Health Technician (OA)

The Health Technician performs phlebotomy and specimen processing for the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service at VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System. Serves the VA Sierra Pacific Network, offering a full range of comprehensive health care services including Dentistry, Geriatrics and Extended Care, Imaging, Medicine Services, Mental Health Services, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service, Primary Care, Radiation Oncology, Rehabilitation Services, Specialty Services, and Surgery.

Primary Purpose: The primary purpose of the position is to be responsible for providing phlebotomy, specimen processing and testing functions, clinical patient support as well as for providing general clerical and administrative support for all patient activities. The incumbent accepts and supports the guiding principles of the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System (VASNHS) and will performs his or her duties in a manner that promotes patient safety, quality health care, outstanding customer service, and the maintenance of an environment committed to serving the Veteran. Furthermore, the incumbent actively supports the team concept and continually functions as a team player. Duties may include but are not limited to: Explain work requirements and procedures, giving special instructions with regard to specimen collection, specimen preparation, special specimen handling and test analysis. Perform and provide a wide variety of supportive skills in specimen collection, specimen receiving from hospital and outpatient PCC, specimen verification, and specimen handling, sorting, separation, sets up and ready to load specimen for testing. The work consists of related steps, processes associated with the accessioning, processing, and phlebotomy duties. Conducts on the job training of employees who need skill development or enhancement. Perform a wide variety of blood collection of a responsible nature requiring a representative knowledge of clinical science to understand the multiplicity of tests and specimen requirements, the mechanics of venipuncture and patient preparation. Demonstrate versatility of skill in rapidly proceeding from one patient to another to perform multiple and simultaneous collection using accurate patient and specimen identification procedures. Perform all clerical duties required of the position, including work lists, logs, etc. Provides orientation/training in performance of phlebotomy and test procedures with the information and experience required to understand underlying disease processes and inform the healthcare provider if unable to obtain. Sets up equipment for all phlebotomy procedures, making sure that all phlebotomy and ancillary equipment is functioning to standard. Orders and maintains specialized supplies pertaining to ancillary instruments used in the drawing areas. Makes determinations where instructions or guidelines are only general in nature and do not contain specific details. Recognizes abnormalities and brings them to the attention of the appropriate Medical/Health Care Provider. Uses initiative in direction the activities of the phlebotomy area and works independently without specific instruction. Obtains assistance from the Supervisory Medical Technologist for unusual patient issues and/or unfamiliar situations. Monitors environment to ensure patient safety during phlebotomy procedures. Exercises a high degree of flexibility and ability to function in emergent patient care situations. Transports specimens to the laboratory including those requiring special handling. Cleans disinfects, and sterilizes equipment and ancillary equipment according to Medical Center Policies and Procedures. Adheres to the Infection Control Guidelines for the Medical Center Maintains record of procedures performed in the Drawing Areas. Participates in Continuous Quality Improvement activities. Establishes and maintains effective interpersonal skills with patients, families, and all Medical Center employees. Timeliness, accuracy, service customer satisfaction and comfort to the patient are the key processes. Work Schedule: Various Shifts, Rotating, Evenings, Days, Weekend Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (OA)/PD01582A Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Physical Requirements: The work requires extensive and recurring physical exertion such as standing for extended periods of time, bending standing, lifting, walking, stooping, and stretching. The work requires duty on weekends, holidays, and nights when so assigned. This position is also considered high-risk because of the constant exposure to blood and fluid products, sharps, and chemicals.

You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job Must be proficient in written and spoken English Subject to a background/suitability investigation Designated and/or random drug testing may be required Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 A complete application package; including Resume, Transcripts, etc. is required Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Requirements continued under Qualifications