Lead Medical Supply Technician (Sterile Processing)

Summary

The Lead Medical Supply Technician position is in the Sterile Processing Service at the VA Boston Healthcare System located at the West Roxbury, MA location. This position is full time at 40 hours per week.

Duties

The Lead Medical Supply Technician position provides sterilization, preparation, supply items and reusable medical equipment (RME) decontamination and distribution support for the medical center. Duties include, but are not limited to: Provides guidance and technician direction for accomplishing the work of the unit or team. Ensures work assignments of employees in the unit or team are carried out. Distributes and balances workload and tasks among employees. Revises work schedule to meet anticipated and unanticipated changes in the workload. Explains work requirements, methods and procedures, as needed, giving special instructions on difficult or different operations and answering technical questions about the task. Maintains a current knowledge and answers questions of other employees relating to procedures, policies and directives. Trains or arranges for the training of team members in the accomplishment of tasks or projects. Gives on-the-job training to new employees in accordance with established procedures and practices. Monitors and reports on the status and progress of work, checking on work in progress and reviewing completed work to see that the supervisor's instructions on priorities, methods, deadlines and quality assurance have been met. Checks the cleaning, reprocessing and distribution of technical medical equipment, material and instrumentation as deemed appropriate to assess the quality and quantity of work produced by each employee. Ensures that items are safe to use, delivered on time at the proper place, and in the correct condition to be properly used for VA patient care. Reports to the supervisor on performance, progress and training needs of employees, and on behavior problems. Resolves simple, informal complaints of employees and refers others, such as formal grievances and appeals, to the supervisor or an appropriate management official. Conducts inspection of the Decontamination area and to verify that proper techniques and processes are being followed by staff and that all equipment is working properly. Inspects to verify that all instrumentation is disassembled to the simplest form. Independently prepares the full range of trays and sets necessary to be used in wards, clinic areas, dental clinic and OR. Collects contaminated case carts and reusable medical equipment (RME) instruments from operating rooms as well as other clinics as required. Processes and sterilizes a wide variety of instrumentation, to include implant devices, in accordance with manufacturer's recommendations. Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf Medical Supply Aide and Technician: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Medical-Supply-Aide-Career-Flyer.pdf Work Schedule: Full-Time Monday-Friday 2:30pm-1:00am Telework: Not authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Functional Statement #: F02671 Notifications: This position is in the Excepted Service. This position is not in a Bargaining Unit. This position is covered by a special salary rate. Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. No award SF50's will be accepted. Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.

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: MSTs must be proficient in spoken and written English. Experience and/or Education: Experience: Six months of experience that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work or provides an understanding of the work; OR Education: One year above high school that included at least 6 semester hours in health care related courses such as sterile processing, nursing assistant, hospital corpsman, and operating room and surgical technician courses or other courses related to the position; OR Experience/Education Combination: Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are acceptable. Foreign Education: To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education must have been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U. S. programs. Grandfather Provision: A Medical Supply Technician (MST) employed in VHA on the effective date of the qualification standard (May 28, 2014) are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements required in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees who are converted to Title 38 Hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation. GS 7 Experience: Have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-6). Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to: Receiving contaminated critical and semi-critical RME in the decontamination area; disassembling the RME and determining the correct cleaning method, such as but not limited to ultrasonic cleaners, mechanical washers, cart washers and chemical cleaning/decontamination agents, as determined by manufacturer instructions; inspecting, assembling and determining the correct method and packaging for sterilization such as but not limited to steam, Sterrad, Steris, ETO, and high level disinfecting scope reprocessors; performing and documenting daily operational checks and records for all sterilization equipment. Assignment: The Lead MST works in support of the Sterile Processing Service (SPS) management team. Distributes and prioritizes workload among employees in accordance with established workflow and/or job specializations. Assures an even workflow and distribution of the workload. Revises work schedules to meet anticipated and unanticipated changes in the workload. Assigns work to staff based on experience and training needs. Monitors and reports on the status of work. Ensures SOPs and SPS mandates are followed during the performance of workflow. Reviews work in progress or spot checks work not requiring review to ensure completed work meets supervisors' instructions on such things as work sequence