This position is located in the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center, West Palm Beach, Florida. The incumbent Accepts and supports the guiding principles of this Medical Center. Performs assigned duties in a manner that promotes quality health care, outstanding customer service, and the maintenance of an environment committed to serving the veteran.

Duties

The position of Echocardiography Technician is established to perform and valuate M-Mode, 2 dimensional, 3 dimensional and continuous wave and Colo Doppler Echocardiographic studies and Transesophageal echocardiography. The incumbent must ensure compliance with VA regulations, JCAHO standards and other regulatory agencies. The employee must possess the personal qualities, desire, and attitude necessary to adapt to rapidly changing demands on time and an ability to quickly acquire needed skills to perform assigned tasks. The purpose of the position is to improve the quality and timeliness by which basic services are delivered to the patients.

Requirements

Qualifications

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. Education. There are no specific educational requirements for this occupation. Education may be substituted for experience only at the GS-4 and GS-5 levels. See the grade requirements part of this standard for information regarding educational substitutions. Licensure or Certification. Licensure or Certification is not required for this occupation; however, it is strongly desirable at GS-6 or above as evidence of possession of the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities. For certain functional areas at the higher levels or supervisory assignments, specific certifications appropriate to the specialty are indicated in this standard under "Titles and Certification/Registrations". For all specialties identified in this standard, Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support certifications are desirable. Training which does not result in official certification does not meet this definition. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019. English Language Proficiency. Medical Instrument Technicians must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with chapter 2, section D, paragraph 5a, this part. 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). Details on the Grandfathering Provision are in the assessment questionnaire section of this announcement. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements, you must also meet the grade level requirements. Echocardiography Technicians operate diagnostic equipment to graphically record the position and motion of the heart walls or the internal structure of the heart and neighboring tissue by the echo obtained from beams of ultrasonic waves directed through the chest wall. Registration is offered by Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI), as a Registered Cardiac Sonographer (RCS) or by the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS) as a Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer (RDCS). GS-6 (a) Experience. At least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (b) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: MUST demonstrate ALL of these on your resume. 1. Knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the heart and great vessels. 2. Knowledge of cardiac arrhythmias and their relationship to hemodynamic conditions of the cardiac cycle. 3. Knowledge of basic cardiac ultrasound physics and the acoustic mechanisms by which high quality cardiac images are obtained. 4. Ability to set up and adjust the ultrasound equipment to meet the conditions of the examination and the patient and to operate the equipment for standardized, routine procedures. 5. Ability to interact with patients explaining procedures and positioning the patient for the procedure. (c) Certification. Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) certification is desirable. GS-7 (a) Experience. At least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. This would be experience which provided the individual with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to independently conduct difficult but standardized echocardiographic examinations. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (b) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: MUST demonstrate ALL of these on your resume. 1. Ability to scan transthoracic echocardiograms in all views with colorflow and some Doppler. 2. Ability to conduct cardiac testing to determine the severity and variety of cardiac problems, i.e., valvular dysfunction, myocardial wall kinesia, effusions, endocardial lesions, etc. 3. Knowledge of the set-up for transesophageal echocardiograms. 4. Ability to set up and adjust the ultrasound equipment to meet the conditions of the examination and the patient and to operate the equipment for more complex, but standardized procedures. (c) Certification. Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certifications are desirable. GS-08 (a) Experience. At least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. This would be experience which provided the overall knowledge, skills, and abilities to conduct diagnostic echocardiography examinations in complex and unusual cases. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (b) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: MUST demonstrate ALL of these on your resume. 1. Ability to produce diagnostic quality images and Doppler frequency shift recordings using M-mode, two-dimensional, pulsed and continuous wave Doppler spectral display, and color-flow Doppler imaging. 2. Knowledge of normal echocardiographic findings and deviations produced by a wide variety of cardiovascular diseases. 3. Ability to perform complex procedures such as cardiac studies of the four chambers of the heart and valves using sector scanning techniques to detect stenotic and incompetent valves, chamber enlargement, and pericardial effusion and cardiovascular studies deriving pressure gradients across obstructed valves, etc. 4. Ability to perform complementary ultrasonic examinations (including noninvasive) transthoracic, Bubble studies and contrast echocardiography, (invasive) stress echocardiography, and transesophageal echocardiography. 5. Ability to adapt transducer positioning, instrument controls, and examination techniques to the individual patient being studied and the problem being evaluated including recognizing pertinent abnormalities and documenting abnormal findings. (c) Certification. Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certifications are desirable. References: A Handbook 5005/117, Part II, Appendix G27, dated March 17, 2006. Medical Instrument Technician (Echocardiography) GS-0649. http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/Directives-Handbooks/Documents/5005.pdf this can be found in the local Human Resources Office. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS 8. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS 6 to GS 8. Physical Requirements: The work involves considerable bending, positioning of patients and heavy equipment, assisted lifting of patients in and out of bed, occasional lifting of small boxes and considerable effort in pushing the Echocardiogram machine to the intensive care units for portable studies. Looking at the echocardiographic monitor for an extended period of time is required.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address West Palm Beach VA Medical Center 7305 North Military Trail West Palm Beach, FL 33410 US
• Name: Kristen L. Johnson
• Phone: 813-816-7155 X100172
• Email: [email protected]