Audiologist (Lead)
Summary This position is located in the Audiology and Speech Pathology Service of the Physical Medicine and Rehab (PM&RS) Program at the Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany, New York.
The duties and responsibilities are carried out throughout the Medical Center including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the service.
The Audiologist at this level plans, conducts, and coordinates a full range of diagnostic evaluations and treatment for hearing impairments and/or balance disorders.
Responsibilities Duties include but are not limited to:
The Audiologist at this level conducts, plans, and coordinates all advanced practice clinical and administrative aspects of a full range of services associated with contemporary audiology practice and serves as the subject matter expert in the standard and specialty areas related to Audiology.
Clinical duties and responsibilities include:
direct patient care involving a full range of audiology and balance evaluation and treatment services, including the selection and fitting of hearing aids and other amplification systems and devices, aural (auditory) rehabilitation, and counseling of hearing-impaired veterans and their family, as well as leadership in advanced evidence-based knowledge and practice related to specialty areas of Audiology.
Duties also include mentorship and education of clinical and non-clinical staff and oversight of protocols and procedures in advance practices and specialty areas in the field of Audiology.
The incumbent identifies and evaluates individuals with hearing disorders in the reception and perception of speech, language and other acoustic signals to a full range of patient complexity.
Administers the full range of tests including the testing of vestibular nerve function; evaluates the type and degree of hearing loss for patients who may be unable to provide consistent and reliable reaction to diagnostics.
In addition, the incumbent develops, oversees, and provides advanced and specialty services in the field of Audiology, as well as the administration of patient-centered advanced practices.
The incumbent is responsible for planning, delivering, and monitoring the effectiveness and clinical outcomes of patient-centered general and advanced treatment and rehabilitative services for patients with significant physical and psychological complicating conditions, as well as monitoring the competency of other staff Audiologists practices and procedures.
The incumbent plans, conducts, and coordinates general and advanced practice auditory (aural) rehabilitation, tinnitus, and/or vestibular rehabilitation programs for patients; designs patient-centered treatment plans to assist patient and caregivers to maximize and restore to the greatest extent possible of physical and social functioning and designs, monitors, and conducts a comprehensive hearing conservation program for employees at risk for noise exposure.
The incumbent serves as a consultant to other facility personnel involving the most difficult and complex cases and is a recognized subject matter expert on matters related to hearing, tinnitus, and balance disorders.
The incumbent will be responsible for evaluating, documenting, mentoring, and precepting staff Audiologists and Audiology Techs in general and advanced practice audiology.
The incumbent may also provide instruction to residents and interns who seek information in relation to audiology.
The incumbent will remain current with new developments and advanced theory and practices in audiology and will maintain professional competency by reading professional journals and engaging in continuing education activities and professional learning experiences, and by communicating with other professionals in the profession and related professions.
In addition, the incumbent will train staff Audiologists and Audiology Techs as needed in new developments and advanced practices.
Communication is required in this position and the incumbent will be expected to attend regular staff meetings and inter-disciplinary health care team meeting as appropriate, as well as actively participate in local VA and national VA meetings related to the field of Audiology.
The incumbent is responsible for reviewing current policies and procedures in the field of Audiology, and ensuring staff education and adherence.
The incumbent must also attend and provide in-service training when applicable.
The incumbent will be responsible for the proper maintenance and calibration of the specialized electro-acoustic instrumentation.
The incumbent must have a considerable knowledge of the technical aspects of both the clinical instruments as well as the calibration instruments.
The incumbent will participate in research activities pertinent to clinical audiology.
Although limited research is conducted in the clinical setting, the use of carefully executed audiologic procedures may be a part of a research design.
The incumbent may be requested to assist in gathering clinical research data.
The incumbent may perform ancillary assignments, including program management duties on an occasional basis, where the complexity and amount of the work is not substantial.
The incumbent is under the general supervision of the Chief of Audiology & Speech Pathology Service.
