Medical Technician (Phlebotomy)

This position is located at the VA Northeast Indiana Health Care System (VANIHCS), within the Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Service. The primary purpose of this position is to collect and prepare specimens for analysis; and performs routine startup and maintenance procedures on approved instrumentation.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/30/2023.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-5 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-4. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows 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. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR (SCREEN-OUT) - A Selective Placement Factor has been identified for this position as experience performing phlebotomy/blood draws on human patients.
Applicants who do not meet the SPF are ineligible for further consideration.

MEDICAL TECHNICIAN GS-3
1. Education and Training
(a) a full-time training course of approximately a year's duration in a medical or clinical laboratory assistant (or technician) school that included instruction in chemistry, hematology, blood banking, and microbiology (including serology) and that, in addition, included supervised laboratory practice incident to the diagnostic process and the treatment of patients; or
(b) 1 year of study that included at least 6 semester hours in chemistry and/or biological science.
OR
2. General Experience. At least 6 months that includes the following:
(a) Any type of work that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work of the position, or
(b) experience that provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area of the occupation.
3. Combining Experience and Education: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience are also qualifying.
For GS-3, the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the 6 months' experience, combined with the applicant's education as a percentage of the 1 year of education that meets the above requirements, must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for GS-3.

MEDICAL TECHNICIAN GS-4
1. Education
(a) An associate-degree course of study of which the 2nd year of the 2-year program included successful completion of a training course of approximately a year's duration in a certified laboratory assistant school approved by a nationally recognized accrediting agency;
(b) 1 year of study that included 6 semester hours in chemistry and/or the biological sciences, plus successful completion of the training course as described in (a) above for GS-3; or
(c) 2 years of study that included at least 12 semester hours of chemistry and/or biological science course work that must have been directly related to the specialization of the position to be filled.
OR
2. Experience
a. General Experience. At least 6 months that includes the following:
(i) Any type of work that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work of the position, or
(ii) experience that provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area of the occupation.
b. Specialized Experience. At least 6 months that includes the following:
(i) Technical medical laboratory support work such as performing laboratory tests and examinations (chemical, microbiologic, hematologic and blood banking) and preparing reports of findings or
(ii) technical support work in a closely related field, e.g., biological laboratory technician work, that required application of the methods and techniques for the position to be filled.
3. Combining Experience and Education: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience are also qualifying.
For GS-4, the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the 1 year of experience, combined with the applicant's education as a percentage of the 2 years of education that meets the above requirements, must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.

MEDICAL TECHNICIAN GS-5
1. Education
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 appropriate to the position to be filled.
OR
2. Specialized Experience. At least 1 year, equivalent to at least GS-4, that includes the following:
(a) Technical medical laboratory support work such as performing laboratory tests and examinations (chemical, microbiologic, hematologic and blood banking) and preparing reports of findings or
(b) technical support work in a closely related field, e.g., biological laboratory technician work, that required application of the methods and techniques for the position to be filled.
3. Combining Experience and Education: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience are also qualifying.
For GS-5, only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. Two full academic years of study, or 60 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to 1 year of specialized experience.
The applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the 1 year of specialized experience, combined with the applicant's education as a percentage of the education that meets the above requirements, must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.


You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Attention to Detail
• Specimen Collection
• Technical Competence
• Technology Application

PREFERRED CERTIFICATION: Possess and maintain training in Basic Life Support (BLS) or Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) as appropriate to the provider's credentials (NOTE: Please submit a copy of your certification).

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.

Physical Requirements: Must have intact color vision. Work involves traveling to and from patient wards; prolonged periods of standing and bending over patients and/or control panels of analytic instruments; reaching, stooping and bending for supplies; carrying light to moderately heavy loads (specimen collection trays, reagents and supplies); and periods of data entry using keyboard and CRT.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-05. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-03 to GS-05.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Responsibilities:

This position involves a multi-grade career ladder. The major duties listed below represent the full performance level of GS-05 Medical Technician.

• Performs a variety of tasks such as collecting, processing and testing various specimen.
• Receives and prepares requests for testing and specimen collecting; verifies the accuracy and completeness of the request.
• Follows procedures for processing biological specimens; understands sample requirements for tests and clearly communicates those requirements.
• Verifies proper patient preparation, specimen collection, and specimen transport requirements for all reference laboratory tests.
• Separates and routes the specimens to the specific laboratory section that performs the testing.
• Recognizes emergency testing situations and takes necessary action to direct the specimens to the proper location.
• Processes all reference laboratory specimens according to strict guidelines to assure specimen integrity.
• Receives all specimens that are sent to commercial reference laboratories for testing.
• When required, draws blood via venipuncture from patients for requested laboratory tests. This includes using special drawing techniques, assuring that proper tubes are used, and the correct amount of blood is drawn.
• Conducts basic clerical duties, access patient orders, and collects specimen for testing both within internal laboratory and those referred to other laboratories.
• Receives telephone inquiries and communicating results to appropriate personnel.
• Ability to cope with stressful situations and troubleshooting to deal with problem samples.
• Ability to follow detailed instructions to operate various types of laboratory equipment (i.e. centrifuge and barcode reader).
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Promotion is at the discretion of the supervisor and is contingent upon satisfactory performance, availability of higher-level work, and availability of funds.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm to be adjusted for working rotating weekends and holidays.
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Medical Technician (Phlebotomy)/PD91435, PD91430, and PD91431
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

DESIGNATED DRUG-TESTING POSITION: Applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test result is received.

Salary : $33,906 - $49,009