Advanced Medical Technician

***THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. VETERANS PREFERENCE WILL BE CONSIDERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH 38 U.S.C. 7412.*** 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. a. Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with38 U.S.C. § 7407(a). b. Education. Candidates must meet the applicable educational requirements for certification. c. Certification. (1) Candidates must currently possess one of the appropriate certifications as a MLT granted by the following organizations. (a) American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) i. ASCP, Board of Certification. OR ii. ASCP, Board of Registry. OR (b) American Medical Technologists. OR (c) American Association of Bioanalysts. (2)Exception. Non-certified applicants who otherwise meet the eligibility requirements for certification may receive a temporary appointment up to the full performance level not to exceed two years as a graduate MLT under the authority of 38 U.S.C. § 7405(c)(2) without the option to extend. For grade levels above full performance level, the candidate must be certified in accordance with paragraph 4.c.(1) above. (3) Loss of Certification. Management officials, in collaboration with HR Office staff, must immediately relieve employees of the duties and responsibilities associated with the MLT occupation who fail to maintain the required certification, which may also result in separation from employment. 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). d. Grandfathering Provision: All individuals employed in VHA in this occupational series or in another occupational series performing the duties described in this qualification standard on the effective date of the qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade held, including positive education and licensure/trademark/registration/certification. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements in this standard but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: (1) Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to a lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. (2) Employees in an occupation requiring a licensure/certification/registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/certification/registration requirement before being promoted to those higher grade levels. (3) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of this qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of this standard. (4) Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation. (5) Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meets all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credential as a condition of employment. e. Foreign Education. Graduates of foreign MLT programs are considered to meet the basic education requirements if they have a current certification as described in subparagraph 4.c. f. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service. g. English Language Proficiency. MLT candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Grade Determinations: Advanced Medical Laboratory Technician, GS-07. (a) Experience. In addition to the basic requirements, candidates must possess one year of experience equivalent to the GS-06 grade level and demonstrate the KSAs below. Assignment-specific KSAs are designated with an asterisk (*) and are only required if that task is required of the position, as indicated in part (c) below. (b Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the KSAs i. – iv. and the advanced KSA as identified by the corresponding asterisk(s)if MLTs are assigned advanced MLT duties: i. Knowledge of concepts, principles, methodology of medical laboratory technology, regulatory and accrediting agency requirements and medicolegal requirements sufficient to perform complex diagnostic tests. ii. Skill in applying new scientific/technical developments and theories to laboratory testing. iii. Ability to work independently on a broad range of complex laboratory processes. iv. Ability to troubleshoot and repair specific/advanced complex laboratory equipment. v. *Knowledge of laboratory information technology (IT) systems including troubleshooting systems issues, interface requirements between new instruments and existing IT infrastructure and laboratory IT test development. vi. *Ability to convey knowledge of safety regulations and guidelines such as College of American Pathologists (CAP), Joint Commission and Occupational Safety and Health Administration along with continuing education and employee orientation to ensure staff compliance with safety requirements. vii. *Ability to plan and administer an ongoing continuing education program for the laboratory to meet accreditation standards. viii. *Ability to assist with quality management activities in the laboratory, including monitoring and evaluating quality in accordance with CLIA and CAP, conducting quality improvement activities and communicating quality management results. Assignments: MLTs at this level have a higher level of responsibility for technical oversight and are expected to independently carry out assigned tasks of considerable difficulty. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. They are responsible for performing difficult specialized tasks including, but not limited to, advanced blood banking (antibody titers, elutions), advanced microbiology (Mycobacterium (Acid Fast Bacillus) Identification and Sensitivities, Mycology Identification, Virology, Anaerobic Culture, Polymerase Chain Reaction testing), molecular testing, high complexity testing, recording workload statistics, quality management projects and obtaining data for validation studies. Advanced MLTs may be expected to independently operate the full range of laboratory functions at remote sites. Their duties consist of advanced operation, training and comprehensive troubleshooting of laboratory instruments and resolving any problems. MLTs at this level may act as key operators for specific instrumentation. Assignments paragraph continued the “How You Will Be Evaluated Section” (below). 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-7. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-7 to GS-7.
This position is located at Orlando VA Health Care System at Lake Nona, FL as an Advanced Medical Technician. The advanced MLT is responsible for performing difficult specialized tasks including but not limited to advanced blood bank (antibody titers, elution, etc.), advanced microbiology, anaerobic culture, polymerase chain reaction testing, molecular testing, high complexity testing, recording workload statistics, quality management projects and obtaining data for validation studies.