Supervisory Nuclear Medicine Technologist

Summary

The Supervisory Nuclear Medicine Technologist oversees daily operations and staff of the Nuclear Medicine Service at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center. Responsibilities include performing complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, managing equipment and quality control, ensuring regulatory compliance and radiation safety, developing departmental policies and protocols, and maintaining clinical and administrative oversight, including rotational on-call coverage.

Duties

The Supervisory Nuclear Medicine Technologist oversees the administrative, clinical, technical, and safety functions of the Nuclear Medicine Service at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center. Major duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Supervisory and Administrative Duties Directs daily operations of the Nuclear Medicine Service and assigns, supervises, and evaluates staff performance, competencies, and workload. Manages staffing, recruitment, performance evaluations, employee training, leave requests, overtime, work assignments, and on-call schedules. Ensures adequate staffing and efficient service delivery while resolving operational issues affecting patient care. Develops, implements, and maintains departmental policies, procedures, protocols, and functional statements. Monitors workload, CPT coding, patient wait times, pending orders, and performance measures to ensure accurate documentation and compliance with VA requirements. Manages radiopharmaceutical contracts, departmental budgets, supply inventories, invoices, and equipment acquisition or replacement recommendations. Prepares administrative reports and maintains required records; coordinates long-range planning and service development with the Chief of Nuclear Medicine. Serves as the designated Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) and Environment of Care (EOC) Coordinator. Clinical and Diagnostic Responsibilities Independently performs complex diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures, including general and cardiac imaging, PET/CT, SPECT/CT, and specialized oncological, neurological, renal, and other functional studies. Performs patient assessments, verifies patient identity and procedure orders, reviews relevant medical history, confirms appropriate preparation and consent, and ensures patient safety. Administers radiopharmaceuticals, interventional medications, and other authorized agents in accordance with established protocols and safety requirements. Assists physicians and physician assistants with cardiac stress testing and specialized diagnostic procedures. Evaluates images and computer-generated results for quality, accuracy, artifacts, and completeness; recognizes abnormal or unacceptable results and takes corrective action as appropriate. Performs non-imaging procedures, prepares examinations for physician interpretation, completes clinical documentation, and ensures accurate workload reporting. Monitors patient condition during procedures, responds to emergencies, and communicates significant clinical concerns to the appropriate healthcare provider. Assists nuclear medicine physicians with advanced radiopharmaceutical therapies, including I-131, Y-90, Ra-223, and other authorized treatments. Verifies prescribed doses, documents administration, and provides post-treatment radiation safety instructions. Radiopharmacy, Equipment, and Radiation Safety Oversees the receipt, preparation, administration, inventory, storage, and disposal of radioactive materials in accordance with applicable regulations. Manages equipment quality assurance, including calibration, routine quality control testing, troubleshooting, maintenance, and documentation of imaging systems and associated instrumentation. Implements and monitors the Radiation Safety Program in coordination with the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO). Ensures compliance with radiation protection requirements, including personnel monitoring, contamination surveys, radioactive waste disposal, spill response, decontamination, and the ALARA principle. Maintains records and ensures compliance with applicable Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), National Health Physics Program (NHPP), Joint Commission, and other federal requirements. Quality Improvement, Education, and Compliance Ensures compliance with patient safety, infection control, environmental safety, emergency preparedness, and hazardous materials procedures. Participates in quality improvement initiatives, clinical research, pharmaceutical trials, and development of new procedures and protocols. Provides clinical instruction and evaluates students; coordinates staff training and continuing education to maintain professional competency. Prepares for and participates in inspections, audits, EOC rounds, and regulatory reviews. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 635-591730

Qualifications

Basic Requirements Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3.g., of this part.) Certification. All applicants must be certified in nuclear medicine technology by the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board (NMTCB) or the American Registry of Radiologic Technology (ARRT) (N). NMTCB or ARRT (N) certification eligibility requirements are normally satisfied by one of the following: Completion of a NMTCB-recognized nuclear medicine technology program, OR Completion of a nuclear medicine technology program accredited by the Joint Review Committee on Educational Programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology (JRCNMT), or other accrediting agencies as recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), culminating in a certificate, associate, baccalaureate, or master's degree. Educational programs must have structured clinical training sufficient to provide clinical competency in radiation safety, instrumentation, clinical procedures, and radio-pharmacy, as deemed acceptable by the NMTCB. NOTE: Technologists functioning as multi-modality technologists require additional specific certifications as stated in assignment descriptions below. Grandfathering Provision. 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). English Language Proficiency. NMTs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with chapter 2, section D, paragraph 5a, of this part. GS-12 Supervisory Nuclear Medicine Technologist (a) Experience. For assignments above the journey level, the candidate must have 1 year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level directly related to the position being filled and must fully meet the KSAs at that level. (b) Assignments. For all assignments above the journey level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), range of variety, and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. NMTs at this level are fully functional as an advanced NMT and carry out their assigned tasks independently. Individuals in this assignment assume full administrative and professional responsibility for planning and directing the nuclear medicine program and technologists above the journey level at a medical center or independent outpatient clinic. They also have supervisory responsibility over a program. (c) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. The candidate must demonstrate all the following technical KSAs and demonstrate the potential to acquire the assignment specific KSAs as designated by an asterisk (*): *Ability to assign and evaluate work of subordinate staff as well as resolve problems that may interfere with the delivery of nuclear medicine