Health Science Specialist (Infection Prevention Program Manager)

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/17/2024. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Individual Occupational Requirements – Basic Requirement: Education – Bachelor’s or graduate/higher level degree: Major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U. S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. NOTE: A copy of your transcript must be submitted with your application. In addition to Individual Occupational Requirements, you may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-9) in the Federal Service, that is directly related to the work of the position and has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties as a Health Science Specialist. Qualifying specialized experience includes: 1) Developing infection prevention and control program guidelines and data collection procedures; 2) Participating in projects to analyze the exposure to/identification of hazards to assess the efficacy of programs in preventing hospital-associated infections (infection prevention activities, environmental and construction risk assessments, needlestick prevention program); 3) Conducting preliminary evaluations to determine nature of common/uncommon healthcare associated infection problems; 4) Developing surveillance techniques to track and predict nosocomial infections. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year, start/end dates AND hours worked per week; OR Education: Successfully completed three (3) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree, or Ph.D., or equivalent doctoral degree in a related field of the position to be filled. The education portion must include courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. Education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation; OR Combination: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (beyond the 2 years) and specialized experience as described above, to meet the total experience requirements. The education portion must include graduate courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. Experience must be clearly indicated in your resume. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communications Health Risk Analysis Internal Controls Organizational Awareness Project Management Technical Competence 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Position requires walking to complete a variety of inspections/rounds (to include non-finished construction areas) related to survey readiness, general isolation and policy adherence observations and appropriate infection prevention controls as well as assess areas for occupancy throughout the medical center between wards, microbiology laboratory, clinics, offices, and other physical plant locations. Travel outside the medical center to off-site locations CBOCs, clinics, and administrative locations within the catchment area. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management’s website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
The Health Science Specialist position is located in the Quality, Safety, and Value (QSV) Service under the Office of the Medical Director, Overton Brooks VA Medical Center, Shreveport, Louisiana. The Health Science Specialist will serve as the Infection Prevention Program Manager (IPPM).