To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
Experience.
(1) Creditable Experience. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current health care industry and required using knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) directly applicable to the assignment and associated within the scope of the BESS profession. Experience is only creditable if it was acquired in the health care industry and is either directly related to the position to be filled or a related field (for example, Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, Biomedical Equipment Technician, Field Service Engineer, Medical Equipment Repairer, or Information Technology (IT) Specialist). Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid or non-paid employment as a BESS.
(2) Part-Time Experience. Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time work week. For example, a BESS employed 20 hours per week, or on a half-time basis, would receive 1 full-time work week of credit for each 2 weeks of service.
(3) Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to BESS experience at the next lower level and have been in the health care industry. For all assignments above the full performance level (FPL), the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity, and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and performed be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.
Basic Requirements:
- United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
- English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
- Education, Experience, or Certification.
- Associates or higher degree in the biomedical technology or biomedical engineering field;
- OR
- Associates or higher degree in electronics, a field of information technology, or engineering (other than biomedical engineering) AND 1 year of creditable experience;
- OR
- Completion of the Department of Defense (DOD) biomedical equipment technician training program;
- OR
- Completion of a DOD training program in repair and maintenance of electronic systems or information technology AND 1 year of creditable experience;
- OR
- Completion of a biomedical engineering technician or Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) certificate program that included an internship or apprenticeship;
- OR
- Completion of biomedical engineering technician or HTM certificate program that did not include an internship AND 1 year of creditable experience;
- OR
- Hold or having ever held certification as a Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET), Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist (CRES), Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist (CLES), or Certified Healthcare Technology Manager (CHTM). Continuous maintenance of certification is not required throughout VHA employment.
May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).
Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.
Grade Determinations:
Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, GS-11.
(1) Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.
(2) Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Knowledge of standards including National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Joint Commission (TJC), and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) for safe operation of medical equipment and clinical systems.
(b) Skill in using test and calibration equipment including digital multi- meters, electrical safety analyzers, defibrillator analyzers, patient simulators, manometers, tachometers, and Local Area Network (LAN) analyzers.
(c) Skill in interpreting a variety of technical data including schematic drawings and wiring diagrams.
(d) Skill in applying networking principles, such as Access Control List (ACL), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN).
(e) Ability to perform advanced testing to troubleshoot medical equipment and clinical system interfaces.
(f) Ability to maintain medical computers and software.
(g) Ability to manage projects involving medical equipment and clinical systems.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit
https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11.
Physical Requirements: Moderate lifting and carrying (15-44 lbs.), straight pulling, pulling hand over hand, pushing, reaching above shoulder, use of fingers, both hands, walking, standing, kneeling, repeated bending, both legs, operation of motor vehicle, ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously, far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other, both eyes, depth perception, ability to distinguish basic colors, ability to distinguish shades of colors, and hearing (aid may be permitted). Environmental factors include excessive noise (intermittent), constant noise, radiant energy, working around moving objects or vehicles, vibration, working closely with others, working alone, and occasional travel.