Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist

Description:

The Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist (BESS) serves within a Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) department at VA Puget Sound Health Care System and works in support of the medical equipment management program. The BESS troubleshoots and performs planned maintenance on a range of medical devices and clinical systems.

Requirements:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

Experience.
(1) Creditable Experience. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current health care industry and required using knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) directly applicable to the assignment and associated within the scope of the BESS profession. Experience is only creditable if it was acquired in the health care industry and is either directly related to the position to be filled or a related field (for example, Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, Biomedical Equipment Technician, Field Service Engineer, Medical Equipment Repairer, or Information Technology (IT) Specialist). Experience satisfying this requirement may be paid or non-paid employment as a BESS.

(2) Part-Time Experience. Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time work week. For example, a BESS employed 20 hours per week, or on a half-time basis, would receive 1 full-time work week of credit for each 2 weeks of service.

(3) Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to BESS experience at the next lower level and have been in the health care industry. For all assignments above the full performance level (FPL), the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity, and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and performed be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

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.

Education, Experience, or Certification.
(1) Associates or higher degree in the biomedical technology or biomedical engineering field;
OR
(2) Associates or higher degree in electronics, a field of information technology, or engineering (other than biomedical engineering) AND 1 year of creditable experience;
OR
(3) Completion of the Department of Defense (DOD) biomedical equipment technician training program;
OR
(4) Completion of a DOD training program in repair and maintenance of electronic systems or information technology AND 1 year of creditable experience;
OR
(5) Completion of a biomedical engineering technician or Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) certificate program that included an internship or apprenticeship;
OR
(6) Completion of biomedical engineering technician or HTM certificate program that did not include an internship AND 1 year of creditable experience;
OR
(7) Hold or having ever held certification as a Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET), Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist (CRES), Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist (CLES), or Certified Healthcare Technology Manager (CHTM). Continuous maintenance of certification is not required throughout VHA employment.

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).

Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.

English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

GRADE DETERMINATIONS.
Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, GS-05.
Experience or Education. None beyond the basic requirements.

Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, GS-07.
(1) Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

(2) Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Knowledge of physics, anatomy, and physiology.
(b) Knowledge of electronics such as analog, digital, and microprocessor theory.
(c) Knowledge of the use of standard level test equipment such as multi- meters, electrical safety analyzers, patient simulators, storage oscilloscopes, manometers, and tachometers.
(d) Knowledge of basic networking concepts, such as computer and server hardware and software functionality, information technologies and computer virus protection software, available software patches and upgrades, and information security tools (for example, Microsoft Office, Windows operating systems, and McAfee).
(e) Skill in documenting all services provided in support of medical equipment and clinical systems in a computerized maintenance management system.
(f) Ability to learn equipment operating and maintenance procedures.

Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, GS-09.
(1) Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

(2) Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Knowledge of basic networking concepts including Access Control List (ACL), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN).
(b) Knowledge of computer and server hardware and software functionality including virus protection, operating system patches and upgrades, and information security tools.
(c) Ability to interpret a variety of technical data such as schematic drawings, wiring diagrams, table charts, mathematical expressions, and formulas.
(d) Ability to use standard level test equipment including multi-meters, electrical safety analyzers, patient simulators, storage oscilloscopes, manometers, and tachometers.
(e) Ability to perform equipment maintenance and operating procedures.

Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist, GS-11.
(1) Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

(2) Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Knowledge of standards including National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Joint Commission (TJC), and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) for safe operation of medical equipment and clinical systems.
(b) Skill in using test and calibration equipment including digital multi- meters, electrical safety analyzers, defibrillator analyzers, patient simulators, manometers, tachometers, and Local Area Network (LAN) analyzers.
(c) Skill in interpreting a variety of technical data including schematic drawings and wiring diagrams.
(d) Skill in applying networking principles, such as Access Control List (ACL), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN).
(e) Ability to perform advanced testing to troubleshoot medical equipment and clinical system interfaces.
(f) Ability to maintain medical computers and software.
(g) Ability to manage projects involving medical equipment and clinical systems.

Preferred Experience: At least 12 months of experience in the life cycle management of some medical systems such as imaging, life support dialysis, and monitoring to include physical and network support as well as the demonstration of the fundamental knowledge of the Joint Commission (TJC) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) roles and responsibilities in their association with Facilities Management, Health Technology Management.

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-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-5 to GS-11.

Physical Requirements: See Education Section (not enough room here).