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Physician (Medical Officer)

Department of Health and Human Services
Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR)
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Become a Part of NDMS!

Take on a new challenge! Help communities face some of their toughest health challenges when disaster strikes.

Intermittent positions located across the US.

This position is under the Department of Health And Human Services, National Disaster Medical System (NDMS).

When activated with NDMS, you will be protected by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) when you are called to respond to an emergency.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
10/13/2022 to 11/14/2022
Salary
$38.92 to - $50.59 per hour
Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Location
Location Negotiable After Selection, United States
Many vacancies
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
76% or greater - 95% Domestic and 5% International travel
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Intermittent
Work schedule
Intermittent
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Q Access Authorization
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
HHS-NDMS-DH-22-11674756
Control number
682866700

Duties

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Your resume/curriculum vitae must clearly articulate how your skills and experiences align to the criteria defined in the qualifications section of this announcement and it must support your responses to the assessment questionnaire.

This position is located with the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). NDMS supports state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) authorities following disasters and emergencies by supplementing health and medical systems and response capabilities. The HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), in its role as Coordinator of Emergency Support Function 8 (ESF-8), Public Health and Medical Services, of the National Response Framework, employs the NDMS to provide patient care, patient movement, and definitive care, as well as veterinary services, and fatality management support when requested by authorities from states, localities, tribes and territories, or other federal departments. In a disease outbreak, they may provide mass prophylaxis. During a special event, they stand ready to serve in case of an emergency. But no matter what the specific mission is, NDMS teams provide expert patient care that protects individual health and promotes national health security.

Responsible for management and provision of medical care during a mission.

Assures effective safety procedures are implemented in the field.

Oversee the accomplishment of all functions comprising the assigned tasks of a Medical Officer encompassing difficult and diverse functions or issues that affect critical aspects of a major HHS response.

Works closely with other medical providers in training, preparedness and response/recovery operations.

May be assigned a leadership or other Incident Command System (ICS) role during deployment.

Completes all required reports and maintains appropriate records.

Participates in formal debriefing sessions and assist in the development of after-action reports.

The incumbent has the responsibility to plan, schedule and carry out medical activities.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship required
  • All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.
  • Background Investigation is required: Incumbent must undergo and clear a pre-employment fingerprint check and background investigation.
  • Two-year probationary period.
  • Immunizations may be required
  • Males born after December 31, 1959 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service - http://www.sss.gov
  • Documentation that you present for purposes of completing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Form I-9 will be verified through the DHS "E-Verify" System.
  • All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice.
  • Must maintain current, active, full, and unrestricted license or registration as a Physician from a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory of the United States.
  • Must maintain current BLS and ACLS training and certification sponsored or endorsed by the AHA or must maintain current American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) or American Board of Osteopathic Emergency Medicine (ABOEM) certification.
  • Employees are required to obtain and maintain a Government Travel Card
  • Employees must be capable of review and approval by a standardized systematic Credentialing and Privileging process. Failure to do so could result in separation from employment.

Qualifications

During deployments, the work is primarily related to readiness for and deployment for response during the aftermath of a disaster or public health emergency, where work may be field-based, in a tent environment that is remote and austere, caring for sick, injured, dying, or deceased persons. This work requires above average health, physical, and mental conditioning with routine long periods of repetitive walking, bending, lifting, and carrying, such as carrying NDMS equipment or heavy patients on litters. Incumbent must be capable of working in a high-stress, high security, remote, austere, and uncharacterized environment, void of infrastructure and vital services, requiring specific physical demands, such as the ability to lift 50 pounds, and work characteristics that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. For these reasons, employees are required to complete a physical and health screening process, meet and maintain certain physical standards, as well as mental, behavioral, and cognitive competencies. Work may be performed in an office setting or indoor and outdoor field sites, sometimes in adverse weather. During emergency situations, the work environment may be situated in austere conditions and environment in terms of destroyed infrastructure (e.g., food and water, housing, electricity, communications), the presence of endemic diseases, and limited health and sanitation facilities requiring special safety precautions.