Work Schedule:
8:
00am - 4:
30pm, Monday - Friday Telework:
Not Available Virtual:
This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives:
Not Authorized Functional Statement #:
39199F Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.
S.
Citizen to apply for this job.
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 probationary period.
Subject to background/security investigation.
Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
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).
Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See Additional Information below for details.
Qualifications Creditable
Experience:
Current Professional Audiology Practice.
Individuals may obtain creditable, audiologic work experience through paid or non-paid employment providing audiologic work or by participating in a supervised postdoctoral audiology training program (i.
e.
, fellowship or residency).
Audiologic work experience must occur after all academic requirements are met and the doctoral degree is awarded.
Professional audiology practice includes but is not limited to the following audiology-oriented job duties:
providing professional clinical services, conducting research, carrying out education and training activities, and carrying out the program.
Quality of Experience.
Experience is only creditable if it is postdoctoral experience performing the duties of a professional audiologist and must be directly related to the duties to be performed.
Qualifying experience must also be comparable to or exceed professional audiology experience at the next lower level.
Part-time Experience.
Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full-time workweek.
For example, an audiologist employed 20 hours per week or on a half-time basis, would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service.
Postdoctoral Degree Fellowships.
Postdoctoral fellowships or residencies are training programs in an advanced area of clinical practice.
Training that an individual gained as a fellow or resident after the college or university awarded the doctoral degree is creditable experience.
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.
English Language Proficiency:
Audiologist candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.
S.
C.
7403(f).
Education:
Doctor of Audiology (AuD) from an audiology program recognized by the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
The CAA is the only accreditation agency recognized by the U.
S.
Department of Education (USDE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation to accredit entry-level audiology programs.
HR office staff and management officials may verify the program accredited from CAA at www.
caa.
asha.
org.
OR Other doctoral degree in hearing science or a directly related field from an institution accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the USDE.
NOTE:
Effective January 1, 2007, the CAA in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of ASHA accredits only doctoral degree or AuD programs in audiology.
Licensure:
Individuals must hold a full, current and unrestricted license to practice audiology at the doctoral level in a United States state, territory, commonwealth or the District of Columbia.
All audiologists who perform compensation and pension examinations perform direct patient care duties and must possess a full, current and unrestricted license to practice audiology and must meet the experience requirements under Section 2.
D.
See 38 C.
F.
R.
4.
85.
Grade Determinations for Lead Audiologist, GS-13:
Experience:
At least two years of experience as a professional audiologist, with at least one year comparable to the next lower grade level.
Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) - In addition to meeting the experience or educational requirements for this grade level, the candidate must fully demonstrate the following KSAs:
Ability to lead a diverse clinical team on work methods, practices and procedures.
Ability to coordinate assignments, special projects and objectives to lead work.
Ability to monitor work, evaluate programs, and adjust to accomplish the workload.
Assignment.
For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.
Lead audiologists will lead three or more audiologists to accomplish the work through leadership, team building skills, group facilitation, coaching and integration of work products and processes.
Lead audiologists provide comprehensive clinical services, coordinate special projects, as well as oversee the day-to-day core clinic operations.
These individuals ensure the work assignments of the clinical team are completed and make adjustments to accomplish the workload in accordance with established priorities.
Audiologist clinic coordinators and lead audiologists collect, analyze and incorporate data to monitor and evaluate the efficiency, utilization, quality and effectiveness of clinic services.
Preferred
Experience:
Advanced level audiology practices and skill set.
References:
VA Handbook 5005/152, PART II, Appendix G29 Physical Requirements:
Physical Requirements.
See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13.
Education IMPORTANT:
A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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:
http:
//ope.
ed.
gov/accreditation/.
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:
http:
//www.
ed.
gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.
html.
Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or 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.
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.
Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.
01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.
e.
, medical, religious or pregnancy).
VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations.
If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date.
The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.
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.
Recommended Skills Administration Calibration Certified Nurse Practitioner Clinical Practices Clinical Research Clinical Works Estimated Salary: $20 to $28 per hour based on qualifications.
The duties and responsibilities are carried out throughout the Medical Center including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the service.
The Audiologist at this level plans, conducts, and coordinates a full range of diagnostic evaluations and treatment for hearing impairments and/or balance disorders.
Responsibilities Duties include but are not limited to:
The Audiologist at this level conducts, plans, and coordinates all advanced practice clinical and administrative aspects of a full range of services associated with contemporary audiology practice and serves as the subject matter expert in the standard and specialty areas related to Audiology.
Clinical duties and responsibilities include:
direct patient care involving a full range of audiology and balance evaluation and treatment services, including the selection and fitting of hearing aids and other amplification systems and devices, aural (auditory) rehabilitation, and counseling of hearing-impaired veterans and their family, as well as leadership in advanced evidence-based knowledge and practice related to specialty areas of Audiology.
Duties also include mentorship and education of clinical and non-clinical staff and oversight of protocols and procedures in advance practices and specialty areas in the field of Audiology.
The incumbent identifies and evaluates individuals with hearing disorders in the reception and perception of speech, language and other acoustic signals to a full range of patient complexity.
Administers the full range of tests including the testing of vestibular nerve function; evaluates the type and degree of hearing loss for patients who may be unable to provide consistent and reliable reaction to diagnostics.
In addition, the incumbent develops, oversees, and provides advanced and specialty services in the field of Audiology, as well as the administration of patient-centered advanced practices.
The incumbent is responsible for planning, delivering, and monitoring the effectiveness and clinical outcomes of patient-centered general and advanced treatment and rehabilitative services for patients with significant physical and psychological complicating conditions, as well as monitoring the competency of other staff Audiologists practices and procedures.
The incumbent plans, conducts, and coordinates general and advanced practice auditory (aural) rehabilitation, tinnitus, and/or vestibular rehabilitation programs for patients; designs patient-centered treatment plans to assist patient and caregivers to maximize and restore to the greatest extent possible of physical and social functioning and designs, monitors, and conducts a comprehensive hearing conservation program for employees at risk for noise exposure.
The incumbent serves as a consultant to other facility personnel involving the most difficult and complex cases and is a recognized subject matter expert on matters related to hearing, tinnitus, and balance disorders.
The incumbent will be responsible for evaluating, documenting, mentoring, and precepting staff Audiologists and Audiology Techs in general and advanced practice audiology.
The incumbent may also provide instruction to residents and interns who seek information in relation to audiology.
The incumbent will remain current with new developments and advanced theory and practices in audiology and will maintain professional competency by reading professional journals and engaging in continuing education activities and professional learning experiences, and by communicating with other professionals in the profession and related professions.
In addition, the incumbent will train staff Audiologists and Audiology Techs as needed in new developments and advanced practices.
Communication is required in this position and the incumbent will be expected to attend regular staff meetings and inter-disciplinary health care team meeting as appropriate, as well as actively participate in local VA and national VA meetings related to the field of Audiology.
The incumbent is responsible for reviewing current policies and procedures in the field of Audiology, and ensuring staff education and adherence.
The incumbent must also attend and provide in-service training when applicable.
The incumbent will be responsible for the proper maintenance and calibration of the specialized electro-acoustic instrumentation.
The incumbent must have a considerable knowledge of the technical aspects of both the clinical instruments as well as the calibration instruments.
The incumbent will participate in research activities pertinent to clinical audiology.
Although limited research is conducted in the clinical setting, the use of carefully executed audiologic procedures may be a part of a research design.
The incumbent may be requested to assist in gathering clinical research data.
The incumbent may perform ancillary assignments, including program management duties on an occasional basis, where the complexity and amount of the work is not substantial.
The incumbent is under the general supervision of the Chief of Audiology & Speech Pathology Service.
Work Schedule:
8:
00am - 4:
30pm, Monday - Friday Telework:
Not Available Virtual:
This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives:
Not Authorized Functional Statement #:
39199F Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.
