Clarification from the agency

Open to current, permanent federal employees, Veterans, Former federal employees eligible for reinstatement, CTAP and ICTAP, Military Spouses and individuals with disabilities.

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Procedure Assistance Duties & Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Assists surgical specialty clinic procedures in clinics such as: ENT, Vascular including ABI Clinic, Wound, Plastics, Orthopedics, Podiatry, GYN, Urology, General Surgery, and Ophthalmology.
• Performs Vital signs, rooms patients, biopsies, vision and pressure checks, wound graphs, toenail clippings, sizing for compression stockings, sets up for minor procedures, catheter changes, and post residual void scans.
• Sets up sterile field with all required items for each procedure and ensure they remain sterile during the procedure.
• Assures that all supplies and equipment are available prior to the procedure.
• Prepares, organizes, and maintains procedure setups.
• Observes and responds promptly to each stage of the surgical specialty clinic procedure and anticipates the needs of the provider by maintaining a high level of concentration by remaining with the provider during the procedure.
• Utilizes universal precautions and follows all infection control policies and procedures when handling specimens, supplies and equipment.

Surgical Scheduling Duties & Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Performs a range of administrative support duties such as scheduling patients for surgery within the DSS software to secure an OR slot, completing questionnaire related to preoperative health conditions.
• Ensures patient is aware of preoperative orders that providers have entered and timeline for completion.
• Coordinates preoperative testing, results, and ensuring that no operating room time is lost due to patient not being prepared for surgery.
• Enters DSS surgery orders
• Communicates with patient regarding their schedule and regarding surgery time availability
• Assists with completing surgery anesthesia questionnaire and sending to pre anesthesia
• Provides instruction and timeline for proper completion of preoperative testing and appointments
• Ensures all preoperative testing is received and in the system before the surgery date
• Escalates any abnormal testing to the ordering provider for further testing or surgery schedule arrangements.
• Performs other related duties as assigned by the Nurse Manager Surgical Specialty Clinic, Charge Nurse or designee.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 am to 4:00 pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (OA)/PD02088-O

Conditions of employment

• 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
• You may be required to serve a probationary/trial period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/30/2025.

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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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.

Individual Occupational Requirements

Specialized Experience (for positions at GS-4 and above): Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists. Therefore, technician experience is experience that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled.

OR

Education and Training

For GS-3: Successful completion of l year of study that included study in medical, health, or related fields.

For GS-4: Successful completion of 2 years of study that included at least 12 semester hours in subjects related to the position.

For GS-5: 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.

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-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience includes:

• Knowledge of highly technical surgical instruments, human anatomy, physiology, and aseptic technique to prepare and protect the sterile field during Clinic Procedures;
• Knowledge of sterile technique, must include ability to determine the effectiveness of sterilization, package storage, and shelf life. Also includes the proper cleaning techniques, as well as the proper handling and rotation of sterile supplies, handling of contaminated items, quality control, and personal hygiene;
• Knowledge of universal precautions and know how to implement infection control policies and procedures;
• Ability to prepare for surgical procedures, you must have sufficient knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and protocol to select the correct instruments for a procedure, anticipate the needs of the surgeon during the procedure, and on a regular and recurrent basis recognize and respond to a variety of critical situations, including emergency and life-threatening conditions;
• Technical knowledge on the use and effects of anesthesia to recognize the hazards of anesthetic agents and to recognize and respond to adverse conditions during the procedure;
• Knowledge of operation and function of all Surgical Specialty Clinic instruments and equipment, testing procedures to assure all equipment works, and proper postoperative decontamination procedures;
• Ability to prepare instruments for sterilization and the proper sterilization methods for them, i.e. steam, steered or cold sterilization;
• Knowledge and ability in proper storage of instruments and supplies to maintain their sterility;
• Knowledge of proper patient positioning depending on the types of procedure, be able to provide emotional support to patients, and be able to recognize adverse reactions when he/she assists with procedures;
• Knowledge of medical terminology and ability to understand written requests and provide proper documentation of procedures;
• Knowledge about and thoroughly understand the concepts and applicability of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations (JCAHO), Occupation Safety Health and Administration (OSHA), and VA safety and occupational health regulations to assure compliance with applicable regulations;
• Skilled in communication in order to interact with physicians, co-workers, patients, patient's families. manufacturer representatives, and other medical center personnel.

OR

Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have One full year of graduate education. Graduate education or an internship meets the specialized experience required in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended.

Preferred Experience:

• 2 years Health Technician experience in outpatient clinic
• Surgical and clinical experience;
• Electronic Medical record experience
• Specimen collection, vital signs, and setting up sterile field

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Clinical Data Collection/Documentation
• Patient Care
• Technical Competence

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: Duties regularly require providing manual assistance in lifting and positioning patients. There are extensive periods of regular and recurring standing, walking, bending, lifting, pushing, reaching, and prolonged stretching to provide easy accessibility of instruments and supplies for the surgeon. Incumbent must be dexterous in passing instruments to providers without compromising principles of aseptic or septic technique and in a manner requiring little or no effort from the provider.

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/.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.