This position is an outpatient provider within the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services (PM&RS) Program at the Butler VA Health Care System. The incumbent provides advanced outpatient assessments and treatment for Veterans with varying degrees of highly complex occupational upper extremity physical dysfunction. The incumbent provides these evaluations & clinical rehabilitations services within all settings of the Butler VA Health Care System.

Duties

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8-00 am - 4:30 pm. Major Duties: Demonstrates a full professional understanding of occupational therapy (OT) principles and techniques consistent with current clinical standards based on OT theory and evidence based practice. Develop and implement the occupational therapy program for patients with a variety of hand injuries, upper limb trauma, inflammation, repetitive motion disorder and reconstruction procedures. Choose appropriate evaluation tools that are consistent with post surgical needs, client diagnosis, history, and subjective complaints; identifies impairments, identifies signs and symptoms that substantially impact treatments and outcomes and integrates finding into plan of care, consulting with other disciplines and referring practitioners as appropriate. Implement treatment plans that may include therapeutic exercise, muscle reeducation, neuromuscular facilitation, perceptual motor integration, fabrication, and application of devices for daily living, teaching adaptive or compensatory techniques for community access and work activities, and providing patient and caregiver education regarding disability. Assists patient in solving problems associated with their environment. Interprets findings and educate patients and families about disease process, purpose of treatment, and patient's rights and responsibilities to improve compliance with treatment. Teach exercises and movements to prevent occurrence or to listen impact of restrictions and deformities. Instruct patients regardless regarding limitations of the muscle and bones following surgery or impairment to educate and clearly explain complicated concepts in simple terms. Establishes intervention priorities, determines prognosis and specific further assessment needs, the need for continuing, modifying, or discontinuing therapy services, and determining specific tasks that can be delegated to the OTA. Recommend additional consultations or resources when the needs of the patient is better served by the expertise of other professionals or services. Provides direct clinical guidance and training to other Occupational Therapists. Provides consultation to other health care practitioners and outside groups about the scope of practice for an OT clinical specialist. Provides OT coverage to other clinics, Community Living Centers (CLC) and CBOC as assigned. Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All 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.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

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: To meet this requirement, you must have obtained one of the requirements below: a) Bachelor's degree in occupational therapy and two (2) years of experience as an occupational therapist; NOTE: The baccalaureate degree must be from an approved program prior to the AOTA January 1, 2005 decision that the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) would only accredit master or doctoral degree programs in occupational therapy. OR b) Bachelor's degree in occupational therapy and two (2) full years of graduate education in a related field; NOTE: The baccalaureate degree must be from an approved program prior to the AOTA January 1, 2005 decision that ACOTE would only accredit master or doctoral degree programs in occupational therapy. OR c) Master's Degree or higher in occupational therapy. Certification: Candidates must possess a current NBCOT certification as an OT. State Licensure: Candidates must possess] a full, current, and unrestricted state license, to practice occupational therapy in a state, territory or Commonwealth of the United States (i.e., Puerto Rico), or in the District of Columbia. 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). GS-13 Occupational Therapist (Clinical Specialist) Grade Determinations: In addition to meeting the basic requirements you must have one (1) year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. Examples of these duties include; using critical analysis, clinical reasoning and creativity to independently solve complex problems which may require adapting and modifying assessments, treatment plans, activities and procedures to meet the needs of patients. Evaluates patients needs as to appropriate for diagnosis to determine current levels of functioning. Develops and implements the occupational therapy programs for patients with a variety of hand injuries, upper limb trauma, inflammation, repetitive motion disorders, and reconstructive procedures. Interprets findings and educates patients and families about diseases process, purpose of treatment, and patient's rights and responsibilities to improve compliance with treatment. A minimum of 2,000 hours of clinical practice directly in the advance practice area. This time must be within the past five years. Certification in an area recognized by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). Knowledge Skills and Abilities: In addition meeting the experience above, you must demonstrate that you meet all of the following KSAs: Knowledge of contemporary occupational therapy across multiple areas of practice. Ability to provide clinical guidance in the advanced practice area to other OT practitioners. Knowledge of advanced specialized evaluation, interventions and services to independently develop treatment strategies for area of specialization. Skill in developing protocols and procedures for intervention programs based on current occupational therapy theory, recent research, and practice. Ability to provide consultation to other health care practitioners and outside groups about occupational therapy scope of practice for area of specialization. Ability to implement, revise/update evidence based occupational therapy services and programming in area of specialization. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

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 VA Butler Healthcare 353 North Duffy Road Butler, PA 16001 US
• Name: Maurice Covington
• Phone: (412) 822-3542
• Email: [email protected]