Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. External Applicants apply to CBTC-12840359-26-RVM.

Videos

Duties Include:

• Serves as an assistant to perform ancillary testing oversight duties that comply with the policies, procedures, and accreditation documentation and monitoring requirements of the Ancillary Testing Quality Management Program.
• Assists the ATC with the maintenance of quality control documentation, records control, proficiency testing, linearity testing, entering patient results, operator identification, training, and competency monitoring.
• Assists with preparation for CAP inspection and accreditation for ancillary testing on a hospital and CBOC testing to ensure safe and accurate laboratory testing of patients is maintained.
• Works with the ATC in assuring that all the ancillary testing sites meet the standards for accreditation of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and The Joint Commission.
• Assesses data and data collection procedures, identifies quality monitors and indicators, and reviews all data analyzed with the ATC.
• Performs statistical analysis (variations, standard deviation, and trend analysis) on quality control and test data collected to identify and document problems with instruments or methodology.
• Initiates corrective action to resolve quality control or testing problems and documents all steps resulting in the resolution of the problem.
• Performs verification of methods and test procedures and the establishment of the test performance characteristics, including precision and accuracy. Incumbent verifies correct instrument operation using established procedures and quality control checks.
• Identifies the cause of common problems and makes simple repairs to ancillary testing site instruments.
• Performs required maintenance from the established program of preventive maintenance on each instrument.
• Assists the ATC in evaluating and recommending new tests to be incorporated into the ancillary testing program.
• Keeps abreast of current literature and state of the art technology in the field of laboratory medicine and ancillary testing. When implementing new tests, incumbent assists the ATC in the performance of the initial research to validate new methods with respect to precision, accuracy, and linearity.
• Performs correlation studies to verify the performance of a new test with established laboratory methodology and studies to establish reference values and verify reportable ranges.
• Provides guidance to the ancillary testing sites in the preparation of written procedure manual that in compliance with the VHA
  Directive and accrediting agencies' guidelines. With minimal oversight by the ATC, incumbent prepares step by step procedures that are placed in the ancillary sites to assist healthcare personnel performing the testing.
• Using word processing, Word, Excel, and other statistical, and instrument data management PC based programs, the Clinical Laboratory Scientist Specialist enters data, performs statistical analysis. The Clinical Laboratory Scientist Specialist uploads data from point of care instruments. With instructions from the ATC, the Clinical Laboratory Scientist Specialist performs Vista, CPRS data searches.
• Under the direction of the ATC, the Clinical Laboratory Scientist Specialist accessions and arranges transport of CAP Proficiency samples to the respective ancillary testing sites in the hospital and CBOC ATC testing sites.

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.
• 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).

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

Citizenship. Citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g, this part.)

Education and/or Experience Combination(1) A bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university in medical laboratory science, medical technology, clinical laboratory science or in a related science (e.g., laboratory science such as chemistry, biochemistry, biology, microbiology, immunology, etc.).
AND
completion of a medical technology clinical practice program. Clinical practice programs completed after 1974 must have been accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS), Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP, formerly CAHEA), or the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). The professional curriculum may have consisted of a post-baccalaureate certificate program or be integrated into a four year program of study that culminated in a baccalaureate degree.
OR
(2) A bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university, including 16 semester hours of biological science (with one course in microbiology), 16 semester hours of chemistry (with one course inorganic or biochemistry) and one course in mathematics,
AND
two years of post-certification clinical laboratory experience (e.g., blood banking, chemistry, hematology, microbiology, immunology, clinical microscopy, etc.) within the last ten years as a certified Medical Laboratory Technician by the American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification(ASCP-BOC), American Society of Clinical Pathology Board of Registry (ASCP-BOR) or American Medical Technologists (AMT). This experience must include performing moderate and/or high complexity testing in blood banking, chemistry, hematology, microbiology immunology and clinical microscopy (or categorical experience which matches categorical certification) in a clinical laboratory.
OR
(3) A bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university, including 16 semester hours of biological science (with one course in microbiology), 16 semester hours of chemistry (with one course inorganic or biochemistry) and one course in mathematics,
AND
five years of clinical laboratory experience within the last ten years performing moderate and/or high complexity testing in blood banking, chemistry, hematology, microbiology, immunology and clinical microscopy (or categorical experience which matches categorical certification) in a clinical laboratory.

