Summary

VA Portland Health Care System is a Complexity Level 1a Facility and provides extensive primary - secondary - tertiary - and quaternary care in outpatient - inpatient - residential - and community settings. VAPORHCS is a multi-site medical system that includes a major medical facility in Portland - Oregon - outpatient and residential facilities in Vancouver - Washington - and 10 Community Based Outpatient Clinics.

Qualifications

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
• Cytotechnologists must be proficient in spoken and written English
• See 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f)
• Education
• Individuals must have successfully completed a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college/university and successfully completed a Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs accredited cytotechnology program
• Certification
• Candidates must currently possess the Cytotechnologist (CT) (ASCP) or Specialist in Cytotechnology (SCT) (ASCP) certification given by the ASCP Board of Certification
• Grade Determinations:Cytotechnologist - GS-11:Experience
• The candidate must have one year of creditable experience equivalent to the journey level (GS-9) that is directly related to the position to be filled
• Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities
• In addition to the experience above - the candidate must demonstrate the KSAs i
• - iv
• and the advanced KSA as identified by the corresponding asterisk(s): i
• Ability to independently determine specimen adequacy using complex specialized testing methods or techniques during Endoscopic Ultrasound - Endobronchial Ultrasound - and other Fine Needle Aspiration procedures
• ii
• Knowledge of pre-analytical - analytical - and post-analytical processes to establish and monitor the overall laboratory quality management and quality control program - and initiate corrective action as needed
• iii
• Skill in collecting - compiling - and analyzing data for quality assurance - statistics - trends and reports - and implementing quality improvement initiatives
• iv
• Skill in researching - testing - validating - and implementing new procedures and equipment
• v
• **Ability to perform ultrathin microtomy and operate an electron microscope
• Knowledge of microanatomy sufficient to note ultrastructural and microchemical findings
• vi
• ***Ability to convey knowledge of safety regulations and guidelines such as CAP - JC - and OSHA - and to ensure staff compliance with safety requirements - including continuing education and employee orientation
• vii
• ****Knowledge and skill to plan and administer an ongoing continuing education program for the laboratory to meet accreditation standards
• viii
• *****Skill to maintain and troubleshoot computers and laboratory system instrumentation
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Service.

Duties

• The duties of this position include but are not limited to the following: - Provide diagnostic microscopic interpretation of cellular samples from a variety of body sites
• It results in direct patient contact to provide interpretive diagnostic results for clinics - with immediate patient treatment and triage implications
• - Reviews health records to correlate patient history with diagnosis
• - Is proficient with manual image analysis and diagnostically interprets atypical cells - precursor lesions and primary cervical cancer
• - Performs an integral part of determining appropriate patient triage from the specimen obtained by FNA for further diagnostic studies
• - Oversees administrative - clerical and technical support activities of other personnel within the department by coordinating workload and administrative duties
• - Provides supervisory level quality assurance oversight of peers by re-screening 10% of negative and 100% of all high-risk cases
• - Mentors and trains technicians - junior cytologists and others in technique - instrumentation and organization of work
• - Teaches pathology residents and physicians diagnostic cytology criteria through microscopic sessions
• - Participates in providing health instruction to physicians - patients and community groups
• - Assists the Medical Director and resident physicians with research project by formulating research hypotheses and study designs
• - Assures compliance with quality assurance/control and proficiency testing programs - safety standards - accreditation requirements and departmental policies
• - The incumbent creates - implements - maintains - and evaluates procedures and policies in Cytology to ensure compliance with accrediting agency standards - Establishes - performs and monitors quality control programs
• - Provides consultative cytology services to regional sites
• - Maintains professional proficiency (through annual PAP PT and CE programs)
• - Performs other duties as assigned
• - Subjective microscopic evaluations based on agency and hospital policies/regulations - technical references - laboratory manuals - professional organizations - and academic background - training and experience
• - Any written guidelines are supplemented by professional judgment on the part of the incumbent to ensure all general regulations are enforced within the laboratory
• - Interpreting applicability of guidelines in matters of specimen identification - processing - recording - and quality control
• - Interpreting - selecting or designing procedures and methods in response to laboratory considerations
• - Knowledge of medical and pathologic processes to triage specimen to appropriate ancillary diagnostic tests such as flow cytometry - and immunohistochemistry - based on minimal information and without written guidance
• - Incorporating new molecular techniques such as DNA testing for viruses - cytogenetic analysis of tumors - molecular markers of disease into the triage and evaluation of the specimen
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 08:30AM-5PM Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized