This position is in the Nutrition and Food Service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The Health Technician (Dietetic) provides administrative and customer service support for the hospital food service program.

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities include: Handles patient meal service orders, and enters meal orders into Dietetics Software system Provides professional and courteous customer service via telephone, e-mail, and in-person Collaborates with Dietitians regarding Food/Drug Interactions, notifying clinical staff of potential issues with meal service and delivery Interprets and processes diet orders Prints, prepares, and reviews meal tickets Triages calls from inpatient units or outpatient clinics and procedure areas relating to patient meal trays or nourishments Retrieves 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 Provides basic-level education and information on therapeutic diets Correctly interprets diet activity and patient information, to ensure meals trays contain food items adhering to patient requests and preferences, and current therapeutic diet order Communicates patient concerns with registered dietitian or dietetic technician Verifies physician orders for unusual diets, conflicting modifications, tube feeding orders and nutritional supplements Uses a computer to record, retrieve and print recipes, menus, and inventory reports Performs other related duties as assigned The incumbent will practice excellent customer service skills in all forms of communication, either via telephone, e-mail or in-person. The incumbent must also practice proper business telephone etiquette while answering the phone. When communicating with customers, incumbent will be pleasant, friendly, personable, and professional. Responsible for the independent and accurate transfer of information received via COTS Dietetics software. Diet activity and patient information must be interpreted correctly to ensure meals trays contain food items adhering to patient requests and preferences, and current therapeutic diet order. The NCC Associate may adjust diet patterns and menu selections to assure the correct meal tickets are generated, as per local facility policy and procedures. Prints lists, reports, labels, and tray tickets following the established local facility procedures. CCA runs nourishment labels, reports, prints back-up copies of reports and labels for contingency plans, and checks telephone messages. NCC Associate may be required to adjust menu selections, nourishments as needed for diet changes and NPO orders, as determined by local policies and procedures. Incumbent will use a computer terminal to record, retrieve and print recipes, menus, and inventory reports; to disseminate this information to various work units in the kitchen. Prints and assembles tray ticket packets in accordance with local facility policies and procedures and verifies correctness of the information and adherence to prescribed diet NCC Associate may discuss with diet technician and/or dietitian any adjustments of tray tickets, standing orders or supplemental feedings. Verifies physician orders for unusual diets, conflicting modifications, and nutritional supplements with the appropriate RD, informatics RD, or FSSM. NCC Associate completes performance improvement activities as assigned by supervisor and conducts menu review with NFS personnel prior to meal service.Completes all other duties as assigned. 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: Full-Time Hours: 6:00a-2:30p and 10:30a-7:00p; Part-Time Hours: 6:00a-11:00a, 9:00a-2:00p, and 2:00p-7:00p. Compressed/Flexible: Not Eligible Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (Dietetic)/PD99855S and PD99855S

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/05/2024. 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-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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, in person and via telephone with people from a wide variety of backgrounds while maintaining good public relations and high level of customer service; Ability to organize work, analyzes data, and work under time constraints. Ability to work effectively as a team member; incumbent must have thorough knowledge and understanding of regular and all modified diets in order to ensure that Veterans are selecting food items that are in accordance of their prescribed diet. Must be able to assist with food selections and review appropriateness of menu selections for complex diets and diet combinations such as, but not limited to, consistent carbohydrate, renal, dysphagia, thickened liquids, fluid restrictions, cardiac, and restricted sodium; Incumbent performs independently and identifies problems in diet order information and takes appropriate corrective action. Refers unusual or complicated problems to the appropriate Nutrition and Food Service staff as deemed by local policy. Performs routine work on own initiative. Work is reviewed for accuracy, quality, and compliance with established procedures. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successful completion of 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. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond high school education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationComputer SkillsCustomer ServiceFood 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. 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address WG Bill Hefner Salisbury VA Medical Center 1601 Brenner Avenue Salisbury, NC 28144 US
• Name: Hunter Akers
• Email: [email protected]