Audiologist

Full Job Description

The Oklahoma City VA Medical Center is looking to fill a vacancy for a Audiologist within the Audiology and Speech Pathology Department located at the Lawton VA Clinic.

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.

Audiologist candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Education.

Doctor of Audiology (AUD) from an audiology program recognized by the Accreditation Commission for Audiology Education (ACAE) or Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

HR office staff and management officials may verify a program's accreditation from ACAE at acaeaccred.org and CAA at caa.asha.org.

OR Other doctoral degree in hearing science or a directly related field from an institution accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

NOTE: Effective January 1, 2007, the CAA in Audiology and 3 Speech- Language Pathology of ASHA accredits only doctoral degree or AUD programs in audiology. Licensure.

Individuals must hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice audiology at the doctoral level in a United States state, territory, commonwealth, or the District of Columbia.

The Under Secretary of Health, or designee, may appoint a candidate without a license who will be assigned to a research, academic, or administrative position with no patient care responsibilities.

In such instances, HR office staff can only appoint these candidates in exceptional circumstances where their credentials demonstrate high professional attainment or expertise in the specialty area.

All audiologists who perform compensation and pension examinations perform direct patient care duties and must possess a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice audiology and must meet the experience requirements under Section 2.

D. See 38 C.F.R. § 4.85. (4) Exception for Non-Licensed Audiologist.

(a) Non-Licensed applicants who otherwise meet the eligibility requirements for licensure, may be given a temporary appointment as a graduate audiologist at the GS-11 grade under the authority of 38 U.S.C.

§ 7405(c)(2). (b) Non-Licensed individuals shall only provide care under the supervision of a fully licensed audiologists at or above the full performance level.

(c) Non-Licensed individuals may only be appointed at the entry level and may not be promoted/converted to the GS-12 grade level until licensure is obtained.

(d) Temporary appointments of non-Licensed audiologists may not be extended beyond two years or be converted to a new temporary appointment.

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: Audiologist, GS-12. Experience. In addition to the requirements at the GS-11 level, completion of one year of professional experience comparable to the next lower grade level.

And Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs).

In addition to the KSAs required at the full performance level, the following KSAs are required: Skill in determining nature, type, and severity of hearing/communication/vestibular disorders.

Skill in counseling patients and family members regarding management of hearing/communication/vestibular disorders.

Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional audiology to other health care professionals.

Ability to independently apply professional contemporary audiologic treatments to the full range of patient populations.

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-12.

The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-11 to GS-12.

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service. Major Duties:

Duties: The Audiologist at this level is responsible for providing audiological services to patients who reside in a large geographical area surrounding Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The services provided not only to patients at the hospital in which the Audiology clinic is located; but also to patients at other VA hospitals in the region and patients who are geographically closer to it than any other Audiology & Speech Pathology Clinic.

Responsible for identifying and evaluating individuals with auditory disorders that impact the reception and perception of speech, language and other acoustic signals.

Administers the full range of behavioral and physiologic tests such as those that assess vestibular nerve function (ENG), auditory brainstem function, otoacoustic emissions, acoustic immittance, acoustic reflex and acoustic reflex decay, as well as a variety of special audiological procedures (e.g., SISI, Tone Decay, and Stenger tests).

Uses the full range of behavioral and physiologic audiologic diagnostic tests to assist in the differential diagnosis of auditory disorders of such diverse disease entities as otosclerosis, otitis media, cholesteatoma, tumors of the tympanum, Meniere's Syndrome, cerebellopontine angle tumors or other conductive, cochlea, and retrocochlear lesions of the auditory system.

Evaluates the functional status of the ear canal for testing purposes and provides cerumen management.

Responsible for conducting assessment of social efficiency examinations, the results of which will be utilized in the assessment of hearing impairment for adjudication and medico-legal purposes.

Counsel the veteran, and in some cases his/her family or other persons responsible for his/her care, about the nature, degree and ramifications of his/her hearing impairment.

Responsible for direct services of a remedial and sometimes preventative nature.

The services provided by the audiologist at this level encompass the accurate selection of monaural or binaural conventional and digital hearing aids including completely-in-the canal through behind-the-ear hearing aids, CROS, Bi-CROS, Multi-CROS hearing aids, conventional and implantable bone conduction hearing aids, middle ear implants, cochlear implants and other implantable hearing aids, and FM integrated hearing aids.

Responsible for the instruction and counseling in the use, fitting, adjustment and modification of all personal amplification systems.

Responsible for the instruction and counseling in use of, and recommendations for procurement of special instruments such as desk amplifiers, telephone amplifiers, Bluetooth compatible devices, FM systems, infra-red devices, induction devices for use with phones, radios, televisions or other electronic devices necessary for communication.

Responsible for the routine inspection and repair, when indicated, of all personal amplification systems or assistive listening devices where indicated.

Responsible for taking an impression of the outer portion of the ear for an ear mold, determination of need for special ear molds (such as vented, soft plastic, skeleton, acrylic, etc.) made necessary in cases of allergic reaction, severe hearing loss, or other reasons.

Recommends aural rehabilitation programs for patients with significant physical and psychological complicating conditions, develops treatment plans for difficult and complex cases in which communicative function has been impaired due to an auditory disorder, and designs training plans to assist patient and caregivers to in utilizing available hearing resources.

Responsible for providing a comprehensive program of aural rehabilitation to those hearing-impaired patients when this type of clinical management is indicated.

Such programs may consist of instruction in maximum use of amplification, maximum utilization of residual hearing and development of supplementary avenues of communication (speech-reading).

Responsible for assisting the supervisor of clinical audiology in the instruction and supervision of student trainees in audiology.

He/she may also on occasion provide instruction to residents and interns who seek information related to audiology. Participate in research activities pertinent to clinical audiology.

Although limited the incumbent will participate in research activities pertinent to clinical audiology. Assist in gathering clinical research data.

Proper maintenance and calibration of the specialized electro-acoustic instrumentation utilized in the assessment of the auditory system.

The incumbent must know the technical aspects of both the clinical instruments as well as the calibration instruments. Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Mon-Fri; 7:30am to 4pm Telework: Not available. Functional Statement #: 53778A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): No Authorized