated with, but not limited to, speech, language processing, swallowing, and feeding function, and cognitive aspects of communication. Determines the appropriateness of rehabilitative and/or compensatory technologies (e.g., voice prostheses, augmentative and alternative communication [AAC] devices, electronic cognitive devices); documents medical justification; and, orients and trains patients and caregivers on their effective use. Provides culturally appropriate services to modify or enhance communication performance (e.g., accent modification, transgendered voice, care and improvement of the professional voice, personal/professional communication effectiveness). Educates and counsels Veterans, families, caregivers, co-workers, educators, and other persons in the community regarding acceptance, adaptation, and decision-making about disorders associated with the practice of Speech-Language Pathology. Functions as a team leader and is responsible for ensuring that work assignments of the other members of the clinical team are carried out by performing a range of duties such as distributing and balancing workload among employees in accordance with established workflow or job specialization. Monitors and reports on status and progress of work, evaluate program quality to ensure that methods, deadlines and quality have been met; and makes adjustments to accomplish the workload in accordance with established priorities. Serve as coach and facilitator in coordinating program or team initiatives and consensus building activities among clinical team members with widely divergent backgrounds, interest, and points of view. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:00 am to 3:30 pm Telework: ADHOC, may be available with supervisory approval. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 0000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

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. Education and Experience: A master's degree, or its equivalent, in speech-language pathology, communication disorders or a directly related field from an accredited college or university and one year of creditable experience. OR A doctoral degree in speech-language pathology, communication disorders and sciences or a related field, from an accredited college or university. Licensure: Individuals must hold a full, current and unrestricted license in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth or the District of Columbia. Non-licensed applicants who otherwise meet the eligibility requirements for SLP licensure may be appointed to a temporary position as a graduate SLP under the authority of 38 U.S.C. § 7405 (c)(2). Individuals appointed as graduate SLPs may not be promoted to the GS-12 level without being fully licensed. English Language Proficiency. SLP candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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: Lead Speech Language Pathologist GS-13 Experience/Licensure: In addition to the basic requirements, you must complete one year of professional experience comparable to the next lower level and possess a full, current and unrestricted license to practice speech-language pathology. In addition to meeting the experience and licensure requirements, you must demonstrate all of the following Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Skill in coordinating team initiatives and building consensus among clinical team members with divergent backgrounds, interests and points of view. Ability to direct the work of others to accomplish program goals and missions. Ability to evaluate program quality to ensure that speech-language pathology practice is consistent with evidence-based practice. Ability to communicate effectively with staff, professionals in other services and leadership to convey speech-language pathology program goals and status. Assignment: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Lead SLPs will lead three or more SLPs to accomplish the work through the application of leadership, team building skills, group facilitation, coaching and integration of work products and processes. SLP team leads at this level ensure that the assignments of the clinical team are carried out in accordance with policies and procedures of the medical center and principles of contemporary and evidence-based clinical practice. SLPs with this assignment monitor and report on the status and progress of the team's work and make appropriate adjustments to ensure high quality and timely completion of the assigned workload. SLP team leads provide input to the service chief, section chief or supervisory SLP regarding personnel, productivity or other program management issues. Preferred Experience: Strong preference for experience with instrumental evaluation of dysphagia (ex: MBS/FEES). Experience with the assessment and treatment of neurodegenerative disease strongly preferred. At least 3 years of acute care experience also preferred. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 pounds); light carrying (under 15 pounds); straight pulling (2 hours); reaching above shoulder; walking (2 hours);long hours of standing; repeated bending (2 hours); near vision corrected to 13" to 16"; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and 20/40 in the other; and hearing (aid permitted).

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 Carl T Hayden Veterans' Administration Medical Center 650 East Indian School Road Phoenix, AZ 85012 US
• Name: Jazmine Salido
• Phone: 505-767-6022
• Email: [email protected]