Nursing Assistant

US Department of Veterans Affairs; Montgomery (AL); On-site; USD 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

The US Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking a Nursing Assistant to join its healthcare team. This entry-level position supports licensed staff in caring for patients across preventive, acute, sub-acute, chronic, maintenance, and hospice settings, performing basic personal care, charting, and supportive tasks.

Qualifications include U.S. citizenship, English proficiency, and either six months of general experience or one year of related education, or completion of a brief occupation-related

Qualifications

• Six months of general experience demonstrates ability to perform Nursing Assistant tasks.
• One year of education above high school with health care courses or related field.
• Completed training program of less than one year related to Nursing Assistant.

Skills

English language proficiency

Education

Six months of general experience

One year of education above high school with healthcare courses

Completion of an intensive occupation-related training course (<1 year)

Job description

The Nursing Assistant (NA) functions as a member of the nursing care team and assists licensed nursing staff in the care of patients/residents receiving preventive, acute, sub-acute, chronic, maintenance, and hospice care. The Nursing Assistant performs various representative tasks to provide a variety of personal nursing care, diagnostic support duties, therapeutic treatments, patient charting, and age-specific care. Provides basic customer-focused patient care for a select group of patients. 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.
• English Language Proficiency. NAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3.
• Experience or Education or Training.
  • Six months of general experience. Experience must demonstrate the ability to acquire the knowledge and skills to perform the work of a Nursing Assistant;
  • One year of education above high school with courses related to the Nursing Assistant occupation; OR,
  • Completion of an intensive, specialized, occupation-related training course of study or program of less than on year as Nursing Assistant may also meet in full the experience requirements for GS-3.
• Grandfathering Provisions. 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.

GS-5 Nursing Assistant (Full Performance Level):

• Experience. One year of progressively responsible assignments and experience equivalent to the GS-4 level which demonstrates knowledge, skills, and abilities that are directly related to the specific assignment. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the professional KSAs in subparagraph (c) below. OR,
• Education. Successful completion of a 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree that included 24 semester hours of courses related to health care or possession of a bachelor's degree. AND

• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs
  • Ability to assist in the full range of nursing care to patients/residents with physical and/or behavioral problems in a hospital, long term care or outpatient setting under the direction of a Registered Nurse and/or Licensed Vocational Nurse/Licensed Practical Nurse.
  • Ability to communicate orally with patients/residents, families, interdisciplinary team and other personnel. This includes serving as a preceptor to new Nursing Assistant by assisting with the coordination of their orientation and overseeing/assessing their practical experience while in a clinical setting.
  • Ability to recognize and react to emergent patient/resident care situations and intervene while waiting for assistance. For example, recognizing need for basic life support, controlling bleeding, and assisting with behavior crisis, etc.

Preferred Experience:

2-5 years of experience as a Certified Nursing Assistant in a inpatient setting.

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-5. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is the GS-5.

Physical Requirements:

This position requires visual acuity, keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity. This position requires potentially long periods of continuous walking, standing, stooping, sitting, bending, pulling, and pushing. Transferring patients and objects may be required. The Nursing Assistant may be exposed to infected patients and contaminated materials and may be required to don protective clothing in isolation situations or operative/invasive procedures. The Nursing Assistant may occasionally be exposed to patients who are combative secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders. The Nursing Assistant must be capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs.