Summary The Health Technician (Dietetic) provides administrative and customer service support in the Nutrition and Food Service at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Provides exceptional customer service, computer skills, proper phone etiquette, proficiency in special food service and therapeutic diet procedures, a broad knowledge of routine modified diets, combinations of diet modifications and knowledge of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Dietetics software and required functions. Responsibilities Include, but are not limited to: Handling patient meal service orders in person or by answering patient calls using phone system. Entering meal orders into a Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Dietetics Software system. Interacting with Veterans, dietitians, nursing staff, and other medical center employees. Providing excellent customer service while remaining professional and courteous. Collaborating with Dietitians regarding Food/Drug Interactions, notifying clinical staff of potential issues with meal service and delivery. Receiving patient meal orders and preferences, meal and nourishment requests from nursing, clinical staff, and other members of the interdisciplinary team. Following local-facility policies and standard procedures for patient feeding. Printing, preparing, and reviewing meal tickets according to local facility procedures. Completing select and non-select menus as required. Triaging calls from inpatient units or outpatient clinics and procedure areas relating to patient meal trays or nourishments at the lowest level and will refer issues that cannot be resolved to supervisor. Retrieving computerized information/printouts to assist with tray and/or nourishment assembly such as standing orders, nourishment labels, tabulated recipe lists, and other simple information to assist in meal delivery. Providing education and information on local facility therapeutic diets to patients, guests, and nursing staff. Completing quality monitors to ensure food items and menu selections for regular and therapeutic diets are prepared and served appropriately (i.e. accuracy, timeliness, appearance, and temperature, dysphagia food testing). Assisting patients in selection of the proper foods according to their individual diet. Performing clerical and administrative duties in support of the service. Work Schedule: 6:00am - 6:00pm - With rotating weekends and holidays. Position Description Title/PD#: Health Technician (Dietetic)/PD99855S Physical Requirements: The work requires walking, standing, bending, lifting and carrying of light items, such as food trays, instruction materials, books, and manuals. NCC Associate functions require long periods of sitting and moving about in an office environment, including repetitive motion activities of the hands and fingers for extensive keyboard and computer mouse use, and office tasks such as answering and holding a telephone phone, and writing. The work may require walking indoors, outdoors or to and from other areas of the medical center. It may be necessary to lift and/or push equipment. The employee is subject to periods continuous standing, sitting, walking and frequent stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending. Frequently lifts or moves objects weighing up to 20 pounds and pushing loaded carts of trays and/or nourishments. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. This occupational series has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) which is a minimum qualification requirement. To be considered for the position, you must ensure that the experience is reflected in your resume and/or if applicable, transcripts must be uploaded to support education requirement or substitution. Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) - Health Aid and Technician Series 0640 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. Or, Education and Training: Successful completion of 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. In addition to meeting the IOR Minimum Qualifications Requirement: One year of specialized experience that that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position. To be creditable, experience must have been equivalent the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience that that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position. To be creditable, experience must have been equivalent the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes: experience in food service in a hospital environment; knowledge of tray assembly area procedures; using dietetics software programs; familiarity with regular and modified diets; assisting with food selections; possessing good writing skills; communicating effectively, both verbally and in writing, in person and via telephone; maintaining a high level of customer service; following verbal and written instructions; and using computer equipment, phone system, and printers. Or, Education: A bachelor's degree or 4 years of education above the high school level with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position (medical, health, etc.). Or, Combination of Experience & Education: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an appropriate combination of specialized experience and only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours may be used to combine with experience. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Computer Skills Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) Food Service Patient Care 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 A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or 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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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. The following will be communicated to applicants for VA employment in a testing designated position and will also be included in all VA vacancy announcements for such positions: All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drugs use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. The 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 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. 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. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.
