Lead Health Technician - Ophthalmology

Veterans Health Administration; Kernersville (NC); On-site; USD 52,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

Veterans Health Administration seeks a Lead Health Technician (Ophthalmology) at GS-9 to provide expert ophthalmic technical duties with independent judgment.

Qualifications include COA certification, citizenship and English proficiency. Experience or education requirements cover health care backgrounds and combinations thereof, per VA guidelines.

Qualifications

• One year of experience in a health care field.
• Two years above high school with related health care coursework or an associate's degree.
• Experience/education combinations as described in VA standards.

Skills

Team guidance

Effective communication

Outcomes planning

Liaison between technicians

Education

Associate's degree in health care field

Two years above high school with related health care coursework

Job description

Ophthalmology Technicians in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) support Ophthalmologists in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, follow-up care and patient counseling. At the GS-9 Lead Level, the Health Technician (Ophthalmology) performs difficult ophthalmic technical duties with considerable latitude for the exercise of independent judgment.

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.
• English Language Proficiency: Health Technicians (Ophthalmology) must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) and 38 U.S.C. 7407(d).
• Experience and Education
  • Experience. One year of experience in a health care field, such as but not limited to nursing, medical assistant, or health technician. OR
  • Education. Two years above high school with a minimum of six semester hours directly related to a health care field or associate's degree in a health care related degree. OR
  • Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying. Examples are listed below:
    • Six months of experience in the health care field; and one year above high school; or
    • Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, medical service specialists, or ophthalmology technicians given by the U.S. Armed Forces; or
    • Six months of experience in the health care field and completion of an independent study course in Ophthalmic Medical Assisting.
• Certification: All applicants must be certified as a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA) with the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO). The COA certification is JCAHPO's entry-level certification examination for a Health Technician (Ophthalmology).

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).

Creditable Experience:

• Knowledge of Current Health Technician (Ophthalmology) Practice. To be creditable, the experience must have demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with a health care field or knowledge, skills, and abilities related to the current occupation. Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid or non-paid employment in the health care field.
• Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to Health Technician (Ophthalmology) experience at the next lower grade level of the position being filled. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.
• Part-time Experience. Part time experience as a Health Technician (Ophthalmology) is creditable according to its relationship to the full time work week. For example, a Health Technician (Ophthalmology) employed 20 hours per week, or on a ½ time basis, would receive one full-time work week credit for each two weeks of service.

Grade Determinations:

Lead Health Technician (Ophthalmology), GS-9

• Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-8 grade level.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA).
  • Ability to work with a team to provide technical guidance, plan, organize, and coordinate activities of a Health Technician (Ophthalmology) in order to effectively complete job duties of assignment such as distributing workload, monitoring the status and progress of work, monitoring accuracy of work, etc.;
  • Ability to communicate effectively in order to meet program objectives. This may include preparing reports in various formats and presenting data to various organizational levels;
  • Ability to assist in Health Technician (Ophthalmology) development, outcome management, and strategic planning; and
  • Ability to act as liaison between Health Technicians (Ophthalmology) to resolve informal employee complaints and concerns.

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-9.

Physical Requirements:

See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.