Licensed Practical Nurse

Summary The LPN is administratively responsible and accountable to the Nurse Manager (NM) or designee in the Primary Care Clinic, within the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center. The LPN is accountable for delivering patient care to the adult/geriatric patient population with a varying diagnosis and treatments. The LPN exercises judgment within the scope of training and experience. The work involves a sequence of duties requiring the employee to set priorities and determine the proper nursing procedures. Responsibilities Clinical Nursing Practice: Demonstrates proficiency in initiating, performing, and completing assigned duties while providing care to diverse patient populations. Maintains knowledge and ability to carry out patient care determined by the patients condition utilizing judgement in selecting appropriate orders, procedures, and treatments; and recognizing, reporting, and recording relevant patient information to include urgent and emergent situations. Observes, identifies, and responds to patient needs for medication, medical equipment, and patient/family education while considering emotional, cultural, spiritual, socio­-economic, and age-related factors. Maintains knowledge and skill to prepare, administer and appropriately document actions taken specific to commonly prescribed oral, topical, subcutaneous, intramuscular and/or intravenous medications as permitted by approved local facility policies and procedures. Administration: Demonstrate ability to serve as a responsible member of the clinic and interact with patients, family members, professional and supportive personnel who provide patient care, and with members of other services. Assist with answering the phone, conveying timely messages to the appropriate staff, placing calls/pages as needed. Participate in evaluation of nursing care through attendance and input at team conferences and communication with the Nurse Manager. Further, participates in team conference development and implementation, by presenting a patient for team conference discussion when need identified. Research: Have the option to participate in the accurate collection of data as instructed by the Nurse Manager or designee. Have the option to make recommendations for the application of current research findings to practice as well as applying those findings as assigned by the Nurse Manager or designee. Education: Provides appropriate information to patients and their families regarding the plan of care. Assists the patient and family in understanding and acceptance of the disease process and encourages participation in the plan for the care and rehabilitation of the patient. Identifies patients educational needs to include equipment, medication, treatment procedures, and diagnosis. Assists with teaching patient/family as appropriate. Reusable Medical Equipment (RME): Be responsible for knowing what reusable instruments, equipment, medical devices, or supplies (inventory) are used in their assigned area. Be familiar with which items are cleaned locally (in clinic) and which items are sent to sterile processing service (SPS) for reprocessing and/or sterilization. If items are to be transported for reprocessing, he/she must be aware of the initial decontamination steps that must be taken prior to transport of item and the appropriate method of transport. Be responsible for following the local Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) drafted in accordance with the manufacturers written recommendations. SPS and Infection Prevention and Control should be consulted when clarification of written instructions are needed. No one should be reprocessing any reusable medical equipment based on vendors verbal instructions alone: this is not an adequate practice. Pay Scale: V0OB Work Schedule: Rotational Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job. All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959. Must be proficient in written and spoken English. You may be required to serve a probationary period. Subject to background/security investigation. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Must pass pre-employment physical examination. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) – See “Additional Information” below for details. 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. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. Education – Graduate of a school of practical or vocational nursing approved by the appropriate State agency and/or accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) at the time the program was completed by the applicant. Exceptions include health care education in the military service or training in the military service which is accepted by the licensing body in the jurisdiction in which the individual is licensed as qualifying for full LPN/LVN licensure will be accepted as meeting the education requirements for VHA employment OR granted a license by a jurisdiction that does not require graduation from an approved school AND have at least one year of successful practice as an LPN/ LVN. Licensure – Active, full, current and unrestricted licensure as a Graduate Licensed Practical or Vocational Nurse in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico), of the United States or the District of Columbia. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidates qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade. GS-06 Demonstrates proficiency in initiating, performing, and completing assigned duties while providing care to diverse patient populations. Maintains knowledge and ability to carry out patient care determined by the patients condition utilizing judgement in selecting appropriate orders, procedures, and treatments; and recognizing, reporting, and recording relevant patient information to include urgent and emergent situations. Observes, identifies, and responds to patient needs for medication, medical equipment, and patient/family education while considering emotional, cultural, spiritual, socio­-economic, and age-related factors. Maintains knowledge and skill to prepare, administer and appropriately document actions taken specific to commonly prescribed oral, topical, subcutaneous, intramuscular and/or intravenous medications as permitted by approved local facility policies and procedures. Demonstrate ability to serve as a responsible member of the clinic and interact with patients, family members, professional and supportive personnel who provide patient care, and with members of other services. Assist with answering the phone, conveying timely messages to the appropriate staff, placing calls/pages as needed. Have the option to participate in the accurate collection of data as instructed by the Nurse Manager or designee. Have the option to make recommendations for the application of current research findings to practice as well as applying those findings as assigned by the Nurse Manager or designee. Provides appropriate information to patients and their families regarding the plan of care. Assists the patient and family in understanding and acceptance of the disease process and encourages participation in the plan for the care and rehabilitation of the patient. Be responsible for knowing what reusable instruments, equipment, medical devices, or supplies (inventory) are used in their assigned area. Be familiar with which items are cleaned locally (in clinic) and which items are sent to sterile processing service (SPS) for reprocessing and/or sterilization. If items are to be transported for reprocessing, he/she must be aware of the initial decontamination steps that must be taken prior to transport of item and the appropriate method of transport. Preferred Experience: 3-5 years of experience as in LPN/LVN experience. Dependability and experience in a variety of clinical setting such as Primary Care, internal medicine or other outpatient clinic experience. Knowledge and ability to participate actively in teaching the patient, family and /or significant other. Ability to function in outpatient clinics with minimal supervision. Ability to recognize and respond to potential emergent patient situations. Electronic medical record experience. Education IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. NOTE: Current GS-0620 LPN/LVN employee of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) who were converted to an appointment under 38 U.S.C. 7401(3) in implementation of Public Law 98-160, enacted November 21, 1983, or who was converted to an appointment under 38 U.S.C. 7405 in implementation of Public Law 99-576, enacted October 28, 1986 are considered to have met the Education requirement. The waiver does not apply to persons appointed under 38 U.S.C. 7401(3) or 7405 after these conversions. Additional Information Physical Requirements: The population of male and female veterans served ranges from the adult, age 18, to the elderly adult, age 65 and over. James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center (JHQVAMC) is a major interdisciplinary teaching facility, serving medical, surgical, and neurological inpatients and outpatients. There is a large outpatient psychiatric population, with admissions for medical co-morbidities. This position requires visual acuity, keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity. This position requires potentially long periods of continued walking, standing, stooping, sitting, bending, pulling, lifting more than 10 pounds, and pushing. Transferring patients and objects may be required. The LPN may be exposed to infected patients and contaminated materials and may be required to don protective clothing in isolation situations or operative/invasive procedures. The LPN may occasionally be exposed to patients who are combative secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders. The LPN must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs. The employee may on occasion, be assigned to other Veteran care areas. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status. VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicants criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.