Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist (Information Systems)

This position is located at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia.
The Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist (BESS) provides clinical and administrative support to staff, patients, and administrators for all matters of concern relating to the facility wide lifecycle management of medical equipment. Biomedical support requires the application of engineering and mechanical concepts.

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.

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).

Education, Experience, or Certification: (You must provide your transcripts)

(1) Associates or higher degree in the biomedical technology or biomedical engineering field; OR
(2) Associates or higher degree in electronics, a field of information technology, or engineering (other than biomedical engineering) AND 1 year of creditable experience in hospital setting; OR
(3) Completion of the Department of Defense (DOD) biomedical equipment technician training program; OR
(4) Completion of a DOD training program in repair and maintenance of electronic systems or information technology AND 1 year of creditable experience; OR
(5) Completion of a biomedical engineering technician or Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) certificate program that included an internship or apprenticeship; OR
(6) Completion of biomedical engineering technician or HTM certificate program that did not include an internship AND 1 year of creditable experience; OR
(7) 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.

Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist (Information Systems), GS-12.

Experience. One year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(a) Knowledge of Health Level 7 (HL7) and Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standards.
(b) Knowledge of advanced testing methods to troubleshoot networked medical equipment and clinical system interfaces. (c) Skill in maintaining computer and server based medical equipment, databases, and software.
(d) Skill in managing medical equipment and clinical system projects that interface with an electronic health record or other information systems.
(e) Skill in applying cybersecurity standards to medical devices and clinical systems such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines.
(f) Ability to apply information security tools including virus protection, software updates, and operating system patches.
(g) Ability to establish a medical network including VLAN configuration, Internet Protocol addressing, and network security

NOTE: This provision is not intended to regularize appointments/placements.

d. Foreign Education. To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: Heavy lifting (45 lbs and over). You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

Responsibilities:

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Lifecycle management of all network equipment such as network switches, servers, routers, and other related infrastructure for any and all networked complex medical devices and systems (imaging, life support, dialysis, and monitoring).
• Identifies and troubleshoots issues related to VLAN configuration, IP addressing, sub-netting, HL7, DICOM, Access Control Lists and network security across the medical device network.
• Manages and maintains complete system computerized networks, databases and servers to include biomedical information system which store patient information. Systems include Picture Archiving Communication Systems (PACS), physiological monitoring systems, Clinical Information Systems (CIS), Anesthesia Record Keeping (ARK), and other systems for which Medical Device Isolation Architecture (MDIA) would apply.
• Plans and implements new technologies for diagnostic modalities, network management and storage, and virtual data centers.
• Ensure the proper safety and security policies and protocols are in place as directed by VA Guidelines.
• Conducts lifecycle managements of medical devices and systems such as imaging life support, dialysis, and monitoring to include physical and network support.
• Completes both routine and complex assignments involved in the installation, maintenance, modification, troubleshooting, repair and calibration of these complex therapeutic, diagnostic and life support medical devices and systems.
• Maintains functional knowledge of relevant safety codes and standards of regulatory bodies including but not limited to The Joint Commission (TJC), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), American College of Radiology (ACR), Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS).
• Responsible for documenting all work performed in the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) which is completed in accordance with regulatory body requirements, Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) Documentation of Services guidelines and other organizational requirements.
• Investigates, remediates and documents recalls and safety alerts within established timeframes.
• Participates in local safety improvement processes such as Root Cause Analysis (RCA), safety work groups, and Environment of Care Rounds. Identifies hazards during routine job performance and acts to ensure they are addressed and corrected.
• Provides training and education as appropriate to medical technology end users and clinical staff.
• Provides mentoring and technical training to peers and development graded BESS.

Work Schedule: Monday -Friday 7:00 am - 3:30 pm
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Salary : $104,836