Supervisory Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist

Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist

Serves as a supervisory Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist (BESS) within a Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) department at the VA facility. Works in support of the medical equipment management program. In addition to duties at the full performance level, the BESS utilizes supervisory and personnel management authorities and responsibilities.

Major duties include overseeing, directing, and managing the lifecycle management of the facility's medical equipment and clinical systems. Collaborates with other departments and service lines, clinical administrative staff, and executive leadership at the medical center, VISN, and national levels, as needed. Establishes workload distribution and revises work schedules to meet workload priorities, challenges, and issues. Develops and implements policies and procedures to ensure compliance with established standards and regulations. Develops, delivers, and evaluates performance plans for subordinate staff. Recognizes deserving staff for exceptional performance. Manages, responds to, and remediates hazard alerts, recall notifications, and incidents concerning medical equipment and clinical systems. Documents all actions in the appropriate system. Serves as subject matter expert on assigned committees, projects, and workgroups. Troubleshoots medical equipment and clinical systems using a variety of technical data and completes corrective action. Documents all work in the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). Utilizes test equipment in accordance with manufacturer instructions. Provides customer support to staff, evaluates issues and needs, responds with solutions, and keeps customers abreast of status. Educates staffing on the safe operation and user-level maintenance of medical equipment and clinical systems. Maintains knowledge of and comply with applicable standards, policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements. Meets the need of all customers while supporting the Medical Center and Service missions.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 0800am - 4:30pm.

Requirements:

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job. All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959. Must be proficient in written and spoken English. You may be required to serve a trial period. Subject to background/security investigation. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.

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.

Education, Experience, Certification. Associates or higher degree in the biomedical technology or biomedical engineering field, OR Associates or higher degree in electronics, a field of information technology, or engineering (other than biomedical engineering) AND 1 year of creditable experience, OR Completion of the Department of Defense (DOD) biomedical equipment technician training program, OR Completion of a DOD training program in repair and maintenance of electronic systems or information technology AND 1 year of creditable experience, OR Completion of a biomedical engineering technician or Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) certificate program that included an internship or apprenticeship, OR Completion of biomedical engineering technician or HTM certificate program that did not include an internship AND 1 year of creditable experience, OR 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.

English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

Grade Determinations:

GS-12 Supervisor Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist. Experience: Have one year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

Experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level includes: BESSs manage medical equipment and clinical systems including installation, planned maintenance, troubleshooting, repair, calibrations, electrical safety inspections, patient safety, cybersecurity, and decommissioning. They plan, implement, and provide technical and project oversight for medical equipment and clinical systems. BESSs develop technical requirements, draft requests for proposal (RFP) language, sole-source justifications, and statements of work (SOW). They conduct market research, product evaluations, evaluate contractor performance, and conduct pre-procurement assessments. They serve as a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) or Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR) to purchase medical equipment, maintenance and repair contracts, and facility projects as needed. BESSs conduct prepurchase evaluations and address pre-implementation security issues to ensure medical device isolation architecture (MDIA) requirements are met. They consult with and advise clinical and administrative staff in evaluating medical equipment and clinical systems proposed for purchase. BESSs perform incoming inspections on medical equipment and systems to determine that all safety regulations, manufacturer's specifications, contract requirements, and needs of users are met, and they initiate corrective action when necessary. They provide instruction and guidance to end users on proper use and care of equipment including operator-level maintenance of equipment and accessories. BESSs partner with customers to determine the nature and scope of the customer's issues and needs, provide an appropriate response and applicable solutions, and ensure the customer is appraised of delays and significant steps until completion. They ensure inventory accuracy of networked medical equipment and clinical systems to identify and mitigate cybersecurity vulnerabilities. BESSs are responsible for monitoring system backups; data integrity; ensuring network connectivity between systems, servers, databases, and the electronic medical record; and maintain systems security and standards. In the event of a system failure, BESSs reload operating systems and clinical application software and interface with the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) to keep systems operational. They use schematic drawings, wiring diagrams, and manufacturer service literature as guidelines to accomplish work. BESSs use specialized electronic test equipment or software to analyze, evaluate, diagnose, troubleshoot, calibrate, or repair analog and digital microprocessor controlled, computerized, or networked digital systems. BESSs coordinate and manage vendor services and review work performed to ensure defined specifications are met and documented. They respond appropriately to hazard alerts and recall notifications concerning medical equipment. BESSs investigate equipment incidents, cases of equipment damage and abuse, equipment failure reports that cannot be duplicated, and medical device security incidents. They serve as a member of a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) team as needed. BESSs determine when healthcare technology, instrumentation, or systems are obsolete, hazardous, or no longer cost-effective to maintain. They ensure proper disposal of medical equipment and clinical systems including removal of protected health information (PHI) and hazardous materials. BESSs document all activities and ensure the data is correctly entered into the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). They ensure compliance with all applicable standards, policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements such as National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Joint Commission (TJC), and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI). When necessary, BESSs promptly escalate issues to higher-level technical support or management.

GS-12 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate ALL the following KSAs:

Skill in managing workflow by directing the work of others to accomplish program goals and objectives. Skill in developing policies to oversee medical equipment and clinical systems. Skill in managing interpersonal relationships between employees, team leaders, and managers. Ability to analyze data to optimize quality, efficiency, performance, and productivity. Ability to supervise subordinate staff (for example, plan, organize, delegate, direct, control, review activities, and performance). Ability to provide guidance on multiple types of medical equipment and clinical systems.

Physical Requirements: The work may include electrical energy, working on ladders, working outdoors, and working alone. There may be occasional exposure to moderate risks or discomforts associated with hazardous materials. The work may involve occasional travel, driving, and or traveling by motor vehicle.

Infection Control. Demonstrates infection control practices for disease prevention (I/e. hand washing, universal precautions/ isolation procedures, including TB requirement/precautions. Green Environment management Systems (GEMS) Incumbent familiarizes self with how their activities impact VA's goal to implement sound stewardship practices that are protective of the air, water, land and other natural and cultural resources. Environment of Care. Follows Life Safety Management (fire protection) procedures.

Education Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here.