Health Technician - Critical Care

Health Technician - Critical Care

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Salary Range: $49765 - $64689 Per Year

Job Summary: The incumbent will be assigned to work in the Critical Care Service Line (CCSL) of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS). The incumbent will be supervised by the Critical Care Technician Supervisor. The Healthcare Technician in the Critical Care (CCT) is a highly specialized position, providing both clinical and administrative support while performing duties traditionally done by multiple staff in other services and sections.

Major Duties:

• Duties include but are not limited to the following: Performs venipunctures, labels and sends specimens to lab Obtain blood cultures via venipuncture and/or CVAD which is a task specific to CCTs only. Performs glucometer checks and notifies assigned RN or provider of results. Performs 12 lead EKGs and gives printout to RN to provide to physician. Responds and assists with codes in the CCSL. Obtains and immediately delivers blood products from blood bank to assigned RN. Performs or assists RN with personal care, such as body and oral hygiene, dressing/undressing, and toileting/elimination-ensuring patient privacy at all times. Assist RN in patient care. The incumbent will be required to assist in patient care as directed to include but not limited to dressing changes, triage, turning and positioning of patients, enema administration, postmortem care and morgue transfers. Performs or assists RN with search and inventory of patient belongings. Assists with transfers and ambulation of patients. Provides direct observation for both suicidal/homicidal patients, as well as those patients requiring direct observation for safety (e.g., fall or elopement risk). Answer call lights and communicates patients' needs to assigned RN or Charge Nurse. Assists with meal set-up and/or feeds patients as needed also assists with utensil counts when needed. Measures and records the following vital signs in Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) vital signs package and notifies assigned RN or provider: Temperature (oral and rectal), pulse, respirations, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and pain level. Measures and empties urine output from urinary catheters and notifies RN or provider. Collects and sends routine urine, stool, and sputum specimens. Transports patients, as directed, to designated areas. Cleans dirty reusable medical device (RMD). Reviews for expired stocks and supplies. Performs other duties as assigned. Routinely displays courteous and respectful behavior to all customers. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: rotating tours of duty to include weekends, off-tours and holidays Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician - Critical Care/PD09782A and PD00591A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/02/2025. 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-4 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-04 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: Ability to provide technical assessments/measurements such as blood pressure, respirations, oral and axillary temperature, weight, and pulse under the close observation of a supervisor. Ability to observe, escort, transfer, and ambulate patients under the close supervision of peers. Able to interpret instruction by Registered Nurse staff. General customer service skills in relation to patient care . OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 4 year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond . Successfully completed the equivalent combination of post-high school education in excess of the first 60 semester hours (beyond the second year) and specialized experience as described above, which meet the total experience requirements for this grade level. Transcripts must be submitted at time of application. 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/.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the application questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12832415. The application process is as follows: To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 12/02/2025. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. NOTE: Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit.

Application Deadline: 2025-12-02