Medical Instrument Technician (EKG)

Description:

This position in the ICU provides expert clinical and administrative support in a wide variety of patient care and related activities in the assigned unit at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center. The purpose of this position is to be a productive team member carrying out and ensuring quality and timely delivery of care. Must possess personal qualities, desire and attitude necessary to adapt to rapidly changing demands on time and workload and have skills to perform specific tasks/tests/procedures.

Requirements:

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: Medical Instrument Technicians must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with chapter 2, section D, paragraph 5a, this part.
• Education: There are no specific educational requirements for this occupation. Education may be substituted for experience only at the GS-4 and GS-5 levels. See the grade requirements part of this standard for information regarding educational substitutions.
• Licensure or Certification: Licensure or certification is not required for this occupation; however, it is strongly desirable at the GS-6 or above as evidence of possession of the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities. For all specialties identified in this standard, Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support certifications are desirable. Training which does not result in official certification does not meet this definition.

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 :

GS-6 Medical Instrument Technician (EKG)
Experience: At least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level (GS-5) which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. Examples of GS-5 experience include:

• Knowledge of standard medical terminology to interpret physician orders or instructions
• Perform standard operator maintenance on equipment including the ability to disassemble, clean, reassemble, and calibrate the machine.
• Knowledge of common physical disabilities and ability to position patients for the examination or treatment.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• Ability to recognize special patient needs such as disabilities, impaired mobility, and complicating medical conditions in order to prepare and position the patient for the prescribed procedure.
• Knowledge of the specialized equipment and accessories appropriate to Holter monitoring and ability to perform such tests.
• Knowledge of universal precautions and sterilization techniques and ability to follow CDC guidelines in cleaning equipment.
• Ability to monitor the patient for adverse reactions and take appropriate action.
• Ability to operate the equipment to perform standard and routine highly specialized procedures including exercise stress testing.

Certification: No certification is required; however, it is desirable that employees at this level have BCLS (Basic Cardiac Life Support) certification.

Assignment: Medical Instrument Technicians (EKG) at this level receive and interpret physicians' requests for diagnostic procedures and/pr treatments; explain the procedure to the patient to secure the patient's confidence and cooperation; document the patient's record; independently perform standardized testing monitoring the patient for adverse reactions; and operate, calibrate, and clean and/or sterilize commonly used equipment. Assignments at this level require knowledge of standard medical terminology as well as common diseases and their specific affects.

GS-7 Medical Instrument Technician (EKG)
Experience: At least 1 year of experience comparable to the next lower grade level (GS-6) which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics related to the duties of the positions to be filled. This would be experience which provided knowledge of the equipment, standard tests and procedures, and typical reading including arrhythmias and abnormalities.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• Knowledge of typical patient reactions and signs of distress including the ability to recognize, report and treat potentially lethal arrhythmias.
• Knowledge of common equipment settings and standardized procedures plus knowledge of common errors and corrective measures.
• Ability to modify procedures/positions to obtain the correct results with patients with complicating conditions such as amputations, Parkinson's disease, structural defects, and scar tissue.
• Ability to act as a mentor or preceptor to lower graded technicians.
• Ability to conduct in-service training on the EKG equipment and related instrumentation.

Certification: No certification is required; however, it is desirable that employees at this level have BCLS (Basic Cardiac Life Support) and ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) certifications.

Assignment: This represents the full performance level. Medical Instrument Technicians (EKG) at this level operate and monitor electrocardiographic equipment to perform specialized examinations and studies involving exercise stress testing, ambulatory monitoring of arrhythmias, and indirect carotid pulse tracings on chronic patients. They monitor tracings to identify arrhythmias and when gross abnormalities appear, when to repeat certain procedures, when to stop test procedures, and when to get the immediate attention of a physician. They evaluate test results to determine appropriate machine adjustments and use alternative techniques and procedures when established procedures do not accomplish acceptable results. This includes adapting equipment and accessories to yield the best results during the examination. They edit and select an appropriate sample portion of the tracing for further interpretation by the physician.

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-7. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-6 to GS-7.

Physical Requirements: 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, and pushing. The incumbent may be exposed to patients who are combative delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders. The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs.