Health Technician

About the role

The Health Technician (HT) position is located at the Nonconnah VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Memphis, TN. The HT is a member of the PACT team and works under the direction of a Registered Nurse. The HT is responsible for observing, recording, and reporting changes in the patient's condition, as well as assisting in the development and ongoing revision of the patient-driven, holistic life care plan.

Demonstrated Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrate understanding of age and population specific characteristics that affect the health care needs of the Veteran.
• Promptly recognize urgent or emergent patient care situations, seeks assistance and effectively intervenes as directed when appropriate.
• Interact and communicate appropriately with patients and family members.
• Demonstrate professional behavior (i.e., respect others, collegiality, ability to accept constructive criticism), effective communication and interpersonal skills.
• Adhere to principles of infection control, safety, and universal precautions. Possess knowledge of proper handling and pre-cleaning of reusable medical equipment.
• Demonstrate competence utilizing special equipment needed to perform job duties.
• Follow policies and procedures related to fire and disaster drills, safety and security measures.
• Demonstrate initiative in assisting the core and expanded teams.
• Maintain confidentiality of electronic, written, and/or verbal patient information.

Job Requirements

• Must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization, or a combination of education and experience.
• Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
• Ability to plan effectively, set priorities, and coordinate activities.
• Basic knowledge of CPT-4 and ICD-10-CM coding.
• Knowledge of medical terminology and usage covering the full range of general medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, hospital-specific terms, medical abstracts, and abbreviations.
• Knowledge of anatomy and physiology to properly understand the major anatomical systems and related disease processes.
• Knowledge of the VA medical records program including medical record forms, filing sequences, formats, and content requirements.
• Ability to analyze and correlate laboratory test results, procedures, and treatments with diagnoses.
• Basic knowledge of coding classification systems and appropriate references.
• Knowledge of computer systems; VISTA, CPRS, word processing, spreadsheets, etc.

Education and Training

• To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Graduate education or an internship meets the specialized experience required above GS-5 only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position.
• One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the one year of full-time study requirement.
• Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended.

Additional Information

PLEASE 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.

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/.