Summary The primary purpose of the position is to assist the primary nurse with patient care, receives and directs patients, answers routine inquiries. Determines nature of inquiry and independently responds to all administrative questions, and assists patients, visitors and others requesting information, guidance, or referral for special assistance. Responsibilities DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.201) for this occupation. 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. Major Duties Include: Performs direct patient care including personal hygiene, physical comfort, nutrition, elimination, prevention of skin breakdown, safety, etc. Receives and directs patients, answers routine inquiries and makes referrals. Receives and responds to a number of unclear inquires form patients concerning a variety of medical personnel and administrative matters. Maintains stock of supplies and sterility of instruments. Performs or assists Triage staff with diagnostic procedures including EKGs, venipunctures, and alcohol breathalyzer used to diagnose medical conditions. Assists in the performance of or independently performs procedures such as insertion of urinary catheters and intravenous catheters. Performs patient care procedures such as collection of specimens, applying dressings, and adjusting supportive equipment. Performs duties in accordance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and applicable laws and policies. Instructs patients in crutch, walker and or cane use and ensures correct fitting of equipment. Performs duties involving customer service and or public liaison. Performs duties in accordance to applicable safety precautions and infection control. Operate emergency department equipment such as Telemetry and automated external defibrillator (AED). Provides general clerical/administrative support coordination work for the Triage area. Collects and organizes statistical data for reports. Performs patient charting using standard medical terminology entering information regarding care rendered, condition and progress. Work Schedule: varies must accept all shifts Telework: Not eligible for Telework Virtual: This is not a virtual position .Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (OA)/PD03925A and PD02148O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Physical Requirements: The work requires moderate to heavy (15-44 pounds) lifting of equipment or patients and requires standing, walking, bending, stooping, stretching, pushing, pulling, twisting, reaching and similar activities in an immediate or limited time frame. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job Subject to a background/suitability investigation Designated and/or random drug testing may be required Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 A complete application package; including Resume, Transcripts, etc. is required 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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year trial 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 trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Must meet Individual Occupational Requirements: 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 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: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Work as a member of an interdisciplinary team to provide care to patients. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience working as an advanced EMT or a paramedic. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successful completion of 1 year of graduate education (18 semester hours) directly related to work of this position. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond. OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 1 year of full-time study. Must be able to @type at least 40 words per minute. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: 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. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. 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. Additional Information 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.
