Intermediate Care Technician at Department of Veterans Affairs

Not Required

Duties

The Intermediate Care Technician is an occupational specialty, especially for former military combat medics, medical technicians, and corpsmen. This position will serve primarily as support for Podiatrists and/or General Surgeon. Performing observation-based screening and collecting patient information in collaboration with licensed personnel. Complete approved templates and tools, such as the outpatient intake form, normal result notes, and follow up treatment protocols established by the agency. Assists in behavioral/psychiatric situations in an outpatient setting. 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 outpatient licensed staff with the delivery of care to patients with complex, specialized, and potentially life-threatening situations. Observes patient status and keeps licensed personnel informed of any change in condition. Clinical responsibilities include but are not limited to: Vital signs. Examples: vital signs, 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG). Point-of-care (POC). Examples: Abbott hand-held blood analyzer (I-STAT), glucometer. Equipment and surgical instrumentation set up . Examples: skin biopsies (excisional, shave, punch). Treatments and interventions. Examples: Cryotherapy, incision and drainage, ambulation, and Foley coude' catheter insertion. Wound care. Examples: bandaging, application of dressings and wound measurements. Specimen collection and Preparation. Examples: collecting and labeling venous blood samples and mucous specimens. Other duties may be assigned. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm, compressed schedule may be available Position Description Title/PD#: Intermediate Care Technician/PD99968S Physical Requirements: The work involves extended periods of bending, standing and walking. Generally, the work requires recurring physical exertion with assisting patients. The work requires a level of physical fitness that allows for standing for extended periods, heavy lifting to position patients, and manual dexterity to perform clinical procedures. The work will require recurrent bending, lifting, stooping, standing, squatting, stretching, sitting and walking.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR): The IOR is a basic requirement that must be met. To qualify for this occupational series, all applicants, regardless of grade level must meet specialized experience listed below: 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. English Proficiency: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirement and English Proficiency, applicants must also meet the grade specific requirements listed below: GS-07 grade level: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-06 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: Perform ongoing patient care duties in an outpatient clinical setting; Perform observation-based screening and collecting patient information; Setting up equipment and providing treatment during in-person or virtual visits; Skill in specimen collection, performs behavioral/mental health screens, and assisting with patient exams and screenings; Perform vital signs, point of care testing, and wound care. 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. OR Education: One full year of graduate education meets the requirements for GS-7 only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. (Transcripts Required) Preferred Qualifications: Preferred outpatient experience in a Podiatry/Surgical clinic. Experience in the military as a Hospital Corpsman, Combat Medic, Medical Technician is highly desired. 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. 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.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education.Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information.

Other Information

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 (OR INSERT "trial period"), your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/. Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.