Supervisory Health Technician (Ophthalmology)

Ophthalmology Technicians in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) perform functions such as technical clinical care to patients who have received care provided by Ophthalmologists for diagnosis, treatment, prevention, follow-up care and patient counseling. The Technician performs screening procedures such as patient history, pupil responses, visual acuity, and color vision testing. Supervisory Technicians may assume administrative, multidisciplinary and personnel duties.

**Qualifications:**
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. English Language Proficiency: Health Technicians (Ophthalmology) must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) and 38 U.S.C. 7407(d). Experience and Education: Experience: One year of experience in a health care field, such as but not limited to nursing, medical assistant, or health technician. OR Education: Two years above high school with a minimum of six semester hours directly related to a health care field or associate's degree in a health care related degree. OR Experience/Education Combination: Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying. Examples are listed below: Six months of experience in the health care field; and one year above high school; or Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, medical service specialists, or ophthalmology technicians given by the U.S. Armed Forces; or Six months of experience in the health care field and completion of an independent study course in Ophthalmic Medical Assisting Certification: All applicants must be certified as a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA) with the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO). The COA certification is JCAHPO's entry-level certification examination for a Health Technician (Ophthalmology). 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). Grade Determinations: Supervisory Health Technician (Ophthalmology), GS-10: Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-9). GS-9 level experience includes: Demonstrated leadership and managerial skills, and skills in interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team leaders, providers, and managers; Ability to perform the full range of supervisory duties, which includes responsibility for assignment of work to be performed; performance evaluations; selection of qualified staff; and recommendation of awards, advancements, and, when appropriate, disciplinary actions; and Ability to plan, organize, coordinate clinical work flow, set short and/or long term goals for the section, and conduct studies on technical and administrative problems, including personnel shortages, organizational structure, and new technology. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA): In addition to meeting the all KSAs for the GS-10 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate the potential to acquire the assignment-specific KSA designated by an asterisk (*) Ability to work independently to set priorities, delegate tasks, meet multiple deadlines, analyze organizational problems, and develop and implement effective solutions to optimize quality, efficiency, performance, and productivity within the service; Ability to develop policy, manage equipment requests, and provide workload analysis in Ophthalmology Service; Demonstrated leadership and managerial skills including skill in interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team members, managers and other departments; *Ability to perform the full range of supervisory duties which includes responsibility for assignment of work to be performed; competency assessments; performance evaluations; selection of staff; and recommendation of awards, advancements, and when appropriate, disciplinary actions. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-10. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-10 Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.