This position is located at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL and is organizationally aligned under Nursing Service. The primary purpose of this position is to provide direct patient care activities, indirect patient care activities and related supportive services under the general guidance and direction of a Registered Nurse. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Basic Requirements: Specialized Experience: 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. 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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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: You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Infection Control Interpersonal Skills Patient Care Technical Competence GS-6 Grade Requirements: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the federal service); experience 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: but are not limited to: Applying basic knowledge of basic anatomy/physiology and medical techniques to support direct patient care; effectively communicating and providing support to patients and healthcare professionals; utilizing and maintaining medical equipment and instruments; performing safety/emergency procedures related to patient transport, infection control, environmental safety; observing and reporting changes in patients physical and emotional behavior; performing medical tests and duties including phlebotomy, EKG, and CPR; and entering patient information and vital signs in computerized medical record systems using appropriate terminology. 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: Physical requirements include extensive periods of standing and walking. Patient care activities require regular and recurring bending, lifting, stooping, stretching, pushing and similar activities using appropriate body mechanics and other assistive devices for patient and/or equipment movement and transfer. The employee protects self and others from injury. Work Environment: Responsibilities are performed in a health care environment. The Health Care Technician practices principles of aseptic technique, "infection control, and environment safety. Precautions are required when working with movable equipment, wet floors, and potential exposure to diagnosed/undiagnosed contagious diseases. ["Duties: Performs, reports and records measurements, such as vital signs, intake and output, pulse oximetry, bladder scan, glucose finger stick and other parameters. Performs EKG as directed and provides results to Registered Nurse. Attach electrodes on patients for telemetry monitor and identifies proper lead placement. Upon discharge, cleans telemetry monitor and places in appropriate storage area. Assists in emergency situations and initiates CPR when indicated. Demonstrates competence in the performance of clinical procedures outlined in the approved skills inventory and unit-specific procedures as assigned. Provides care based on physical, psychosocial, educational, safety, and related criteria, appropriate to the age of the patients served in his/her assigned area (i.e., adult, and geriatric patient population). This entails knowledge of human growth and development; ability to assess and interpret age specific data and provide age specific care; communication skills necessary to interpret age specific response to treatment; and ability to involve family/significant others indecision making related to plan of care. The knowledge, abilities and skills needed to provide such care will be refined through continuing education and training and. experience. Correctly and safely uses equipment and supplies. Cleans and returns equipment to appropriate location and reports needs for equipment repair to the appropriate person. Completes annual mandatory reviews, participates in continuing education at unit/service level, identifies personal learning needs/goals with supervision. Follows policies and procedures to ensure safety for patients, staff, and self. Identifies and immediately reports safety hazards to supervisors. Incumbent must possess organizational and problem-solving skills. Must be adept at working independently with little direct supervision. Must be able to handle diverse tasks with various interruptions during the workday and be capable of prioritizing workload and patient care activities. The incumbent plans and carries out the successive steps and handle problems and deviations in work assignments in accordance with standard practices and written procedures. Unusual problems that develop are referred to the supervisor for assistance. Completed work is inspected to ensure conformity to instructions. Considerable skill in decision-making and problem solving, knowledge of policies and procedures, good judgment and diplomacy are required to carry out the duties of this position. This position requires flexibility and independent decision-making skills as well as collaboration with administrative and clinical personnel. Work Schedule: Multiple schedules available 7:30am to 8:00pm rotating weekend and holidays Position Description Title/PD#: Health Technician (Inpatient 8FL)/PD21231A"]
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,321 health care facilities, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,138 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services such as organ transplants and plastic surgery.