Health Technician (Optometry)

This position is located within the Surgical Care Services Division of the VA Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ. Located at Thunderbird CBOC This Health Technician (Optometry) is responsible for supporting the Optometrist in the preliminary work up and diagnostic testing of patients for their eye examination.

**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: a. Citizenship. United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. b. English Language Proficiency. Health Technicians (Optometry) must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) and 38 U.S.C. 7407(d). c. Experience and Education (1) Experience. One year of experience in a health care field, such as but not limited to: nursing, medical assistant, or health technician; OR (2) Education. Two years above high school with a minimum of six semester hours directly related to a health care field or associate degree in a health care related degree; OR (3) Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying. Examples are listed below: (a) Six months of experience comparable to the next lower level which demonstrates the knowledge of optometry assistant theory and practices, and general understanding of the health technician/assistant duties and one year above high school with a minimum of six semester hours of health technician/assistant or health technician (optometry)/assistant related course; Health Technician (Optometry), GS-7 (Full Performance Level) Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-6 grade level. AND Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 1. Ability to determine preliminary objective estimate and/or refinement of the optical status of the eye, not to include final subjective refraction. 2. Ability to triage and manage eyeglasses issues (e.g. measurement of vertex distance, base curve, prism correction, center thickness, slab off, Fresnel prism, decentration, etc.). 3. Ability to assist the eye care provider (optometrist or ophthalmologist) with ophthalmic procedures. 4. Ability to assist with obtaining cultures and smears. 5. Knowledge and ability to provide advanced patient education for eye health and/or vision conditions. Employee at this grade level serves as a full performance level health technician (optometry). The technicians perform duties such as measuring and recording visual acuity (with use of pinhole testing as indicated), obtaining accurate potential acuity meter, laser interferometry, contrast sensitivity or other specialized visual acuity measurements. The technicians also evaluate pupillary light responses and measure pupil size, determine the presence or absence of fusion and perform stereoacuity measurements. The health technicians (optometry) perform Amsler grid testing, administer eye drops under the supervision of an eye care provider (optometrist or ophthalmologist), perform basic tonometry (e.g., non-contact, Goldmann, Tono-Pen) and estimate the anterior chamber depth with a penlight or slit lamp biomicroscope. The technicians are skilled in properly reading a basic spectacle prescription using an automated or manual lensometer, obtaining accurate autorefractometry and keratometry measurements, performing confrontation and standard automated visual field testing and administering and scoring basic color vision tests (e.g., pseudoischromatic plates, Farnsworth D-15). The technicians are also adept at measuring and recording corneal thickness by pachymetry as well as performance of advanced corneal measurements, exophthalmometry, tear testing and ocular imaging (e.g., stereo fundus, basic slit lamp biomicroscopy, intraocular lens master measurements, ocular ultrasonography, posterior segment optical coherence tomography, fundus autofluorescence and/or ocular angiography). Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.