Clarification from the agency

This job is open to the public. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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The incumbent collaborates with interdisciplinary teams, including physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, researchers, and quality management staff, to identify and mitigate patient safety risks, such as suicide prevention, behavioral health crises, and communication breakdowns. The Psychologist participates in facility-wide safety initiatives, including the Joint Patient Safety Reporting (JPSR) system, Root Cause Analyses (RCA), Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA), and National Performance Goals (NPGs), with a focus on behavioral health safety, psychological resilience, and system-level learning. The incumbent also supports the National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) Patient Safety Assessment Tool (PSAT) and NCPS Salesforce Alerts/Advisories/Recalls, contributing to data-driven improvements.


DUTIES INCLUDE BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• Responsible for promoting cultural transformation to ensure all employees are knowledgeable and empowered to identify and report risk and adverse events so process improvement may result. The PSM establishes and promotes a system for recognition of accomplishments of programs, teams, and employees who exemplify patient safety culture and HRO principles including identification of close calls and great catches. Safety Stories are utilized and coordinated to be presented in various meeting settings to highlight success.
• Strategic implementation and maintenance of the facility-wide Patient Safety Program throughout RLR VAMC with primary focus on the comprehensive identification, awareness, utilization, analysis, and performance improvement associated with Joint Patient Safety Reporting (JPSR). This task requires promotion of HRO principles and psychological safety in reporting, education on proper entry of incident reports, gathering and analysis of reports, development of trends and feedback presentations to facility leaders and Services and implementation of system improvements.
• Appropriately scores JPSR events based on an established severity and frequency index tool and determines actual and potential resulting harm. Those events scored as major or catastrophic are scrutinized formally with RCA projects. Develops clinical reviews and audits to analyze problems in depth, including identification of risks requiring review, identification of data required to define the problem, establishing data collection methodologies, analyzing the data, recommending corrective actions, and assessing effectiveness of the actions.
• Maintains facility-wide administrative controls aimed to ensure implementation and sustainment of approved Actions and Outcome Measures resulting from completed RCA projects. This includes tracking and trending of items, provision of status reports to leadership, and collation of data for use in external review processes demonstrating compliance. Ensures all RCA Actions and Outcome Measures are distributed appropriately to responsible Service Chiefs, provides oversight and trending on implantation of items, and ensures closeout in the national SPOT database and tracks sustainment of improvements.

Work Schedule: 7:00am-3:30pm Monday - Friday
Compressed/Flexible:Not Eligible
Telework: Not Eligible
Remote: This is not a remote position
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Functional Statement #:92966-0

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.
• 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).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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: Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the 4 accreditation standards for a masters of social work.
• Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.

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).

Grade Determination:

Social Worker (Program Coordinator ) GS-12

• Experience/Education: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.
• Licensure/Certification: Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate, in their resume, all of the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs):

(a) Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation, negotiation, and monitoring.
(b) Knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program
(c) Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program.
(d) Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s)
(e) Ability to provide training, orientation, and guidance within clinical practice

Preferred Experience: 5 years clinical experience. Prior leadership experience including program management preferred. Experience with quality, patient safety, and process improvement. Demonstrated skills in communication, facilitation and collaboration.

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 12.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the position involve standard office requirements such as using the
telephone, retrieving files, writing reports, data entry and maintenance of computer databases, etc. Work is typically performed sitting at a desk and using a computer. The position requires periods of walking, standing, sitting and bending.

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.

NOTE: You must include qualifying specialized experience in mm/yyyy to mm/yyyy format on your resume and indicate Full-Time or Part-Time (if Part-time, must include # of hours worked per week). AND, if you have held a Government position, that position's grade level MUST be listed on your resume.

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.

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.