Practical Nurse

Full Job Description

About the Position: This Practical Nurse GS-0620-06 position is located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Bethesda, MD, in the Department of Medicine, Internal Medicine, PCMH.

This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service.

Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and experience requirements described below.

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; religious; spiritual; community; student; social).

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application.

Additional information about transcripts is in this document.

Basic Requirement for Practical Nurse: Licensure: A current license to practice as a practical or vocational nurse in a State, territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia; OR must have applied for a license to practice.

Applications of candidates possessing a license must be accompanied by a certified or photostatic copy of the license, a notarized statement attesting to the fact, or a citation of the license number and State issuing it.

Non-licensed candidates who have completed their training may be appointed subject to obtaining the required license during the probationary period.

Those not licensed must furnish the date on which they applied for a license and the jurisdiction involved.

No person appointed pending licensure may be retained beyond the probationary period if licensure has not been attained.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirement listed below: Experience: One year of nursing experience in a hospital, outpatient clinic, nursing home, or other supervised medical, nursing, or patient care facility that provided a practical knowledge of human body structure and sterile techniques and procedures, which includes duties such as: obtaining patient vital signs (i.e., respiration, temperature, blood pressure and heart rate); assessing the needs of patients and/or developing a plan of care based on assessment; administering intravenous fluids and medications; entering appropriate patient-related data into electronic medical records; and adhering to hospital policies and procedures.

This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service. (GS-05).

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify.

For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted. Major Duties:

• Obtain patient's vital signs such as respiration, temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate.
• Review data from special equipment to track patients’ heart rates, blood pressures, breathing, and other vitals.
• Provide basic bedside care (i.e., dressing wounds, changing bandages, inserting catheters, and giving injections).
• Enter data related to the record of patients in computer systems, i.e., electronic medical records.
• Interview patients and examine their medical history.
• Administer intravenous fluids and medications.
• Follow proper nursing standards and protocols for treatment.
• Assist with ordering diagnostic tests, as needed.
• Act as the patient advocate, in collaboration with fellow members of the medical care team.