Medical Supply Technician-Sterile Processing

Full Job Description

The Washington DC VA Medical Center Sterile Processing Department supports direct patient care by ensuring proper reprocessing, maintenance, and storage of critical and semi-critical reusable medical equipment (RME) throughout the medical center in compliance with nation and local policy and procedure.

Basic Requirements: Citizenship: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

Experience and/or Education: (1) Experience. Six months of experience that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work or provides an understanding of the work; OR (2) Education.

One year above high school that included at least 6 semester hours in health care related courses such as sterile processing, nursing assistant, hospital corpsman, and operating room and surgical technician courses or other courses related to the position; OR (3) Experience/Education Combination.

Equivalent combination of experience and education are qualifying for entry level for which both education and experience are accepted. Grade Determinations: GS-06 (Full Performance Level) Experience.

One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level.

(GS-05 Experience: Removes soil, blood, tissue fragments, body fluids, and other containments by wiping, soaking, rinsing, and scrubbing.

Inspects packages for indications of proper sterilization, assembles basic sets and trays used throughout the medical center including those used in the operating room.

Prepares, loads, and operates sterilizers such as steam, Sterrad, Steris, ETO, and a high level disinfecting scope reprocessor; prepares operating room case carts daily using surgery schedule.

MSTs receive guidance from more experienced staff members for more complex tasks and require direct supervision on new assignments.) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: 1. Knowledge of surgical instruments used in operating rooms and clinic settings. 2.

Knowledge of universal precautions for safety and prevention of cross contamination. 3.

Working knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, microbiology, medical conditions and procedures. 4. Knowledge of sterility principles in regards to instrumentation. 5.

Ability to read and interpret written instructions and procedures. Assignment. This is the full performance level for the occupation.

Receives contaminated critical and semi-critical RME in the decontamination area and may receive noncritical equipment in the decontamination area as well.

Disassembles the RME and determines the correct cleaning method, such as but not limited to ultrasonic cleaners, mechanical washers, cart washers and chemical cleaning/decontamination agents, as determined by manufacturer instructions.

Inspects, assembles and determines the correct method and packaging for sterilization such as but not limited to steam, Sterrad, Steris, ETO, and high level disinfecting scope reprocessors.

Performs and documents daily operational checks and records for all sterilization equipment.

Preferred Experience: Minimum 1 year Sterile Processing Experience Certified in CBSPD or HSPA a plus 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-06. 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.

Frequently required to lift packages weighing 50 pounds and push carts weighing up to 300 pounds for distances up to 2,640 feet.

The incumbent may be exposed to infected and contaminated materials and may be required to don protective clothing.

The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on Medical Center needs. Major Duties:

Major Duties: - Utilizes Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as required.

- Responsible for the collection, receipt, inspection, cleaning and decontamination processing of soiled instruments, equipment, and apparatus to include complex diagnostic equipment and medical apparatus.

- Completely and thoroughly dissembles and positions all parts of complex technical RME to ensure the removal of any debris, surgical soil and bio-burdens prior to sterilization or high level disinfection.

- Performs required leak tests to endoscopic equipment to determine that the water tight integrity of the scope is intact before initiating the cleaning and high level disinfection process.

- Performs multi-step procedures to effectively reprocess endoscopes, i.e. cystoscopes, ureteroscopes, bronchoscopes, colonoscopes, and other various endoscopic instruments.

- Operates decontamination equipment such as washer decontaminators, ultrasonic washers, automatic endoscope reprocessors, equipment irrigators, laparoscopic insulation tester, automatic cart wash, and tube dryers, etc.

- Uses, interprets and records results from quality assurance monitors, i.e. Ruhof ATP Complete ATP tester system, All-Clean washer disinfector validation system, etc.

- Performs and validates all cleaning of instrumentation and RME through the use of department SOPs, manufacturer's instructions for use guidelines, Medical Center Memorandums, and VA policies and directives, along with industry standards published by organizations such as, Healthcare Central Service Material Management (IAHCSMM), American National Standard/Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (ANSI/AMMI), Association of perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), etc.

- Reads and understands Material Data Safety Sheets.- Performs inspection, assembly, packaging, and terminal sterilization of all trays, sets, and packs for use throughout the medical center.

- Determines the criticality category of RME using the Spaulding Classification System and interprets sterilization parameters provided by the manufacturer's instructions for use guidelines to determine the proper method of sterilization.

- Operates equipment such as Minntech Medivator Advantage Plus, Trophon EPR, Steris Steam Sterilizers, Sterrad 100S, Sterrad 200, and Sterrad NX, heat sealers, tube dryers, and incubators or other sterilization, high level decontamination and packaging equipment.

- Interprets gauge readings and mechanical printouts on sterilization equipment to validate that sterilization of RME is within acceptable parameters.

- Interprets printout for Automatic Endoscope Processors used for high level decontamination to ensure that disinfection has met all parameters.

- Maintains records for all sterilization procedures that are processed including interpretation of all biological monitoring, validation of monitoring results, and quality assurance checks to ensure sterilization parameters are met.

- After each sterilization cycle is complete, the incumbent reviews print outs to ensure parameters have been met and documents the results of each cycle in the sterilization log.

If parameters have not been met, incumbent must troubleshoot the sterilization load to determine the possible cause and report findings to the supervisor/lead technician.

Work Schedule: Work Schedule: Full-Time, Rotating shifts; 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (Day Shift), 3:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.( Evening Shift), 11:00 p.m.

to 7:30 a.m.(Night Shift) with on-call during weekends and holidays. The candidate will be on the Day shift until he/she finishes orientation.

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.

Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 26261F, 26262F, 26263F, 26256F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized