Nursing Assistant - Mental Health

Summary

At the VA Maryland Health Care System, our health care teams are deeply experienced and guided by the needs of Veterans, their families, and caregivers. The Nursing Assistant (NA) will provide care to patients/residents with acute to chronic conditions in a health care setting.

**This position is located in Perry Point, MD (Mental Health).

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Duties

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A Mental Health Nursing Assistant (MHNA) will significantly enhance patient care and support organizational goals by improving efficiency, safety, and quality outcomes. Mental health patients often require specialized attention, emotional support, and continuous monitoring, which can be challenging for nurses managing high workloads. An MHNA provides dedicated assistance with therapeutic interventions, de-escalation techniques, and routine care, reducing stress on nursing staff and allowing them to focus on complex clinical tasks.

Duties of the Nursing Assistant with Mental Health - Perry Point include, but are not limited to:

• Mental Health Nursing Assistant provides essential support to patients with psychiatric or behavioral health needs by assisting with daily living activities.
• Providing care to patients/residents with acute to chronic conditions in a health care setting. The significant factor is that they provide care under close supervision and refer issues/questions to supervisors, higher graded NAs or other healthcare professionals.
• Observe and document patient behaviors, report changes to nursing staff, and help implement therapeutic and recreational programs to promote emotional well-being.
• Appropriately utilizes glucose monitoring machine to collect and document appropriate glucose readings for assigned patient veteran.
• Bathing, dressing, and eating, while ensuring safety and comfort.
• Maintains a positive therapeutic relationships by displaying respect for human dignity with patient, families and/or significant others utilizing learned communication skills.
• Utilize observation skills for data collection, reporting and recording patient/resident observations,.
• Performs aspects of nursing care to meet patient's needs for personal hygiene, physical comfort, activity, exercise, rest, nutrition, elimination, prevention of skin breakdown, rehabilitative aspects of care.
• Engages in group activities such as off-station trips, reality orientation, current events and other therapeutic groups, utilizing principles of proper body mechanics while caring for patients, reports patient observations to the RN and or other members of the treatment team.
• Sets up patient care related equipment, organizes and obtains routine supplies and equipment.
• Assists with orienting patient/family to unit routines and policies, work as a cooperative, courteous member of the interdisciplinary team.
• Under supervision, they may assist with medication administration and treatment plans, maintain a clean and secure environment, and intervene during crises to prevent harm.
• Offer empathetic communication and emotional support, fostering trust and stability for patients in their care.
• Additional duties as assigned.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Work Schedule : Rotating shits nights and weekends.

Compressed/Flexible : Not Authorized

Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).

Telework : Not Authorized

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : FS_512-26787-F,FS_512-26788-F,and FS_512-26789-F

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 evaluation.
• 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 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 or Education or Training:
  • Six months of general experience. Experience must demonstrate the ability to acquire the knowledge and skills to perform the work of a NA; OR,
  • One year of education above high school with courses related to the NA occupation; OR
  • Completion of an intensive, specialized, occupation-related [training]course of study [or program] of less than one year as a NA may also meet in full the experience requirements for GS-3.
• English Language Proficiency. NAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.

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 :

In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

• GS-3 NA (Entry Level)
  • Experience and Education. None beyond the basic requirements. o Assignments. Individuals assigned as GS-3 NAs are considered to be at the entry level and are closely supervised.
• GS-4 NA
  • Experience . One year of specialized experience as a NA or experience in another medical field (licensed practical nurse, health technician, hospital corpsman, etc.), performing technical and nursing skills requiring knowledge of the human physical and emotional states, therapeutic communication, and technical skills required for basic and intermediate treatments; OR ,
  • Education. Successful completion of 2 years above high school in an accredited institution with courses related to nursing care, healthcare or in a field of study appropriate to the specialization of the position, such as education in a program for psychology, psychiatric, or operating room technicians; AND
  • Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
    
    
    • i Ability to provide a range of patient/resident care and contribute to the completion of the nurse care plan and recovery of patients/residents.
    • ii Ability to observe patients/residents' or resident's physical or emotional status and refer deviations and/or problems to supervisor in a timely manner.
    • iii Ability to properly use equipment, materials and supplies in simple diagnostic and treatment procedures such as bladder scan, continuous passive motion device, blood glucose monitoring machine, specimen collection, etc.
    • iv Ability to communicate effectively with patients/residents, their families and other health professionals.
• GS-5 NA (Full Performance Level)
  • Experience. One year of progressively responsible assignments and experience equivalent to the GS-4 level which demonstrates knowledge, skills, and abilities that are directly related to the specific assignment. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the professional KSAs in subparagraph (c) below; OR,
  • Education . Successful completion of a 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree that included 24 semester hours of courses related to health care or possession of a bachelor's degree; AND(c)
  • Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs).
    • i Ability to assist in the full range of nursing care to patients/residents with physical and/or behavioral problems in a hospital, long-term care or outpatient setting under the direction of a Registered Nurse and/or Licensed Vocational Nurse/Licensed Practical Nurse.
    • ii Ability to communicate orally with patients/residents, families, interdisciplinary team and other personnel. This includes serving as a preceptor to new NAs by assisting with the coordination of their orientation and overseeing/assessing their practical experience while in a clinical setting.
    • iii Ability to recognize and react to emergent patient/resident care situations and intervene while waiting for assistance. For example, recognizing need for basic life support, controlling bleeding and assisting with behavior crisis, etc.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit

The 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.

Preferred Experience: 2-3 years of experience with mental health nursing.

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.

Whole Health is an approach to health care that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their life to the fullest. The VA is committed to Whole Health and values Veteran and Employee health and wellbeing. As a VA employee, you will practice Whole Health in an environment that supports personalized and proactive care.

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.