Intermediate Care Technician Job in Wilkes Barre, PA

Vacancy No. CBSZ-12611195-25-BG Department Veterans Health Administration
Salary $49,025.00 to $63,733.00 Grade 7 to 7
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 11/18/2024 Close Date 11/25/2024
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Public
Locations:
Wilkes Barre, PA


Summary

The Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center is currently recruiting for two (2) Emergency Department (ED) Intermediate Care Technician (ICT), assigned to the Department of Veteran Affairs, Veterans Health Administration (VHA). This position serves as an advanced technician for the ED for patients who are present for treatment.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.201) for this occupation.

Duties

The Intermediate Care Technician (ICT) performs ongoing patient care duties in the Emergency Department.

Duties for this position include, however, not limited to the following:

  • The incumbent assists in behavioral/psychiatric situations in an emergency setting.
  • Assists LIPs with the delivery of care to patients with complex, specialized, and potentially life-threatening situations.
  • Initiates cardiopulmonary resuscitation (BLS), use of automatic external defibrillator, and assists with airway management using bag-valve-mask (BVM), oral airway or nasal airway.
  • Responds to medical emergencies as a part of the Rapid Response Team (RRT), Code Blue team, or medical transport team.
  • Observes patient status and keeps LIP and/or RN informed of any change in condition.
  • Incumbent recognizes lethal rhythms/arrhythmias (i.e. ventricular fibrillation and asystole) and immediately notifies appropriate staff.
  • Cardiovascular monitoring: provides support, relief, and coverage as needed to central station telemetry, and performs measurements of PR, QRS, QT, RR, and QTC intervals, interprets rhythm, and prints rhythm strip.
  • Performs Vital Signs and Point of Care Testing.
  • Equipment and surgical instrumentation set up.
  • Performs observation-based screening and collection of patient information in collaboration with the LIP and/or RN.
  • Operates specialized medical equipment and assists with patient exams and screenings.
  • Specimen Collection.
  • Patient Transport with or without cardiac monitor.

Work Schedule: 8:00 am to 8:00 pm with rotating weekends and holidays plus one 8 hour shift per pay period of either 12 pm-8 pm or 8 am-430 pm.
Position Description Title/PD#: Intermediate Care Technician/PDS0031A
Preferred experience: Licensed paramedic preferred, ACLS and BLS certified preferred, experience with reading EKGs preferred, experience with IV insertion preferred.
Physical Requirements: 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.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.GS-7 grade level:

Specialized Experience:
One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-6 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.
Examples of specialized experience include:
1) Duties include performing observation-based screening and collecting patient information in collaboration with licensed personnel.
2) The incumbent assists in behavioral/psychiatric situations in an emergency setting.
3) The incumbent assists ED licensed personnel with the delivery of care to patients with complex, specialized, and potentially life-threatening situations.
4) The incumbent may be asked to respond to medical emergencies on the facility grounds, and sometimes encounters situations which may be life threatening as part of the Rapid Response Team (RRT), Code Blue, or medical transport team.
5) Medication administration will comply with national and local directives and policies.

Note: Evidence of specialized experience must be supported by detailed documentation of duties performed in positions held on your resume. You must provide work experience information such as hours per week, salary, and starting/ending dates of employment (month and year format) to establish you have one (1) full year of Specialized Experience at or comparable to the required grade level.
OR
Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed one (1) full year (18 semester hours) of graduate education that is directly related to the work of the position and have submitted transcripts with my application. (Transcripts Required)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

EXPERIENCE: A specific length of training and experience is not required, but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Qualifications Standards.

SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligibles are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements:
  • Decision Making
  • Emergency Care
  • Patient Care
  • Technical Competence


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.

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.

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 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 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.

Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.

Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.

May serve a probationary period.

Subject to a background/suitability investigation.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Applicants will be referred in the order in which they were received.

Required Documents

Documents Accepted:

  • Cover Letter
  • DD-214/ Statement of Service
  • Disability Letter (Schedule A)
  • Disability Letter (VA)
  • License
  • Performance Appraisal
  • Professional Certification
  • Resume
  • Separation Notice (RIF)
  • SF-15
  • SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
  • Transcript

Documents Required:
  • Resume


Transcripts (if applicable)

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable):
  • Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
  • An SF-50 showing 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
  • Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
  • Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
    • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
    • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
    • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Please review the above list(s) to ensure you have included all necessary documents required for your application. Not every applicant will require the same documents, therefore it is the applicants responsibility to ensure that their application package includes all necessary documents to determine qualifications and eligibility for appointment, such as a copy of your SF-50, transcript, ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees).You will not be contacted for additional information. Applicants will be deemed ineligible if supporting documentation is not submitted.

Veterans' Preference: Since the Direct-Hire Recruitment Authority is being used, traditional Veterans' Preference rules do not apply. Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

Applications are accepted online. Applying online will allow you to review and track the status of your application.

How to Apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online.

To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 11/25/2024 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12611195.

1. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire.

2. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package.

NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.

To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.

Agency contact information

Beverly Gurdock
Address
Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center
1111 East End Boulevard
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
US
Learn more about this agency

Next steps

After the vacancy announcement closes, applicants are evaluated to ensure qualification and eligibility requirements are met. After the review is complete, a referral certificate(s) is issued and applicants will be notified of their status by email.


Note: We cannot accept applications on behalf of Federal Agencies. Application instructions are listed within the Job Description.