Inpatient Health Technician

Inpatient Health Technician

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Salt Lake City, Utah

Salary Range: $44959 - $64952 Per Year

Job Summary: The VA Salt Lake City Health Care System is looking for an Inpatient Health Technician located at the Salt Lake City VA Medical Center. The incumbent serves as an advanced technician within the Mental Health Care Setting for patients who present for treatment and reports to the Nurse Manager.

Major Duties:

• Duties include, but are not limited to the following: Participates in the admission of patients by obtaining information, orienting patients to the unit and treatment team, obtaining vital signs and weight and checking patients and their belongings for hazardous items. Obtain patient vital signs, document in the EHR, and report any vitals outside of normal range to licensed staff member. Observations and interventions. Examples: oxygen therapy, thermal regulation, ambulation, oral care, and assist with ADL's. Performs standard diagnostic tests or procedures such as removing peripheral IV's, electrocardiograms, bladders scan, and finger-sticks for glucose determination. Operates specialized equipment such as defibrillators, electrocardiographs, bladder scans, electrocardiographic monitors, and oxygen apparatus according to training/competencies and national/local policy. Specimen collections and Preparation such as collecting and labeling urine, stool, and mucous specimens. Patient transport such as transporting patients with cardiac monitor or assisting licensed staff with patients on cardiac monitoring, chest tube, or other complex medical support devices to and from diagnostic tests or between hospital units. Delivery of meals and/or snacks and assists with eating as needed. Encourages independence in patients by instructing, guiding and assisting patients as needed in activities of daily living. Applies non-sterile hot/cold compresses, packs, and soaks and utilizes equipment that provides heating or cooling as directed by provider. Assists in behavioral/psychiatric situations within the acute care setting. This can include assisting licensed personnel with crisis intervention, assisting with observation and documentation of aggressive or suicidal psychiatric patients by providing one-to-one observations and applying Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior (PMDB) techniques. Completes unit rounds and patient safety checks. Demonstrates acceptable behavior as a role model for patient behavior. Encourages patient and family to actively participate in the individualized treatment plan. Encourages positive patient-family relationships. Teaches patients and family members the necessity of continuing proper health care. Provides general clerical administrative support coordination work for the unit. Maintains patient records/charts. Other duties as assigned. 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: Varying nights, weekends and holidays Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Inpatient Health Technician/PD12975A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized 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, 11/19/2025. Health Aid and Technician Series, 0640 Individual Occupational Requirements: Specialized Experience (for positions at GS-4 and above): 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. OR, Education and Training For GS-3: Successful completion of l year of study that included study in medical, health, or related fields. For GS-4: Successful completion of 2 years of study that included at least 12 semester hours in subjects related to the position. For GS-5: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position In ADDITION to meeting the IOR Requirement the Health Technician 0640 Series requires Specialized Experience to be met as well. Specialized Experience: You must have one-year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of medical terminology for the human body, physical and emotional reactions, nursing care, and skill sufficient to provide and gather information in patient care/family conferences and communicate effectively with the healthcare team. Practical knowledge of major body systems to perform patient examination and to provide prompt and efficient patient care and appropriate patient handling. Thorough knowledge of regulations pertaining to the appropriate release of information from patient records. Knowledge and skill sufficient to change sterile and non-sterile dressing and to maintain the sterile conditions of medical supplies. Working knowledge of diagnostic signs, e.g. pulse, respiration , blood pressure, temperature, skin color, pupils of the eyes, state of consciousness, ability to move on command, reaction to pain etc. Specialized Experience GS-07: 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: Knowledge of medical terminology for the human body, physical and emotional reactions, nursing care, and skill sufficient to provide and gather information in patient care/family conferences and communicate effectively with the healthcare team. Practical knowledge of major body systems to perform patient examination and to provide prompt and efficient patient care and appropriate patient handling. Thorough knowledge of regulations pertaining to the appropriate release of information from patient records. Knowledge and skill sufficient to change sterile and non-sterile dressing and to maintain the sterile conditions of medical supplies. Working knowledge of diagnostic signs, e.g. pulse, respiration , blood pressure, temperature, skin color, pupils of the eyes, state of consciousness, ability to move on command, reaction to pain etc. Knowledge of medications sufficient to properly administer drugs even when direct to do so by licensed staff. Knowledge of proper dosages required in keeping with method of administration. Knowledge of equipment terminology; familiarity with drug terminology; and supply terminology and skills that are sufficient to identify and use equipment, drugs, and supplies properly, and to communicate proper use. 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/12831041. 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, 11/19/2025. 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: 2025-11-19