Career Center

You will serve as a Health Technician in Diagnostics Services at the Yakima Valley VA Clinic, in Yakima, Washington. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 of the closing date of this announcement, 03/23/2023. 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-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. 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: GS-5: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience must demonstrate supporting the services for medical staff performing diagnostic support (such as taking temperature, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation measurement, glucometer testing, collecting specimens and performing phlebotomy by venipuncture), patient care documentation, and applying the principles of infection control, safety and universal precautions, which provides the implementation and continuity of the care planned, for the health of the patient. OR Education (Transcript Required): 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. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business or technical school, junior college, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. One year of full-time undergraduate study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business or technical school. OR Combination (Transcript Required): Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have equivalent combinations of completed post-high school education and experience as outlined above. For GS-5 level positions, only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. Two full academic years of study, or 60 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to l year of specialized experience. Determine the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the year of specialized experience required at the GS-5 level. Then determine the applicant's education as a percentage of the education that meets the requirements for GS-5. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for GS-6: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience include, providing patient care by performing personal care, diagnostic support (such as taking temperature, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation measurement, glucometer testing, collecting specimens and performing phlebotomy by venipuncture), treatment procedures, patient care documentation, and applying the principles of infection control, safety and universal precautions, which contributes to the implementation and continuity of the care planned, for the health of the patient. OR Education (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed one year of full-time graduate education is the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. As a general rule, education is not creditable above GS-5 for most positions covered by this standard; however, graduate education may be credited in those few instances where the graduate education is directly related to the work of the position. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Diagnostic Medical Testing Patient Care Specimen Collection 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: The work involves various physical demands requiring the employee to be versatile in the many functions performed. These include sedentary work performed at a desk with intermittent standing, walking, bending, lifting, stooping, and stretching. When transferring patients, providing patient care, the employee must practice good body mechanics to prevent injury to self and others. The demands may be unpredictable requiring the incumbent to adjust accordingly. Requires the ability to work under pressure, make sound decisions, and maintain composure in different situations if necessary. Work is performed at a fast pace. In many situations the duration of the activity (such as most of a workday) contributes to the arduous nature of the job. Position requires occasional lifting of reagent and supply containers weighing up to 20 pounds. 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/. ["You will evaluate the operations, to provide problem trend data, solutions to recommend at all levels of management. You will provide technical advice or assistance to clinicians, health care providers and veterans. You will respond to requests, complaints. You will take corrective actions to resolve problems. You will compile daily statistical data for submission of reports for local, regional and central offices, used for program administration. You will provide information and guidance to initiate actions to address patient needs. You will determine medical emergencies and immediately alert medical staff. You will receive laboratory orders for testing (such as: by collecting specimens and performing phlebotomy by venipuncture) during appointments. You will resolve irregularities and practices by health care providers or veterans who are not in compliance with hospital policy. You will prepare specimens to submit to the laboratory for analysis. You will verify patient test results. You will perform moderate-complex waived testing procedures such as chemistry (including special chemistry and toxicology), hematology, coagulation, or urinalysis. You will report diagnostic test results to the care provider. You will perform additional testing to clarify or confirm abnormal patient results. 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. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: Not authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician/PD80397-A and PD80399-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

Return to Search Results