Health Technician (Audiology & Speech Language Pathology)

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Columbia (SC); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Columbia VA Health Care System is seeking an Audiology Technician to support audiology and speech pathology services across the medical center and CBOCs.

You will assist licensed professionals and help with patient care and testing procedures. Responsibilities include patient triage, setup for procedures, cerumen management, ear impressions, hearing aid maintenance, and basic screening tasks.

Qualifications

• U.S. citizenship required; non-citizens per VA policy.
• One year progressive experience or two academic years above high school with related courses.
• HTA - HTSLP or HTASLP must be proficient in English.

Responsibilities

• Greeting and escorting patients throughout facility.
• Triaging patients to an audiologist based on procedure complexity.
• Prepare patients for vestibular, neurodiagnostic, or swallowing evaluations.
• Conduct hearing pass/fail screenings without interpretation.
• Non-diagnostic oto-scopy and cerumen management.
• Take earmold impressions and hearing aid maintenance.
• Listening checks and electroacoustic analysis of devices.
• Programming stored settings and Bluetooth pairing for aids.
• Work Monday to Friday 7:30am-4:00pm; telework not available.

Skills

Mentor HTASLPs

Prepare patients for advanced testing

Identify dysphagia risk factors

Linguistic parameter knowledge

Program development for audiology/SLP

Experience with evoked potentials

Education

Two academic years above high school with related courses or associate/bachelor degree

Job description

SummaryAudiology & Speech Pathology is located within the Columbia VA Health Care System - main medical facility WJB Dorn Hospital or the Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs). The duties of this position are conducted through the medical center including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the service. The incumbent serves under the Supervisory Speech Pathologist or Audiologist with direction from the licensed professional staff (Audiologist or Speech Language Pathologist).

SummaryAudiology & Speech Pathology is located within the Columbia VA Health Care System - main medical facility WJB Dorn Hospital or the Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs). The duties of this position are conducted through the medical center including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the service. The incumbent serves under the Supervisory Speech Pathologist or Audiologist with direction from the licensed professional staff (Audiologist or Speech Language Pathologist).

Qualifications

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

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
• Experience and Education
• Six months of experience comparable to the next lower level which demonstrates the knowledge - skills and abilities related to the duties of the position to be filled
• OR Education
• Successful completion of two academic years above high school leading to an associate degree or a bachelor's degree with at least 12 semester hours in courses related to the position
• OR Experience/Education Combination
• Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying
• An example of a combination of experience/education is three months of experience comparable to the next lower level which demonstrates the knowledge - skills and abilities related to the duties of the position to be filled and one year above high school with a minimum of 6 semester hours related to the health care industry
• English Language Proficiency
• HTA - HTSLP or HTASLP candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C.
• 7403 (f)
• 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment - the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates
• Experience
• Completion of one year of progressive experience and/or experience equivalent to the next lower grade level directly related to the position being filled
• Requirements at the GS-7: Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills and Abilities (KSAs)
• In addition to the experience above - the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: Ability to mentor and train new HTASLPs
• Ability to prepare patients for advanced testing procedures performed by the audiologist - such as evoked potentials
• Ability to identify the diagnosis and dysphagia risk factors in the medical record to assist the SLP
• Ability to identify the components of dysphagia monitoring
• Knowledge of linguistic parameters such as semantic - syntactic and phonological categories - to assist in creating therapeutic stimuli and home programs
• Ability to develop and implement the technician role for a program in a focused area of audiology and/or speech-language pathology
• Preferred Experience: Previous Audiology Technician or Assistant experience
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the GS - 7
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Duties

• Major Duties include: Greeting and escorting patients throughout facility
• Triaging patients to an audiologist based on complexity of the procedures being completed
• Patient set up for procedures (e.g. - vestibular - neurodiagnostic procedures - instrumental swallowing evaluations) Patient instruction and counseling on hearing loss/hearing aids - diet thickeners/safe swallowing skills - either on an individual basis or in a group setting
• Conducting hearing pass/fail screenings without interpretation
• Non-diagnosticotoscopy
• Cerumen management
• Taking earmold impressions
• Hearing aid troubleshooting and repair
• Providing basic hearing aid information for patients and caregivers
• Performing listening checks on hearing aids
• Electroacoustic analysis of devices
• Pairing hearing aids and accessories via Bluetooth technology
• Programming previously stored settings into hearing aids
• Activating remote controls
• Preparing swallow study materials for instrumental evaluation
• The incumbent at this level is required to have the knowledge - skills - and abilities to develop and implement the technician role for a program in a focused area of audiology & speech
• All other duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday
• 7:30am - 4:00pm Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 61506F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized