Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.
Basic Requirements:
- Citizenship. Citizenship of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g, this part.)
- Education. There are no specific educational requirements for this occupation. Education may be substituted for experience only at the GS-4 and GS-5 levels. See the grade requirements part of this standard for information regarding educational substitutions.
- Licensure or Certification. Licensure or Certification is not required for this occupation; however, it is strongly desirable at GS-6 or above as evidence of possession of the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities. For certain functional areas at the higher levels or supervisory assignments, specific certifications appropriate to the specialty are indicated in this standard under "Titles and Certification/Registrations".
NOTE: For all specialties identified in this standard, Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support certifications are desirable. Training which does not result in official certification does not meet this definition.
- English Language Proficiency. Medical Instrument Technicians must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with chapter 2, section D, paragraph 5a, this
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).
Grade Determinations:
Medical Instrument Technician (Electroencephalography) GS-6: At least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. (
GS-05 experience: Medical Instrument Technicians (Trainee) at this level operate and monitor commonly used equipment performing routine procedures under normal supervision. The technician functions somewhat independently in carrying out these standardized procedures of limited complexity. Deviations from regular procedures, unanticipated problems, and unfamiliar situations are referred to the supervisor for a decision or help. Some assignments at this level also include developmental duties involving more complex procedures designed to prepare the technician for promotion to higher grades in a functional area. Such duties would be performed under closer supervision.)
In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following technical KSAs and the potential to acquire the assignment specific KSAs: Do you demonstrate the following GS-06 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Knowledge of basic medical terminology, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and EEG interpretation
- Ability to position patients for the examination or treatment including using standard alternate positions for patient with common physical disabilities.
- Ability to operate the appropriate EEG equipment to administer routine, standardized diagnostic or treatment procedures.
- Knowledge of normal and abnormal results to recognize and report obvious abnormalities during procedures.
- Knowledge of universal precautions and basic sterilization methods to clean instruments to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
- Knowledge of EEG and peripheral equipment to conduct routine maintenance and adjustment checks.
Medical Instrument Technician (Electroencephalography) GS-7: At least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the positions to be filled. This would be experience which provided the individual with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to independently conduct difficult but standardized electroencephalography examinations.(
GS-06 experience: Operates and monitors EEG equipment in the EEG Lab, intensive care units, operating room, and the patient's bedside. Performs a full range of standard, routine EEG examinations including routine awake and sleep recordings, electrocerebral silence recordings, multiple sleep latency recordings, intraoperative monitoring, electrocorticography. Performs nerve conduction studies using electromyography equipment. Prepares recordings for interpretation and performs a preliminary review and interpretation of the recordings.)
In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following technical KSAs and the potential to acquire the assignment specific KSAs: Do you demonstrate the following GS-07 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Ability to perform more complex electroencephalography studies such as evoked potential (visual, auditory, somatosensory) and transcranial Doppler studies.
- Knowledge of medication effects related to electroencephalography studies and clinical situations requiring medication.
- Knowledge of life threatening or medically emergent testing or patient situations.
- Ability to recognize artifacts (patient or environmental) and document, eliminate, or take proper measures to monitor the artifact.
Medical Instrument Technician (Electroencephalography) GS-8: At least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. This would be experience which provided knowledge of the more complex procedures, the pharma- cology related to this occupation, and knowledge of related acute disorders and diseases and their effects on organs and methods of treatment.(
GS-07 experience: At this level, the medical instrument technician (EEG) independently performs routine but complex procedures and has advanced knowledge in certain areas. They are able to deal with difficult or more complex patients. They are able to identify and correct most artifacts. Procedures are fully explained to the patient and family members to set them at ease. Interpretative skills are sufficient to allow identification of more serious conditions requiring rapid intervention.)
In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following technical KSAs and the potential to acquire the assignment specific KSAs: Do you demonstrate the following GS-08 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
GS-08 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Ability to interpret testing data to evaluate critical information for surgeons and other medical staff during testing procedures.
- Knowledge of anatomy and physiology of the nervous system and the ability to understand the relationship of EEG and evoked potential testing in detecting states of disease and health.
- Knowledge of behavior assessment during seizure attacks in order to insure adequacy of recordings during seizure discharges.
- Knowledge of a variety of advanced EEG equipment and peripheral equipment such as equipment for brain mapping, video EEG telemetry systems with seizure detection computers, and spike analysis software.
- Knowledge of anticonvulsant medications and their effects on the EEG as well as other frequently used pharmaceuticals.
- Ability to adapt neurodiagnostic devices, parameters, and procedures to complex, unusual, and often critical situations.
Preferred Experience: Experience doing routine EEGs on inpatient and outpatients, portable EEGs, EEGs and monitoring in ICUs, Long term EEGs. Certification as EEG tech preferred. Experience doing evoked potentials also preferred.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit
https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.