Health Technician

Duties

• Maintain an adequate supply of phlebotomy supplies and reports shortages to logistics staff or the supervisor for resolution
• Ensure that only in-date supplies are used - rotate supplies appropriately to minimize waste and discard expired supplies appropriately (biohazard - sharps - or routine waste containers)
• Collects and processes blood and body fluid specimens - ensuring safety and non-traumatic processes are used with critical concern for the patient and the quality of the specimen with a minimal number of failures - patient bruising - or required re-sticks
• Identifies tests that require special handling conditions
• Demonstrates knowledge of principles - techniques - and practices of phlebotomy and requirement of blood collection for the various tests performed in the laboratory
• Adheres to safety - infection control and universal precautions always while collecting samples
• Processes specimens received for testing - which involves accessioning the specimens - determining the appropriate specimen preparation - and creating the manifest for specimens sent to main laboratory
• Uses laboratory equipment such as centrifuges - refrigerators - and freezers - in addition to consumables such as transfer pipettes - laboratory pour-off tubes and reference laboratory specimen containers
• Reviews orders in CERNER (PATHNET) to ensure all necessary orders are drawn
• Prepares specimens for pickup to ensure delivery of specimens and supplies arrive at the testing facility at the correct temperature for testing - intact in the container - without breakage or leakage - in the shortest possible time and in compliance with all applicable regulations
• Performs other duties as assigned

Qualifications

• To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement - 08/27/2026.
• This occupational series (0640) has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR).
• All applicants - regardless of grade level must meet minimum specialized experience requirements.
• Specialized Experience: 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.
• Education for GS-05: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree - with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position.
• English Language Proficiency: Direct patient care positions must be proficient in both spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) - and 7407(d).
• GS-06 grade level SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-05 level or pay band in the Federal service that includes performing the following duties: phlebotomy techniques such as capillary collection - blood culture collection - and venipuncture utilizing a syringe - butterfly - or vacutainer collection system; receiving and following through on patient requests for service - obtaining and reviewing patient medical records regarding clinic appointments - scheduling patient appointments - and determining eligibility for clinic appointments; recognizing and properly processing specimens using equipment and supplies in a variety of diagnostic procedures for the purpose of carrying out specimen collection - processing - or testing; evaluates operations - analyzes - and provides problem trend data - solutions - offers recommendations to all levels of management; adept at resolving problems - and knowledge of electronic medical records and hospital/laboratory computer systems is needed to promptly access correct lab orders - build lists - cancel tests - and add tests.
• OR - EDUCATION (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree - with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position.
• OR - COMBINATION: EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have successfully completed post-high school education (beyond the second year) and specialized experience - as described above - which meet the total qualification requirements for this grade level.

Promotion Potential

• The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory - qualification - and performance requirements are met

Physical Requirements

• The work for this position involves various physical demands requiring the employee to be versatile in the many functions performed
• These include sedentary work performed at a desk with intermittent standing - walking - bending - lifting - stooping - and stretching
• When transferring patients - providing patient care - the employee must practice good body mechanics to prevent injury to self and others
• The demands may be unpredictable requiring the incumbent to adjust accordingly
• Requires the ability to work under pressure - make sound decisions - and maintain composure in different situations if necessary
• Work is performed at a fast pace
• In many situations the duration of the activity (such as most of a workday) contributes to the arduous nature of the job

Work Schedule

• Monday - Friday - 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM PDT

Virtual

• This is not a virtual position