Summary

This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) - Veterans Health Administration (VHA) - Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6) - Hampton VA Medical Center (VAMC) - Pathology and Laboratory Service - at the Portsmouth VA Clinic in Portsmouth - VA. The Portsmouth VA Clinic is a community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC) that operates as an extension from its parent facility - Hampton VA Medical Center.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement - 06/05/2026. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include - but are not limited to: (a) technical medical laboratory support work such as performing laboratory tests and examinations (chemical - microbiologic - hematologic and blood banking) and preparing reports of findings - or - (b) technical support work in a closely related field - e.g. biological laboratory technician work - that required application of the methods and techniques for the positions being filled; and - experience performing phlebotomy/blood draw procedures on human patients. (Note) Please ensure your resume detail the special experience needed for consideration. OR - Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects appropriate to the position to be filled. OR - Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of education and experience equivalent to the requirements for a GS-5.Note: Two full academic years of study - or 60 semester hours - beyond the second year is equivalent to 1 year of specialized experience. For more information on these qualification standards - please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Duties

• Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following: Identifies patients utilizing the full name and social security number before collecting - processing and /or hospital computer entry of requests
• Compare orders from multiple physicians and request the medical technologist to combine the orders
• Identifies - labels and collection blood bank specimens for STAT and routine testing while next to the patient bedside or chair side
• Must be proficient in phlebotomizing patient in varying debilitation (i.e. - paralysis - stroke - mentally unstable - spinal cord injuries in fetal position and contractures)
• Performs phlebotomy using specialized techniques for cleansing the blood collection site to prevent bacterial contamination that's critical to patient care
• Ensures the contamination rate of blood cultures remains within guidelines with blood culture contamination
• Draws the blood tests ordered by providers for inpatients - outpatients - CBOC patients and for requested drug screens
• Performs CUA-waived Fecal Occult Blood and other rapid testing on patients while recording - reagent lot numbers - quality control - and reports and verify test results
• Maintains accurate rejection records
• Prints incomplete VISTA reports and resolve discrepancies
• Duties include collecting the specimen - receiving - labelling - and loading specimens - loading reagents on the instrument - recording reagent lot numbers - performing and recording daily and weekly maintenance - quality controls - and performing patient testing
• Troubleshoots error messages and notifies Team Leader or Technologist when maintenance or quality controls do not perform as expected
• Responsible for receiving and preparing requests for testing and specimens into the clinical laboratory and evaluates the acceptability of each specimen - documents discrepancies - and resolves potential problems
• Screens telephone calls and routes inquiries to appropriate personnel
• Coordinates with Human Resources (HR) and Employee Occupational Health (EOH) to schedule pre-employment and random drug screens collections
• Performs drug screens by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) split specimen collection method and follows all regulatory and legal requirements in maintaining the chain of custody of each specimen
• Other duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: 0800-1630
• Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Position Description/PD#: Health Technician- Phlebotomy/PD028810 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized