Health Technician

Full Job Description

The Health Technician works as a member of the Nursing- Inpatient Mental Health Team. This position is assigned to the H-Pact area within Primary Care.

The Health Technician assists medical and nursing staff through technical, specialized or support services for the diagnosing or treatment of patient illnesses or medical conditions.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/17/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service.

An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials.

If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement.

In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.

Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Individual Occupation Requirement: Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists.

Therefore, technician experience is experience that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled.

English Language Proficiency Requirement: 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.

You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to perform the duties of this position.

In addition to the above requirements, in order to qualify for this position at the GS-6 level, you must meet one of the following minimum qualifications: Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-05 grade level in Federal service that has required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of this position.

Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: performing both clerical and clinical duties in a medical/healthcare environment; answering and directing phone calls; scheduling appointments; documenting medical records; taking and recording vital signs; and collecting and labeling specimens.

Familiarity with obtaining vital signs and providing information to nursing staff. Knowledge of infection control principles, safety, and universal precautions.

Experience with demonstrating appropriate behavior, effective therapeutic communication and interpersonal skills. This experience must be detailed in your resume to receive credit.

OR, Education: Half a year of graduate education (usually 9 semester hours) that is directly related to the work of this position.

One full year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study.

If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the one year of full-time study requirement.

Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. Transcripts required.

~OR, Combination: An equivalent combination of specialized experience and graduate education as described that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position.

Transcripts required, and experience must be detailed in your resume to receive credit.

Preferred: The Health Technician will preferably be certified by a state licensing body and/or have at least 2 years of experience with military training or private sector primary care experience.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week.

Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities.

Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: This position requires visual acuity, keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity.

This position requires an ongoing mix of potentially long-periods of continued walking, standing, stooping, sitting, bending, pulling, pushing, and reaching overhead.

All patient care activities require PC keyboard and mouse use for data entry in the electronic patient record. occasional heavy lifting will be required. Particularly for patient transfers.

Incumbent may be exposed to infected patients and contaminated materials and may be required to don protective clothing in isolation situations or operative, invasive procedures.

Incumbent may occasionally be exposed to patients who are combative, In some instances interaction with patients, caregivers and staff can become intense, and the employee may be placed in a position of stress.

Incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Major Duties:

Major duties and responsibilities will include: Assisting other medical personnel in the diagnosis or treatment of patient illnesses or medical conditions; Scheduling appointments; Answering and directing phone calls and assisting visitors to the office; Maintaining files and documenting patient records; Using a computer to perform support duties; Setting up patient examination rooms; Taking and recording vital signs; Interviewing patients to obtain medical/personal history; Adhering to infection control procedures; Assisting with minor medical procedures (changing dressings, applying bandages and splits, etc.); Instructing patients on home care procedures; Observing patients for changes in condition; De-escalating disruptive patients; Performing blood glucose testing; Collecting and labeling specimens; Performing EKGs; Providing training to new personnel.

Performing related duties as required. perform a variety of clinical, laboratory, and administrative work in support of outpatient services.

Skill and precision in using phlebotomy needles, tools, materials and equipment is required to perform major duties of the position.

Perform a wide rage of diagnostic support duties such as taking, recording, and reporting vital sign deviations to provider obtaining specimens and labeling specimens for the laboratory.

Perform direct patient care activities including intake, obtaining vital signs, ECGs, clinical reminders, and medication reconciliation.

Provide general administrative support work for patient care, assisting patients in contacting members of their treatment team or social services as needed.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-4:00PM Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Health Technician/PD92121A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized