Eye Technician

Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation (TCRHCC); Tuba City (AZ); On-site; USD 25,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

The Eye Technician position at TCRHCC in Tuba City, AZ supports eye services across the service unit. You will assist eye care providers, document in the EHR, prepare patients, and help with exam rooms and eyewear preparation while ensuring patient comfort and accurate data entry.

BLS certification required within 3 months; six months in eye/healthcare setting preferred. Navajo/English interpretation may be needed.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification by the American Heart Association, obtain within 3 months from date of hire.
• Six (6) months of experience in an eye or health care setting.
• Provide Navajo and English interpretation for doctors and patients as needed to answer questions and assist exams.

Responsibilities

• Performs screening and documentation into the EHR for patients, including visual acuity and measurements.
• Interprets Navajo and English for doctors and patients as needed during exams.
• Performs tests such as visual fields, tonometry, keratometry, and other ocular measurements as required.
• Inserts and prepares forms for eye doctor usage and documents findings in patient charts.
• Provides patient education on eyewear, medications, and exam results; assists with scheduling and reminders.

Skills

Positive working relationships

Ethical standards

Punctual

Dependable

Organizational skills

Interpersonal skills

Multi-tasking

Calm under pressure

Interview performance

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

Job Description

Navajo Preference Employment Act

In accordance with Navajo Nation and federal law, TCRHCC has implemented an affirmative Action Plan pursuant to the Navajo Preference in Employment Act. Pursuant to this Plan and corresponding TCRHCC Policy, applicants who meet the necessary qualifications for this position and (1) are enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, or San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe will be given preference in hiring and employment for this position, (2) are legally married to enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, or San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe and meet residency requirements will be given secondary preference, and (3) are enrolled members of other federally-recognized American Indian Tribes will be given tertiary preference.

Overview

POSITION SUMMARY

The Eye Technician position involves a variety of technician and occasional clerical duties for the Eye Services (TCRHCC Service Unit which includes both Tuba City, Sacred Peaks & Echo Cliffs). The position assists the providers & CSTs to increase the overall efficiency of the department & help with the patient experience & customer service. Duties include supporting eye examinations, helping with the accuracy of patient records and the maintenance of equipment, cleaning exam rooms & clinic, and eyeglass preparation. Requirements also include helping to create the patient note in the EHR, prepare patients before and after an examination by gathering medical history information, explaining the exam process, and administering tests to determine the visual capabilities of a patient, ophthalmic drop instillation. Additionally, certain clerical duties such as entering data into patient charts, recording providers’ orders, integrating test reports, keeping the department stocked with supplies, daily checking of expiration dates, completing the daily superbill charges and reports, charting medical data, and scheduling patient appointments, performing patient reminder calls are included in the duties.

Qualifications

NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Must have a high school diploma or GED

Certification

Must have and maintain current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification by the American Heart Association, if none, obtain within 3 months from date of hire

Experience

Must have six (6) months of experience in an eye or health care setting

Other Skills And Abilities

A record of satisfactory performance in all prior and current employment as evidenced by positive employment references from previous and current employers. All employment references must address and indicate success in each one of the following areas:

• Positive working relationships with supervisors, colleagues & demonstrated the ability to work as a collaborator
• Possession of high ethical standards and no history of complaints
• Reliable, punctual, and dependable; reports to work as scheduled without excessive absences
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills including the ability to manage interactions with difficult people
• Ability to multi-task efficiently and effectively
• Must be able to act calmly and effectively in a busy or stressful situation
• Completion of and, above-satisfactory scores on all job interviews, demonstrating to the satisfaction of the interviewees and TCRHCC that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job
• Successful completion of and positive results from all background and reference checks, including positive employment references from authorized representatives of past and current employers demonstrating to the satisfaction of TCRHCC a record of satisfactory performance and that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job
• Successful completion of fingerprint clearance requirements, physical examinations, and other screenings indicating that the applicant is qualified to be employed by TCRHCC and demonstrating to the satisfaction of TCRHCC that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job
• Submission of all required employment-related documents, applications, resumes, references, and other required information free of false, misleading, or incomplete information, as determined by TCRHCC.

MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EFFORT

The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical

Required frequent bending, reaching, repetitive hand movements, standing, walking, squatting, sitting, pushing, and pulling exerted continually throughout a regular work shift, carrying supplies and instruments up to 30 pounds unassisted. Must also be able to push and pull up to 50lbs daily. Manual dexterity is required in utilizing the instruments- ability with simple/firm grasping, fine manipulation and use of keyboard. Must be able to communicate clearly to patients in person and over the telephone; requires normal color vision and depth perception and visual acuity correctable to 20/20. Must also have ability of far vision, near vision, seeing fine details, hearing normal speech, and hearing overhead pages.

Mental

The work involves taking the initiative to carry out recurring assignments independently without specific instructions but refers problems and unfamiliar situations to supervisor for decisions or help. Requires the ability to multitask, prioritize and work with patients in an efficient and diplomatic manner. Must be able to continually concentrate, handle high degree of flexibility, handle multiple priorities in stressful situation, work in areas that are close and crowded, occasionally cope with high levels of stress, make decisions under high pressure, cope with anger/fear/hostility of others in a calm way, manage altercations, work alone and adapt to shift work. Must accept a flexible schedule to meet unit needs.

Environmental

May be exposed to communicable diseases and/or bodily fluids.

Responsibilities

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Performs screening & documenting into the EHR for patients including visual acuity, confrontation fields, inter-pupillary distance measurements and neutralization of the patient’s glasses by manual and automated lensometry. Records health history and primary complaint into patient chart. Prepares patients for examinations. Assists eye care professional in examination as required. Assists with procedures by preparing the patient, wiping the area clean before and after as per hospital protocol, preparing the room and instrument tray for procedure including positioning patient’s head and holding eyelids apart.
• Provide Navajo and English interpretation for doctors and patients as needed to answer patient questions, prepare patients for exams and to assist doctor and patient with exam, patient history, primary complaint, diagnosis, treatment, patient education and follow up.
• Performs other tests as requested by the eye care provider, such as but not limited to, visual fields (automated and manual), tonometry (non-contact), applanation, and tonopen, visual skills, depth perception, keratometry, autorefraction, OCT and color vision.
• Performs anterior and retinal photography to assist the eye doctor in photo documentation of ocular disease. Reports findings in patient charts. Instills diagnostic or therapeutic pharmacological agents in patient’s eyes for purpose of ocular evaluation or therapy in accordance with eye care provider’s instructions.
• Inserts and/or prepares applicable forms for eye doctor usage.
• Provides and assists patients of all ages, one-to-one, group, and community patient education, in Navajo and English, when necessary, relative to optical and ocular disease conditions; including, but not limited to, the proper use of ocular pharmacological agents, diagnoses, prognosis, follow-up, eyewear, adjustments of eyewear and instructions in insertion, removal and disinfection of contact lenses; will help do minor repairs of broken or damaged eyeglasses.
• Provides basic department orientation to student interns, other optometry technicians.
• Maintains a supply of patient education materials, order/replenish supplies and equipment, maintains unexpired supplies, and provides inventory.
• Always maintain professional appearance and personal conduct.
• Prepares correspondence and other paperwork related to the eye clinic necessities, such as travel, training, and requisitions. May also do scheduling for the eye clinic.
• Responsible for electronic health records data entry & daily superbill completion and necessary daily/weekly reconciliation reports.
• Ensure proper PPE is worn at all times while on duty including but not limited to, face mask, gloves, gown, isolation gown, NIOSH-approved N95 filtering facepiece respirator or higher, if available), and eye or face shield.
• Complete all donning and doffing tasks in a safe acceptable method and discard of used PPE accordingly. (see CDC website for most current updates)
• Complete task training for all routine cleaning and decontamination processes for all surfaces contaminated by a communicable disease to ensure a high level of patient, visitor, employee, and external customer satisfaction.
• Performs other related duties as necessary per supervisor such as scheduling or referrals.