This position is located in the Infection Prevention Department reporting to Manager, Infection Prevention. The incumbent of this position is responsible for a high-profile Infection Prevention and Control Program with interaction within all the Medical Center service lines. And with institutional oversight for various accreditation, regulatory, agency, and local public health liaison activities. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/26/2024. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. Interchange Agreement: Applicants must be eligible under the VA Interchange Agreement, having served continuously for at least one year in the other merit system under this interchange agreement. For more information regarding the VA Interchange Agreement please visit: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: This position has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): 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(external link) at the time the degree was obtained. Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: An ideal candidate will have prior experience as an infection preventionist or an infection control coordinator;. Familiarity with National Health Safety Network/Inpatient Evaluation Center standards is optimal. Candidates should be familiar with data collection and analysis and comfortable using data to make plans or recommendations for the medical center. NOTE: Your experience must be fully documented in your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Critical Thinking Infection Control Systems Thinking 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. Preferred Experience: a Masters degree in Public Health is preferred 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: This position requires extensive travel between wards, microbiology laboratory, clinics, and medical center offices. Travel outside the medical center is also necessary especially to the nursing home and domiciliary facilities as well as outpatient clinic care facilities within the geographic responsibilities of the MC. The position requires walking for completion of a variety of inspections/rounds related to survey readiness and general isolation and policy adherence observations. The position requires completion of inspections/rounds in non-finished construction areas to survey readiness, adherence to appropriate infection prevention controls, and assess areas for occupancy. 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/. ["These duties include but are not limited to: Infection Prevention and Control Program Implementation Participates in the ongoing operations of the Medical Center's Infection Prevention and Control Program, working with Infectious Disease physicians and others as appropriate to develop guidelines, actions items and data collection procedures. Responsible for the detection, prevention, and prediction of nosocomial infections in the MC. In addition, the incumbent collaborates with others in the design, conduct and analysis of other epidemiological studies. Participates in activities to assist in the compliance of the Medical Center to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. Participates in the development of innovative approaches to implementing and assessing the efficacy of programs for the MC designed to prevent hospital-associated infections. Examples of such projects are the influenza immunization program, hand hygiene campaigns, construction risk assessment, and the needlestick prevention program. Reviews and recommends products for use in cleaning and disinfection of equipment and environmental surfaces. Surveillance Implements developed surveillance techniques to track and predict the occurrence of nosocomial infections. Educates staff regarding the potential for transmission of identified pathogens. Identifies patients requiring isolation, places patients in appropriate category of isolation. Recommends the use of isolation procedures in accordance with MC and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. Educates staff regarding isolation techniques and their relevance to the transmission of infection. Independently gathers data on healthcare associated infections and assembles it for presentation including graphic display and analysis based on up-to-date infection prevention and control practice. Surveys the Medical Center, Community Living Center (CLC), Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC) and other outpatient points of care environments for potential foci of infection. Identifies outbreaks of nosocomial infection and conducts outbreak investigations. Develops and maintains electronic records of nosocomial infections the MC. Notes case clustering and identifies unusual pathogens independently. Communicates with HES peers regarding the occurrence of nosocomial infections in the CC. Customer Service Provides knowledge, direction and support through educational programs, training, and consultation regarding the complex issues surrounding the safe provision of care of patients with blood-borne infectious diseases, including HIV infection. Synthesizes currently available data and, through continuing studies, provides additional data relevant to these issues. Provides professional consultative support to the medical, nursing and ancillary staff of the MC regarding clinical research projects in the field of hospital epidemiology; assists researchers with study design, data collection, management, and analysis pertinent to the conduct of epidemiological studies. Infection Prevention and Control Program Planning/Education Designs techniques to be used in evaluating the efficacy of educational, prevention, and surveillance programs, and advises the Hospital Epidemiologist accordingly, through the use of program review, observation, and user feedback. Collects and tracks colonization and infection data through passive and active surveillance, using electronic tools, microbiology records, chart review, rounds, and multidisciplinary communication. Assists in assembling metrics for reporting to hospital committees, departments, and boards. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Science Specialist/PD931560 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized"]
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,321 health care facilities, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,138 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services such as organ transplants and plastic surgery.