Foreign Graduates. Graduates of foreign baccalaureate degree programs meet the educational and/or experience requirements if the degree is found to be equivalent to degree programs recognized by the NAACLS or clinical laboratory experience as described in paragraph 2b(2) or (3) above. This finding may be based on either of the following:(1) A letter from a college or university with a baccalaureate program recognized by the NAACLS stating that the individual's foreign degree has been evaluated and been found to be equivalent to its bachelor of medical technology degree.(2) A letter from ASCP-BOC or AMT stating that the individual is eligible for the certification examination.

Certification. Candidates must have either (1) or (2) below (MUST SUPPLY):
(1) Candidates must currently possess the appropriate certification as a MT, MLS, or CLS given by the ASCP-BOC, ASCP-BOR, or AMT.
(2) For positions up to the full performance level, candidates must currently possess the categorical or specialist technologist level certification from the certification agencies listed above, such as, but not limited to, chemistry (C/SC), hematology (H/SH), microbiology (M/SM), molecular biology (MB/SMB)and blood bank (BB/SBB). Technologists with categorical or specialist certifications may only perform duties within the area of the laboratory specific to their categorical certification (e. g., an individual with a chemistry certification can only perform duties in chemistry).

Preferred Experience: Previous experience as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist, experience in Laboratory Testing, and Laboratory Information System.

Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

English Language Proficiency. MTs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with chapter 2, section D, paragraph 5a, this part.

Grade Determination:
GS-12
Experience. Must have 1 year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, which is directly related to the position to be filled.

Assignment. The CLS serves as a Technical Specialist CLS, providing expert authoritative advice and consultation for more markedly difficult, complex, unique and/or emerging tests that require special knowledge. Examples include, but are not limited to, molecular pathology, gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy, and flow cytometry. The CLS advises all organizational levels on various aspects of specialized testing,
including appropriateness that takes into consideration clinical context. The CLS advises on alternate testing to overcome ambiguities in the clinical diagnoses and analyzes emerging trends and technology to adopt appropriate methods and testing. The CLS develops policies, precedents, regulatory, licensing, and accrediting requirements to establish, monitor, and maintain the specialized testing. The CLS assumes responsibility for training and competency assessment of staff and students within the area assigned. The technical specialist often works independently and is given freedom of action under the general guidance of a pathologist or other laboratory practitioner.

The Clinical Laboratory Scientist - Ancillary Testing Coordinator is a qualified, experienced Clinical laboratory scientist who serves as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist Specialist for the Ancillary Testing Coordinator (ATC) for the Pathology for the Miami VA Healthcare System Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service which is a large diversified clinical and anatomical pathology laboratory.

In addition to the experience or education above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
a. Knowledge and understanding of concepts, principles, methodology of medical laboratory technology, regulatory and accrediting agency requirements, medico-legal requirements, and pertinent statistics sufficient to perform complex diagnostic tests.
b. Knowledge of instructional techniques to instruct newly hired clinical laboratory scientists and clinical pathology residents in proper performance of tests and applications of laboratory procedures.
c. Knowledge of one or more advanced clinical laboratory functions.
d. Skill to apply new scientific/technical developments to develop procedures for new tests and modify existing procedures and methods to resolve problems relative to complex and difficult situations.
e. Ability to provide guidance and technical direction to accomplish the work of a clinical laboratory.
f. Ability to provide guidance and technical direction to accomplish the work of the specific laboratory section.

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 MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

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.

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.