Summary The Surgical Technician (ST) is a member of the surgical team who provides an assistance to the surgeon and other team members during surgical procedures. The Surgical Technician participates with the surgical team members in planning and implementing complex procedures under the general supervision of the surgical team. Responsibilities Duties include, but are not limited to: Functions as a primary scrub person responsible for handling instruments, supplies, specimens, and equipment during all surgical procedures such as but not limited to: open heart, thoracic, major vascular, neurosurgery, microsurgery, total joint replacement surgery, robotics, endovascular, and minimally invasive surgery. Assists circulating nurse with patient care during each phase of perioperative interventions, such as gathering equipment and supplies, opening sterile items, setting up the surgical field, patient transferring and positioning, providing comfort measures, monitoring and maintaining sterility pre- and intra-operatively, staying inside the OR from the time of sterile field set-up to the time of patient transfer out of the OR to ensure the integrity of the sterile environment, and participating in patient care activities related to induction of and emerging from anesthesia. Functions as laser technician (operator) within the operating room environment monitoring compliance with organization's policy and procedures, supervising usage and safety, documenting treatment parameters, and reports any adverse outcomes to Nurse Manager and Laser Safety Officer. Assists the surgeon by performing such procedures as preparing skin grafts, suctioning, holding retractors, and cutting sutures Prepares prosthesis, surgical devices during procedures and calibrates instruments/equipment in the sterile field. Assists in training residents, medical students, nursing students, operating room technology students, and new Operating Room (OR) staff in the operation of equipment, sterile technique, handling of instruments, and OR procedures to include the scrub role in surgical procedures. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 40 hours per week; 7:00am-5:30pm 11 :00am-7: 30pm 1 :00pm-9:30pm, rotating ON CALL - off hours, holidays and weekends. Position Description Title/PD#: Surgical Technician/PD08050A Physical Requirements: Duties regularly require providing manual assistance in lifting, positioning, and transporting patients, majority of whom will be at different level of consciousness related to anesthesia. Duties regularly require lifting and/or moving instrument trays, equipment, medical devices, and supplies. There are extensive periods of regular and recurring standing, walking, bending, lifting, pushing, reaching, and prolonged stretching to provide easy accessibility of instruments and supplies for the surgeon. Incumbent must be 6 dexterous in passing instruments to surgeons without compromising principles of aseptic technique and in a manner requiring little or no effort from the surgeon. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. GS-07 grade level: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-06 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Individual Occupational Requirements: Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists. Therefore, technician experience is experience that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled. In addition to the IOR you may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 1) Develops new insights into situations and applies innovative solutions to make organizational improvements; designs and implements new or cutting-edge programs/processes. 2) Specifies goals and obstacles to achieving those goals, generates alternatives, considers risks, and evaluates and chooses the best alternative in order to make a determination, draw conclusions or solve a problem. 3) Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations. OR Applicants may substitute education for the experience required for the GS-07 level. One (1) full year of graduate education related to the field to meet the requirements for the GS-7 level. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. NOTE: A transcript (unofficial or official) must be submitted if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Applications submitted without this information will not be considered. OR Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at the GS-07 level. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-07. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Preferred Experience: If you have this experience, please ensure it is noted in your resume. BLS 2 years recent OR experience with complex cases (Robotic, Neurosurgery, Orthopedic, ENT, Thoracic, Laparoscopy, Vascular, Plastic, GYN) 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. Education Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education.Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information. Additional Information Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information. The following will be communicated to applicants for VA employment in a testing designated position and will also be included in all VA vacancy announcements for such positions: All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drugs use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/. Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.