S.
Citizen to apply for this job.
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 probationary period.
Subject to background/security investigation.
Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
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).
Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See Additional Information below for details.
Qualifications Creditable
Experience:
Current Professional Audiology Practice.
Individuals may obtain creditable, audiologic work experience through paid or non-paid employment providing audiologic work or by participating in a supervised postdoctoral audiology training program (i.
e.
, fellowship or residency).
Audiologic work experience must occur after all academic requirements are met and the doctoral degree is awarded.
Professional audiology practice includes but is not limited to the following audiology-oriented job duties:
providing professional clinical services, conducting research, carrying out education and training activities, and carrying out the program.
Quality of Experience.
Experience is only creditable if it is postdoctoral experience performing the duties of a professional audiologist and must be directly related to the duties to be performed.
Qualifying experience must also be comparable to or exceed professional audiology experience at the next lower level.
Part-time Experience.
Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full-time workweek.
For example, an audiologist employed 20 hours per week or on a half-time basis, would receive one full-time workweek of credit for each two weeks of service.
Postdoctoral Degree Fellowships.
Postdoctoral fellowships or residencies are training programs in an advanced area of clinical practice.
Training that an individual gained as a fellow or resident after the college or university awarded the doctoral degree is creditable experience.
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.
English Language Proficiency:
Audiologist candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.
S.
C.
7403(f).
Education:
Doctor of Audiology (AuD) from an audiology program recognized by the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
The CAA is the only accreditation agency recognized by the U.
S.
Department of Education (USDE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation to accredit entry-level audiology programs.
HR office staff and management officials may verify the program accredited from CAA at www.
caa.
asha.
org.
OR Other doctoral degree in hearing science or a directly related field from an institution accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the USDE.
NOTE:
Effective January 1, 2007, the CAA in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of ASHA accredits only doctoral degree or AuD programs in audiology.
Licensure:
Individuals must hold a full, current and unrestricted license to practice audiology at the doctoral level in a United States state, territory, commonwealth or the District of Columbia.
All audiologists who perform compensation and pension examinations perform direct patient care duties and must possess a full, current and unrestricted license to practice audiology and must meet the experience requirements under Section 2.
D.
See 38 C.
F.
R.
4.
85.
Grade Determinations for Lead Audiologist, GS-13:
Experience:
At least two years of experience as a professional audiologist, with at least one year comparable to the next lower grade level.
Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) - In addition to meeting the experience or educational requirements for this grade level, the candidate must fully demonstrate the following KSAs:
Ability to lead a diverse clinical team on work methods, practices and procedures.
Ability to coordinate assignments, special projects and objectives to lead work.
Ability to monitor work, evaluate programs, and adjust to accomplish the workload.
Assignment.
For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity and range of variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.
Lead audiologists will lead three or more audiologists to accomplish the work through leadership, team building skills, group facilitation, coaching and integration of work products and processes.
Lead audiologists provide comprehensive clinical services, coordinate special projects, as well as oversee the day-to-day core clinic operations.
These individuals ensure the work assignments of the clinical team are completed and make adjustments to accomplish the workload in accordance with established priorities.
Audiologist clinic coordinators and lead audiologists collect, analyze and incorporate data to monitor and evaluate the efficiency, utilization, quality and effectiveness of clinic services.
Preferred
Experience:
Advanced level audiology practices and skill set.
References:
VA Handbook 5005/152, PART II, Appendix G29 Physical Requirements:
Physical Requirements.
See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13.
Education IMPORTANT:
A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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:
http:
//ope.
ed.
gov/accreditation/.
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:
http:
//www.
ed.
gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.
html.
Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or 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.
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.
Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.
01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.
e.
, medical, religious or pregnancy).
VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations.
If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date.
The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.
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.
Recommended Skills Administration Calibration Certified Nurse Practitioner Clinical Practices Clinical Research Clinical Works Estimated Salary: $20 to $28 per hour based on qualifications.
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