Clarification from the agency

First consideration will be given to current, permanent employees at the Oklahoma City VA Health Care System and those CTAP/ICTAP eligible.

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Major duties include but not limited to:

• Performs ongoing patient care duties in the Emergency Department.
• Performs observation-based screening and collecting patient information in collaboration with licensed personnel.
• Assists in behavioral/psychiatric situations in an emergency setting.
• Assists ED licensed personnel with the delivery of care to patients with complex, specialized, and potentially life-threatening situations.
• Assists with airway management using bag-valve-mask (BVM), oral airway or nasal airway.
• Provides support, relief, and coverage as needed to central station telemetry.
• Performs clinical responsibilities including but not limited to:
  • - Vital signs. Examples: vital signs, 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG). - Point-of-care (POC). Examples: Abbott hand-held blood analyzer (I-STAT), glucometer. - Equipment and surgical instrumentation set up . Examples: chest tube insertion, filling water chambers, handing instruments in a sterile field, and hooking up to suction when ordered . - Observations and interventions. Examples: oxygen therapy and splinting. - Wound care. Examples: bandaging, application of dressings and wound measurements. - Specimen collection and Preparation. Examples: collecting and labeling venous blood samples and mucous specimens. - Geriatric-specific care. Example: screening for depression, elder abuse, consults, phone follow-up, in-person follow-up and assisting with ambulation, fall prevention. - Assisting with patient exams and screening. Examples: gynecology exams, Brief Confusion Assessment Method (bCAM) screening. - Patient transport. Examples: Can transport patients without cardiac monitor. Assists licensed clinical professionals with patients who need continues cardiac monitoring, to and from diagnostic tests or admissions, and outpatient campus response teams. - Cardiovascular monitoring. Examples: central station or bedside cardiac monitoring.
• Responds to medical emergencies on the facility grounds, and sometimes encounters situations which may be life threatening as part of the Rapid Response Team (RRT), Code Blue, or medical transport team.
• Participates in the triage process by assisting with patient transport, obtaining vital signs, performing screens, gathering pertinent health history, medication history, and information about the chief complaint and communicates findings to appropriate clinical staff.
• Conducts or assists with the training of personnel in CPR, and advanced emergency medical care techniques if appropriately trained, certified and/or qualified, for example: facility formal preceptors and BLS instructors. Can conduct or assist with stand-downs, community health programs, health-care screenings, and immunizations.
• May be members of hospital-wide committees to enhance emergency care for Veterans.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Varies based on the needs of the service.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Intermediate Care Technician/PDS0031A
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• 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
• 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

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/25/2023.

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.


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 would typically include, but are not limited to: knowledge of the major body systems, i.e., skeletal, muscular, nervous, respiratory, circulatory, digestive and genitourinary, to perform patient examination and to provide prompt and efficient patient care and appropriate patient handling, knowledge of topographic anatomy, e.g., right/left, surface, proximal/distal, superior, inferior, to accurately transmit location information about the body, knowledge of diagnostic signs, e.g., pulse, respiration, blood pressure, temperature, skin color, pupils of the eyes, state of consciousness, ability to move on command, reaction to pain, etc., to complete any/all questioners and templates in support of the patient evaluation, to provide patient care, and to ensure appropriate patient mobility and handling, knowledge of medications (their uses, doses, side effects, adverse effects and toxicity signs) sufficient to properly administer drugs even when directed to do so by the licensed staff, knowledge of proper dosages required in keeping with method of administration, skill in emergency techniques to determine the approach that will most effectively sustain the patient's life, skill in emergency communication techniques and the operation of communications equipment to be able to accurately obtain and relay information to and from health care providers, knowledge sufficient to understand the legal considerations of emergency care, e.g., actual/implied consent, Good Samaritan laws, Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), etc. to limit exposure to lawsuits, while maintaining the legal standards of care.
• ~OR
• Education: Applicants may used education as a substitution for experience. One full year of graduate education meets the requirements for GS-7. Education courses must be related to specialized experience listed for the Intermediate Care Technician.

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

• Critical Thinking
• Emergency Care
• Specimen Collection

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 and Work Environment:
The work requires a level of physical fitness that allows for standing for extended periods, heavy lifting to position patients, and manual dexterity to perform clinical procedures. The work will require recurrent bending, lifting, stooping, standing, squatting, stretching, sitting and walking.
On a regular and recurring basis, employee is exposed to infection and contagious diseases requiring the use of universal precautions. As part of an emergency response or transport team the incumbent may be exposed to all types of weather conditions, and face risks and discomforts at the scene of accidents, to include the possibility of noxious fumes and dangerous substances, requiring the employee to comply with special safety and health precautions and/or to use protective gear.

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.