Preferred Criteria: Training and/or experience in disaster response.

BASIC QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

To qualify for this position, you must meet the following basic requirements:

Education:

A. Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine or equivalent from a school in the United States or Canada. This degree must have been accredited by the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association ; Association of American Medical Colleges; Liaison Committee on Medical Education; Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation of the American Osteopathic Association, or an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

OR

B. Have a Doctor of Medicine or equivalent degree from a foreign medical school that provided education and medical knowledge substantially equivalent to accredited schools in the United States as demonstrated by permanent certification by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

Degree from Foreign Medical School: Evidence of equivalency to accredited schools in the United States is demonstrated by permanent certification by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), a fifth pathway certificate for Americans who completed premedical education in the United States and graduate education in a foreign country, or successful completion of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination.

Note: A copy of your Physician transcript MUST be submitted with your application to be considered for this position.

Licensure Requirement: Must possess a current, active, full, and unrestricted license or registration as a Physician from a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory of the United States.

Note: A copy of your current Physician license MUST be submitted with your application to be considered for this position.

Graduate Training:
Subsequent to obtaining a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy Medicine degree, all candidates must have had at least 1 year of supervised experience providing direct service in a clinical setting, i.e., a 1-year internship or the first year of a residency program in a hospital or an institution accredited for such training. For purposes of this standard, graduate training programs include only those internship, residency, and fellowship programs that are approved by accrediting bodies recognized within the United States or Canada. Descriptions of such programs are described below:

1. An internship program involves broadly based clinical practice in which physicians acquire experience in treating a variety of medical problems under supervision (e.g., internal medicine, surgery, general practice, obstetrics-gynecology, and pediatrics). Such programs are in hospitals or other institutions accredited for internship training by a recognized body of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) .

2. A residency program involves training in a specialized field of medicine in a hospital or an institution accredited for training in the specialty by a recognized body of the American Medical Association, (AMA) or Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)

3. A fellowship program involves advanced training (beyond residency training) in a given medical specialty in either a clinical or research setting in a hospital, or an institution accredited in the United States for such training.

NOTE: All applicants MUST submit proof of successful completion of an accredited graduate training internship, fellowship, or residency program for verification to be considered for this position.

Additional Requirement:
Must possess and maintain a current Basic Life Support (BLS) AND Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) training and certification that is sponsored or endorsed by the American Heart Association (AHA)

OR

Must possess and maintain a current American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) certification.

OR

Must possess and maintain a current American Board of Osteopathic Emergency Medicine (ABOEM) certification

NOTE: Current Advanced Life Support or other advanced certification does not supersede BLS or ACLS completion. A copy of your current BLS AND ACLS certification OR ABEM OR ABOEM Certification MUST be submitted with your application to be considered for this position.

Trauma and Critical Care Team (TCCT): Physicians must have demonstrable proficiency in caring for unstable patients requiring mechanical ventilation, invasive monitoring, continuous hemodynamic support, and other specialized interventions.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
In addition to the above basic qualification requirements, applicants must meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-13 Grade Level:

3 years of graduate training in the specialty of the position to be filled or equivalent experience and training making medical operational decisions during high stress emergencies; providing medical direction, advice, and support for the delivery of quality medical care and supporting medical operations by providing medical consultation and technical assistance.

NOTE: The Physician experience described above must be fully demonstrated in your resume/curriculum vitae must clearly articulate how your skills and experiences align to the criteria defined in the qualifications section of this announcement and it must support your responses to the assessment questionnaire.

OPM Qualification General Policies Website

Education

Degree: Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine or equivalent from a school in the United States or Canada. This degree must have been accredited by the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association; Association of American Medical Colleges; Liaison Committee on Medical Education ; Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation of the American Osteopathic Association, or an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained.

