Health Tech(Ophthalmolgy)

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.

English Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in written and spoken English.

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).

Creditable Experience

• Knowledge of Current Health Technician (Ophthalmology) Practice. To be creditable, the experience must have demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with a health care field or knowledge, skills, and abilities related to the current occupation. Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid or non-paid employment in the health care field.
• Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to Health Technician (Ophthalmology) experience at the next lower grade level of the position being filled. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.
• Part-time Experience. Part time experience as a Health Technician (Ophthalmology) is creditable according to its relationship to the full time work week. For example, a Health Technician (Ophthalmology) employed 20 hours per week, or on a ½ time basis, would receive one full-time work week credit for each two weeks of service.

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 for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Health Technician (Ophthalmology), GS-8 (Full Performance Level)

• Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-7 grade level.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs (on resume...NO assumptions will be made):
  • Ability to perform advanced tonometry and pupil evaluation;
  • Ability to perform calculations for selection of intraocular lens;
  • Knowledge of clinic based ophthalmic surgical assisting;
  • Knowledge of eye anatomy and physiology;
  • Knowledge of medication effects and proper instillation in the eye;
  • Knowledge of optics; and
  • Knowledge of proper cleaning and maintenance of clinic equipment.

References: ???????VA Handbook 5005/98 February 7, 2018 Part II, Appendix G52, Health Technician (Ophthalmology) Qualification Standard, GS-0640

The full performance level of this vacancy is G-8. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-08.

Physical Requirements: The work requires some physical exertion such as prolonged periods of standing, bending, reaching, crouching, stooping, stretching, and lifting moderately heavy items such as manuals, record boxes, equipment or assisting patients. The work requires above average agility and dexterity.