Practical Nurse - Primary Care (Knoxville, TN)

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until July 2, 2026. The initial cut off date for referral of eligible applications will be February 16, 2026, with subsequent cut-off dates every two (2) weeks, depending on the number of applicants. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur on an as needed basis until positions are filled.

VA Careers - Licensed Practical Nurse: https://youtube.com/embed/Ae85IP1Oiz4

Licensed Practical Nurse - vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-LPN-Career-Flyer.pdf

Clinical Nursing Practice:

• Demonstrates proficiency in initiating, performing, and completing assigned duties while providing care to diverse patient populations.
• Maintains knowledge and ability to carry out patient care determined by the patient's condition utilizing judgement in selecting appropriate orders, procedures, and treatments; and recognizing, reporting, and recording relevant patient information to include urgent and emergent situations.
• Observes, identifies, and responds to patient needs for medication, medical equipment, and patient/family education while considering emotional, cultural, spiritual, socio­-economic, and age-related factors.
• Maintains knowledge and skill to prepare, administer and appropriately document actions taken specific to commonly prescribed oral, topical, subcutaneous, intramuscular and/or intravenous medications as permitted by approved local facility policies and procedures.

Administration:

• Demonstrate ability to serve as a responsible member of the clinic and interact with patients, family members, professional and supportive personnel who provide patient care, and with members of other services.
• Assist with answering the phone, conveying timely messages to the appropriate staff, placing calls/pages as needed.
• Participate in evaluation of nursing care through attendance and input at team conferences and communication with the Nurse Manager. Further, participates in team conference development and implementation, by presenting a patient for team conference discussion when need identified.

Research:

• Have the option to participate in the accurate collection of data as instructed by the Nurse Manager or designee.
• Have the option to make recommendations for the application of current research findings to practice as well as applying those findings as assigned by the Nurse Manager or designee.

Education:

• Provides appropriate information to patients and their families regarding the plan of care.
• Assists the patient and family in understanding and acceptance of the disease process and encourages participation in the plan for the care and rehabilitation of the patient.
• Identifies patient's educational needs to include equipment, medication, treatment procedures, and diagnosis. Assists with teaching patient/family as appropriate.

Reusable Medical Equipment (RME):

• Be responsible for knowing what reusable instruments, equipment, medical devices, or supplies (inventory) are used in their assigned area.
• Be familiar with which items are cleaned locally (in clinic) and which items are sent to sterile processing service (SPS) for reprocessing and/or sterilization. If items are to be transported for reprocessing, he/she must be aware of the initial decontamination steps that must be taken prior to transport of item and the appropriate method of transport.
• Be responsible for following the local Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) drafted in accordance with the manufacturer's written recommendations. SPS and Infection Prevention and Control should be consulted when clarification of written instructions are needed. No one should be reprocessing any reusable medical equipment based on vendor's verbal instructions alone: this is not an adequate practice.

Work Schedule: Full time
Recruitment Incentive: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station: 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).
Pay Scale: V0Q2 and 001M
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by
VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 61005-F; 61004-F; 61003-F; 61006-F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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.
• English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English.
• Education - Graduate of a school of practical or vocational nursing approved by the appropriate State agency and/or accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) at the time the program was completed by the applicant. Exceptions include health care education in the military service or training in the military service which is accepted by the licensing body in the jurisdiction in which the individual is licensed as qualifying for full LPN/LVN licensure will be accepted as meeting the education requirements for VHA employment OR granted a license by a jurisdiction that does not require graduation from an approved school AND have at least one year of successful practice as an LPN/ LVN.
• Licensure - Active, full, current and unrestricted licensure as a Graduate Licensed Practical or Vocational Nurse in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico), of the United States or the District of Columbia.

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 stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade.GS-03

• The LPN GS-03 will perform at the advanced beginner level. He/she is responsible for direct patient care activities under the supervision of the Registered Nurse (RN). Written assignment. with supplemental verbal instructions that are given by the RN. Work performance is observed and regularly evaluated by the Registered Nurse-for purposes of competency validation. The practical nurse seeks guidance from the RN when difficulty is encountered with the assignment

GS-04

• The LPN GS-04 will perform at the advanced beginner level. He/she is responsible for direct patient care activities under the supervision of the Registered Nurse (RN). Written assignment. with supplemental verbal instructions that are given by the RN. Work performance is observed and regularly evaluated by the Registered Nurse-for purposes of competency validation. The practical nurse seeks guidance from the RN when difficulty is encountered with the assignment.

• Demonstrate ability to serve as a responsible member of the clinic and interact with patients, family members, professional and supportive personnel who provide patient care, and with members of other services.

• Assists with answering the phone, conveying timely messages to the appropriate staff, placing calls/pages as needed.

• Have the option to participate in the accurate collection of data as instructed by the Nurse Manager or designee.

GS-05

• The LPN GS-05 will demonstrate knowledge and ability to provide full range of practical nursing care to patients with a variety of physical and/or behavioral problems.

• Works with the RN and/or MD to appropriately orient train less experienced LPN's, NAs, and Health Technicians (HT) according to acceptable standards of practice in the delivery optimal patient care.

• Demonstrate ability to serve as a responsible member of the clinic and interact with patients, family members, professional and supportive personnel who provide patient care, and with members of other services.

• Assist with answering the phone, conveying timely messages to the appropriate staff, placing calls/pages as needed.

• Have the option to participate in the accurate collection of data as instructed by the Nurse Manager or designee.

GS-06

• The LPN GS-06 are proficient in initiating, performing, and completing assigned duties in providing care to variable patient populations.

• Knowledge and ability to appropriately carry out assigned patient care based on the patients' conditions, using judgment in selecting the appropriate order and sequence of procedures and treatments, and accurately recognizing, reporting, and recording relevant patient information.

• Ability to observe, identify, and response to a patient's needs for care including medication, equipment-assisted care, and patient/family education.

• Prepares and administers prescribed medications (oral, topical, subcutaneous, intramuscular and/or intravenous) and performs treatments according to established policies/procedures. Observes for, documents, and reports physical and/or emotional changes in the patient's condition from prescribed medications/treatments.

• Knowledge and ability to recognize urgent or emergent patient care situations and initiating appropriate emergency interventions as directed.

• Knowledge and understanding of human behavior, patient motivations and reactions to situations and the ability to appropriately utilize this knowledge in working effectively with patients, family members and other staff.

• Knowledge and skill in performing support duties for complex diagnostic tests and/or specialized practices or procedures, which includes preparing the patient.

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).

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-6. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-3 to GS-6..

Physical Requirements:

The population of male and female veterans served ranges from the adult, age 18, to the elderly adult, age 65 and over. James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center (JHQVAMC) is a major interdisciplinary teaching facility, serving medical, surgical, and neurological inpatients and outpatients. There is a large outpatient psychiatric population, with admissions for medical co-morbidities. This position requires visual acuity, keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity. This position requires potentially long periods of continued walking, standing, stooping, sitting, bending, pulling, lifting more than 10 pounds, and pushing. Transferring patients and objects may be required.

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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

• 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• 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.