Nursing Assistant- Acute care

Summary

Nursing Assistants deliver essential support within acute care by assisting Veterans with daily living activities, monitoring clinical indicators, and maintaining safe conditions. They uphold established care standards, communicate significant observations to nursing staff, and contribute to an organized, patient-focused environment dedicated to ensuring consistent, high-quality care delivery.

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Duties

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The Nursing Assistant (Acute Care) provides fundamental, frontline support to Veterans requiring inpatient medical, surgical, or telemetry care. Working under the direction of registered nurses, the Nursing Assistant assists with essential daily living tasks, ensures safe mobility and positioning, conducts routine rounding for patient comfort and safety, and performs basic clinical measurements such as vital signs, blood glucose testing, weights, and intake/output. This position plays a vital role in maintaining hygiene, supporting nutrition needs including dysphagia diets, utilizing safe-handling equipment for transfers, and actively participating in safety huddles and bedside rounds to promote coordinated, high-quality patient care.

Duties include, but not limited :

- Providing patient centered care for residents/patients

- Providing activities of daily living by assisting with serving meals, feeding dependent patients/residents diets as ordered by the provider or assisting patients with meals including dysphasia patients/residents.

- Ambulating patients/residents including the use of assistive devices; turning and positioning patients/residents that are in the bed to help prevent skin breakdowns; skin inspections of all areas prone to skin breakdown

- Completing hourly rounds on patients to assist with needs such as comfort, reporting pain to the RN, toileting, and assisting with getting out of bed, or turning/positioning, and preventing falls

- Providing patients' personal hygiene by assisting with bathing/showering, shampooing, shaving, dressing and toileting

- Utilizing safe patient handling equipment for proper repositioning and/or transferring of the veterans.

- Participating in safety huddle and bedside rounds.

- Taking/documenting vital signs, blood sugar checks, weights, Intake and Output and reporting abnormal values immediately to covering nurse.

Work Schedule : Full-time 12-hour tours beginning at 7:30 a.m. , with both day and night compressed schedules available based on unit needs.

Compressed/Flexible :Available

Telework : Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 70234F

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives : Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• 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.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

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.
• Experience, Education or Training: Must meet one of the following:
  • Six months of general experience demonstrating the ability to acquire the knowledge and skills to perform the duties of a Nursing Assistant; OR
  • One year of education above high school with courses related to the NA occupation; OR
  • Completion of an intensive, specialized, occupation-related training program of less than one year as a NA.
• English Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. § 7402(d).

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). Grade Determinations :

GS-05 (Full Performance Level):

Experience:

• One year of progressively responsible assignments equivalent to GS-04 demonstrating knowledge, skills, and abilities directly related to the NA assignment; OR

Education:

• Successful completion of a 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with 24 semester hours in health care-related courses (or possession of a bachelor's degree).

You must also demonstrate the following KSAs:

• Ability to assist in the full range of nursing care for patients with physical and/or behavioral problems in hospital, long-term care, or outpatient settings.
• Ability to communicate orally with patients/residents, families, and interdisciplinary teams, including serving as a preceptor.
• Ability to recognize and react to emergent care situations and intervene appropriately (e.g., basic life support, controlling bleeding, behavioral crisis response).

Preferred Experience:

• Experience using therapeutic communication, de-escalation techniques, and trauma-informed care.
• Prior experience as a Nursing Assistant or similar role in hospital, long-term care, or outpatient environments.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit full performance level of this vacancy is GS-05. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-03 to GS-05.

Physical Requirements:

This position requires regular and recurring physical exertion, including but not limited to:

• Standing and walking for extended periods.
• Repeated bending, stooping, stretching, and lifting/carrying items weighing 45 pounds or more .
• Reaching above the shoulder, pushing, and pulling.
• Use of both hands and fingers for clinical tasks and equipment operation.
• Adequate vision (near and far) correctable; ability to distinguish basic colors and shades.
• Adequate hearing to communicate and perform patient assessments.
• Emotional and mental stability to respond appropriately to stressful or emergent situations.

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: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit:

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.