Degree from Foreign Medical School: A Doctor of Medicine or equivalent degree from a foreign medical school must provide education and medical knowledge equivalent to accredited schools in the United States. Evidence of equivalency to accredited schools in the United States is demonstrated by permanent certification by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, a fifth pathway certificate for Americans who completed premedical education in the United States and graduate education in a foreign country, or successful completion of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination.

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 Recognition of Foreign Qualifications (ed.gov)

Additional information

Federal agencies may request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

NDMS does NOT allow DUAL FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT which applies to current full-time federal employees. (this does not apply to contractors for the federal government).

NDMS intermittent employees serve on a rotational on-call schedule and deploy as intermittent federal employees when ASPR activates them in a declared federal emergency response or as part of a national special security event. A response mission is typically up to 14 days with a possibility of a short extension, based on the mission. Team members must be committed to staying at the disaster site for up to two weeks.

Employees must be capable of review and approval by a standardized systematic Credentialing and Privileging process. If credentials and privileges are not obtained or maintained during employment, the employee will be subject to adverse actions, up to and including, removal from Federal service. If required, applicants must be able to fulfill credentialing requirements and obtain and maintain appropriate/relevant clinical privileges.

Mandatory trainings: Yes
Physical health requirements: Yes
Travel and transportation expenses: No
Bargaining Unit Position: No
Drug Screening Required: No
Recruitment incentives may be authorized: No
Student loan repayment incentive may be authorized: No
Annual leave for non-federal service may be authorized: No

For information on "People with Disabilities" please visit OPM.gov

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If you are unable to apply online, please go to Alternate Application Information for more information on our alternate application method.

In accordance with Executive Order 12564 of September 14, 1986, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is A Drug-Free Federal Workplace. The use of illegal drugs, on or off duty, by Federal employees is inconsistent not only with the law-abiding behavior expected of all citizens, but also with the special trust placed in such employees as servants of the public.

Following a Presidential Declared Disaster, a Public Health Emergency declared by the Secretary of HHS, or a designated augmented mission requirement, the incumbent may be required to work irregular work schedules (evenings, nights, and weekends) and work hours could be extended at critical times. During actual emergency responses and exercises, the incumbent may be required to work for extended periods of time under austere and highly stressful conditions; may be required to remain on-call 24 hours per day, seven days per week. During training and deployment, work may require lifting and carrying heavy equipment, supplies, and using flights of stairs when elevators are not operating. The incumbent may be required to travel on short notice to disaster areas with only minimal comforts, including requirements to eat military-style rations (such as Meals, Ready to Eat (MRE) due to limited or no access to commercially available food. Extended and frequent travel may be required and will be governed by the need for the incumbent to fully cover all emergency preparedness responsibilities (i.e. disasters, meetings, exercises, etc.). This travel may depend upon the number and type of events or emergencies that may occur.

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.

Your application package (resume or curriculum vitae, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine your eligibility and qualifications for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully.

In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

Part-Time or Unpaid Experience:
Credit will be given for appropriate unpaid and/or part-time work this may include clinical rotations. You must clearly identify the duties and responsibilities in each position or clinical rotation held and the total number of hours worked per week.

Volunteer Work Experience: Refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service Programs (i.e., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student and social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge and skills that can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience including volunteer experience.

Substitution of Experience for Residency Training: Experience may not be substituted for residency training that is essential for the performance of specialized duties. For example, specialists such as psychiatrists and surgeons must complete the number of years of accredited residency training required in their respective specialties.

Your responses to the questionnaire may be compared to the documents you submit. The documents you submit must support your responses to the online questionnaire. If your application contradicts or does not support your questionnaire responses, you will receive a rating of "not qualified" or "insufficient information" and you will not receive further consideration for this job.

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your consideration for employment. Applicants who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further.

Qualified candidates will be referred for consideration in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management direct hire guidelines.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

Basic Requirement
Minimum Qualification

NOTE: This vacancy will be filled through OPM's Direct Hire Authority. Veterans' Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants do not apply to positions filled under this announcement. Please click here for more information on OPM's Authorization of Direct Hire authority"

To preview the assessment questionnaire, click the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11674756

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