Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.205) for this occupation.

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Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year).
Parental Leave: Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child (conditions apply).
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full-time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement).

The Intermediate Care Technician is an occupational specialty, especially for former military combat medics, medical technicians, and corpsmen.

As an ICT, you will operate within clearly defined clinical competencies. For the purposes of this national job announcement, you may work in multiple clinical settings based on facility needs, these include but are not limited to, Emergency Medicine, Critical Care, Primary Care, Specialty Clinics, Women's health and COVID Screening, Swabbing Stations, and Vaccine Operations.

The clinical activities for the hospital will include but are not limited to:

• Performing observation-based screening and collecting patient information in collaboration with licensed personnel, this may involve completing clinical reminders, obtaining patient health history, chief complaints, medication history, and identification of health- related conditions that may impact the patient's health status.
• Completing approved templates and tools, such as, intake/outtake forms, normal result note follow up, clinical reminders, procedure and intervention notes established by the agency.
• Assisting in behavioral/psychiatric situations in an outpatient setting. This can include assisting licensed personnel with crisis intervention, management of aggressive or suicidal psychiatric patients, by providing one-to-one observations and applying prevention and management of disruptive behavior techniques (PMDB). Assists licensed staff with the delivery of care to patients with complex, specialized, and potentially life-threatening situations. You will assist licensed staff with setting up equipment and providing treatment during in person or virtual visits.
• Operating specialized medical equipment to obtain diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes. Observes patient status and keeps licensed clinical staff informed of any change in condition. You will assist clinical providers with emergency medical care, provides emergency response as part of the Rapid-Response-Team (RRT), and assists with training of other hospital clinical staff.
• Performing Diagnostic Tests. Examples: Vital Signs, 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG)
• Point-of-Care. Examples: glucometer, COVID swabbing
• Specimen collection and Preparation. Examples: collecting and labeling venous blood samples
• Minor Procedures. Examples: simple one-layer laceration repairs, incision and drainage, skin stapling, STERIS trips, Dermabond
• Medication Administration: nebulized medications, topical, limited PO meds, vaccine administration
• Wound Care. Examples. wound debridement, Wet-to-Dry dressings, Unna Boot placement, compression dressings- Forflex and Profour, wound vac placement, graft application
• Patient education within scope of care or while providing an intervention
• Electronic Health Record (EHR): Thoroughly and appropriately documents actions, interventions and procedures in the medical record. Examples: Procedural notes and progress notes

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm.
Position Description/PD#: Intermediate Care Technician/PD99968A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Available.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• 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)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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 probationary period period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 12/15/2025.

Individual Occupational Requirement: Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists. Therefore, technician experience is experience that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled. Please ensure your resume/application supports the response that you select.

English Language Proficiency: Individuals serving in direct patient care positions must be proficient in both spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d).

In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirement and English Proficiency, applicants must also meet the grade specific requirements listed below: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-05 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the federal service) that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Obtain and maintain records of patient health history, complaints, and medication history; Perform identification of health-related conditions that may impact the patient's health status; Assist on evaluation of patients for emergent/non emergent medical conditions. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week.
OR
Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED.

GS-06 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the federal service) that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes:

• Prepare and administer medications through various methods, examples include, intramuscular injections, subcutaneous injections, intradermal injections, oral, aerosolized including oxygen, topical, intraocular (eye drops), Otic (ear drops), intranasal, rectal (suppositories), local anesthetics, intraurethral, and intravenous.
• Perform minor surgical procedures, medical interventions and administer treatments to manage care to combat disease or disabling symptoms example incise and drain various skin infections or abscesses.
• Order appropriate diagnostic studies under the direction of the supervising Licensed Independent Practitioner (LIP) obtains and Reports Diagnostic and laboratory results.

There is no educational substitution for the GS-06 grade level.

GS-07 Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-06 grade level in the federal service) that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Prepare and administer medications through various methods, examples include, intramuscular injections, subcutaneous injections, intradermal injections, oral, aerosolized including oxygen, topical, intraocular (eye drops), Otic (ear drops), intranasal, rectal (suppositories), local anesthetics, intraurethral, and intravenous. Perform minor surgical procedures, medical interventions and administer treatments to manage care to combat disease or disabling symptoms example incise and drain various skin infections or abscesses. Order appropriate diagnostic studies under the direction of the supervising Licensed Independent Practitioner (LIP) obtains and Reports Diagnostic and laboratory results. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week.
OR
Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed one (1) full year (18 semester hours) of graduate education that is directly related to the work of the position and have submitted transcripts with application. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED.

Preferred Qualifications: Experience in the military as a Hospital Corpsman, Combat Medic, Medical Technician is highly desired.

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.

Examples of military occupational specialties highly desired, include but are not limited to: 4NOX- Basic Medical Technician, 4NOIC- Independent Duty Medical Technician, X4NO- Aeromedical Evacuation Technician, 1T2X1- Pararescueman, 68W- Combat Medic Specialist, 18D- Army Special Forces (Medic), 68WW1- Special Operations Flight Medic, HM0000- Basic Hospital Corpsman, HM8404- Field Medical Service Technician, HM8425- Surface Force Independent Duty Corpsman, HM8402- Submarine Force Independent Duty Corpsman, HM8401- Search and Rescue Medical Technician, HM8403- Fleet Marine Force Reconnaissance Independent Duty Corpsman, HM8406- Aerospace Medical Technician, and HS- Basic Health Services Technician.

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.

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following Competencies for this position:

• Attention to Detail
• Clinical Data Collection/Documentation
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Decision Making
• Diagnostic Medical Testing
• Flexibility
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Medical Information
• Reading Comprehension
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

USA Hire Assessments include a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator.