Clarification from the agency

This job is open to current permanent employees of the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Videos

VA Careers - Physical Therapy: https://youtube.com/embed/Gi2hoFqIoqY

Duties include but are not limited to:

• The incumbent collaborates extensively with interdisciplinary partners including Nursing, Patient Safety, Employee Occupational Health, Engineering, Facilities Management, Logistics, Environmental Management, Risk Management, and frontline clinical services to identify hazards, evaluate risk, and implement evidence-based strategies that improve safety outcomes for Veterans and staff.
• Functions with a high degree of independence, exercising professional judgment in prioritizing risk mitigation strategies and advising leadership on system-level safety improvements.
• The incumbent functions as a facility-level program coordinator above the full performance level, performing duties of significant scope, complexity, and impact at least 25% of the time. As the facility lead for the Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Program, they coordinate Safe Patient Handling and Mobility activities across all inpatient, outpatient, and procedural areas in alignment with national directives and accreditation standards.
• Serves as a subject matter expert in Safe Patient Handling and Mobility and falls prevention, and providing information about these programs to leadership, service chiefs, supervisors, front line workers, veterans and caregivers concerning implementation, maintenance and evaluation of the programs and following all national VHA guidelines.
• Responsible for collecting staff injury data, investigating incidents, and providing leadership with best practices and actions to prevent staff and patient injuries.
• Assists with developing practices and procedures for services that are necessary to plan and direct the wide range of activities relating to the overall implementation and operation of the programs in a large, highly affiliated VA medical Center.
• Responsible for working with a wide range of services including but not limited to Radiology, Spinal Cord Injury, Nursing, Geriatrics and Extended Care, Surgery, Specialty Clinics, Primary Care, Mental Health, Medical Service, Cardiology, Home Based Primary Care, and Telehealth in implementing the Safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) Program throughout the entire facility to enhance prevention of staff and patient injuries.
• Works directly with equipment vendors, Healthcare Technology Management, Facility Management Services, and Logistics for procurement and installation of equipment.
• Provides leadership, development, coordination, expansion, and maintenance as subject matter expert in Safe Patient Handling and Mobility for Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Unit Peer Leader Program.
• Develops Ergonomic Assessment Program for SPHM ergonomic/hazard assessments annually and on-going in all work areas within VA WRJ.
• Collaborates within education services and with clinical nurse educators to educate all new employees and give awareness of Program.
• Provides hands-on competency training on all Safe Patient Handling and Mobility technology and equipment.
• Remains current with all standards and Veterans Healthcare Administration Directives in keeping programs in compliance with Joint Commission, OSHA, CARF or any other governing and regulatory bodies of the medical center.
• Performs additional duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 am - 4: 00 pm.
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement # 93118-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• 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).
• 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 and experience. The individual must meet at least one of the requirements below:
  • Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy AND five (5) years of progressively independent experience as a physical therapist.
  • Master's degree in Physical Therapy AND two (2) years of progressively independent experience as a physical therapist.
  • Doctorate degree in physical therapy.
  • NOTE: Individuals must be a graduate of a Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) accredited college or university. The CAPTE is the only accreditation agency recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to accredit entry-level physical therapy programs. Verification of accredited programs may be obtained from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) at www.apta.org.
• Foreign Graduates. Graduates of foreign physical therapy programs meet the requirements if they have a full unrestricted and current license to practice physical therapy in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia. Foreign educated individuals must undergo an educational credentials assessment for substantial equivalency to the first professional degree in the US by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT).
• Licensure. Individuals hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice physical therapy in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia.
• English Language Proficiency. Individuals appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C. chapters 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA must be proficient in written and spoken English.

Grade Determinations:

GS- 13 Physical Therapist (Program Coordinator):
Experience. In addition to meeting the basic requirements, one year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level.

AND

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate all the following KSAs:

• Ability to apply advanced knowledge of contemporary physical therapy within specialty area to provide clinical guidance, training or education for internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to serve as a consultant within the assigned program area for intra-agency and interagency planning and to provide service coordination to optimize program continuity, efficiency and effectiveness.
• Knowledge of and skill in management, administration and/or education methodologies. This includes the ability to monitor and track data, utilize available resources effectively, evaluate program quality, and generate reports for local, and/or Veterans Integrated Service Network and/or VA Central Office leadership.
• Ability to develop and coordinate treatment and/or educational programs within a concentrated field or specialty area, such as, but not limited to, amputee, spinal cord injury, chronic pain, student clinical education/residency programming, polytrauma/traumatic brain injury.
• Ability to establish and maintain collaborative relationships within department and with other departments or affiliated programs.
• Ability to guide the work of a multi-disciplinary team.

Assignment. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety, and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Physical Therapists at this level have experience that demonstrates advanced practice skills and judgment across one or more areas of physical therapy. The individual may be assigned broad administrative responsibility. The individual is assigned a major content specialty area to include assessing, planning, evaluating and delivering care within a special clinical program or component of a Rehabilitation Service, which usually involves multiple disciplines. See the definition for specialty areas in paragraph 2. i, that includes Polytrauma/Traumatic Brain Injury, Chronic Pain, Amputation, Spinal Cord Injury and clinical education programs. PTs provide administrative direction and decisions related to the program.
The Physical Therapy Program Coordinator is responsible for the coordination of multiple professionals from a variety of disciplines for optimal clinical care and educational programming. He/she implements programs, policies, and procedures to meet program goals, policy and external accreditation requirements. He/she monitors outcomes, participates in strategic planning and implements strategies for program improvement particularly in assigned content specialty area.
The Program Coordinator supports the rehabilitation service and serves as a point of contact providing guidance to facility leadership on matters related to specialty content area. He/she collaborates with Clinical Specialists and with Rehabilitation Service leaders to assist with administrative processes to obtain resources and equipment for operations of content specialty area. He/she assists with developing local policy for new or emerging practices and technologies

.Preferred Experience:

• Demonstrated interest / Experience in Safe Patient Handling
• Early mobility, ergonomics, / Quality patient safety initiatives preferred
• Strong communication, collaboration and problem solving skills
• Ability to educate, coach and mentor staff in safe patient handling practices.
• Familiarity with Safe Patient Handling and Mobility, injury prevention coordination preferred
• Falls prevention
• Leadership/Project Management
• Safe Patient Handling Equipment Management

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-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-13.

Physical Requirements: The work involves continued walking, standing, stooping, some lifting, sitting, pulling, and providing extensive training over long periods of time in use of equipment to direct care providers. Additionally, the incumbent is required to work at a computer workstation to complete his/her documents for purchasing, data collection and/or administrative needs. Incumbent will be required to travel to all building locations of Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center and Community Based Outpatient Center's.

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.