Physical Therapist (Program Coordinator)

This Physical Therapist (Program Coordinator) position is located within the Nursing, Education Service at the VA White River Junction Healthcare System located in White River Junction, Vermont.

VA Careers - Physical Therapy: https://youtube.com/embed/Gi2hoFqIoqY

The incumbent functions as the Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Program Manager, under Education Services, and works with all services, patient, and non-patient care within the White River Junction Healthcare System. The position requires an individual with education, experience, and licensure (PT) who works independently, with general guidance from the Chief of Education. This assignment carries the responsibility for implementing the National Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Program (SPHM) as directed by VHA Directive 1611 (Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Program) for the entire VA WRJ Healthcare System, including all community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs). The incumbent demonstrates independence with ability to make autonomous clinical and educational decisions in a functioning patient care environment. The physical therapist independently develops and implements all the elements of the SPHM Program, working effectively with all services which include employees in all services, veterans, families, care partners and team members to keep both employees and patients safe. They will additionally educate and support staff on related topics, such as falls prevention, mobility assessments, and equipment selection and utilization.

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Serves as a subject matter expert in SPHM and falls prevention, and providing information about these programs to leadership, service chiefs, supervisors, front line workers, veterans and caregivers concerning implementation, maintenance and evaluation of the programs and following all national VHA guidelines.
• Responsible for collecting staff injury data, investigating incidents, and providing leadership with best practices and actions to prevent staff and patient injuries.
• Assists with developing practices and procedures for SPHM services that are necessary to plan and direct the wide range of SPHM activities relating to the overall implementation and operation of the SPHM Program in a large, highly affiliated VA medical Center.
• Responsible for working with a wide range of services including but not limited to SPRS, Radiology, Spinal Cord Injury, Nursing, Geriatrics and Extended Care, Surgery, Specialty Clinics, Primary Care, Mental Health, Medical Service, Cardiology, Home Based Primary Care, and Telehealth in implementing the SPHM Program throughout the entire facility to enhance prevention of staff and patient injuries.
• Works directly with equipment vendors, HTM, FMS, and Logistics for procurement and installation of equipment.
• Provides leadership, development, coordination, expansion, and maintenance as subject matter expert in SPHM for SPHM Unit Peer Leader Program.
• Develops Ergonomic Assessment Program for SPHM ergonomic/hazard assessments annually and on-going in all work areas within VA WRJ.
• Collaborates within education services and with clinical nurse educators to educate all new employees and give awareness of SPHM Program.
• Provides hands-on competency training on all SPHM technology and equipment.
• Remains current with all standards and VHA Directives in keeping SPHM program in compliance with Joint Commission, OSHA, CARF or any other governing and regulatory bodies of the medical center.
• Performs additional duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4: 30 pm.
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: F08527 at the GS-13.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Notifications:

• This position is in the Excepted Service.
• This position is a Bargaining Unit position.
• This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay.
• Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.
• Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.
• Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.

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.
• Education and experience. The individual must meet at least one of the requirements below:
  • Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy AND five (5) years of progressively independent experience as a physical therapist.
  • Master's degree in Physical Therapy AND two (2) years of progressively independent experience as a physical therapist.
  • Doctorate degree in physical therapy.
  • NOTE: Individuals must be a graduate of a Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) accredited college or university. The CAPTE is the only accreditation agency recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to accredit entry-level physical therapy programs. Verification of accredited programs may be obtained from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) at www.apta.org.
• Foreign Graduates. Graduates of foreign physical therapy programs meet the requirements if they have a full unrestricted and current license to practice physical therapy in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia. Foreign educated individuals must undergo an educational credentials assessment for substantial equivalency to the first professional degree in the US by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT).
• Licensure. Individuals hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice physical therapy in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia.
• English Language Proficiency. Individuals appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C. chapters 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA must be proficient in written and spoken English.

Grade Determinations: GS- 13 Physical Therapist (Program Coordinator):
Experience. In addition to meeting the basic requirements, one year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level.

AND

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate all the following KSAs:

• Ability to apply advanced knowledge of contemporary physical therapy within specialty area to provide clinical guidance, training or education for internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to serve as a consultant within the assigned program area for intra-agency and interagency planning and to provide service coordination to optimize program continuity, efficiency and effectiveness.
• Knowledge of and skill in management, administration and/or education methodologies. This includes the ability to monitor and track data, utilize available resources effectively, evaluate program quality, and generate reports for local, and/or VISN and/or VACO leadership.
• Ability to develop and coordinate treatment and/or educational programs within a concentrated field or specialty area, such as, but not limited to, amputee, spinal cord injury, chronic pain, student clinical education/residency programming, polytrauma/traumatic brain injury.
• Ability to establish and maintain collaborative relationships within department and with other departments or affiliated programs.
• Ability to guide the work of a multi-disciplinary team.

Assignment. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety, and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. PTs at this level have experience that demonstrates advanced practice skills and judgment across one or more areas of physical therapy. The individual may be assigned broad administrative responsibility. The individual is assigned a major content specialty area to include assessing, planning, evaluating and delivering care within a special clinical program or component of a Rehabilitation Service, which usually involves multiple disciplines. See the definition for specialty areas in paragraph 2. i, that includes Polytrauma/Traumatic Brain Injury, Chronic Pain, Amputation, Spinal Cord Injury and clinical education programs. PTs provide administrative direction and decisions related to the program. The Physical Therapy Program Coordinator is responsible for the coordination of multiple professionals from a variety of disciplines for optimal clinical care and educational programming. He/she implements programs, policies, and procedures to meet program goals, policy and external accreditation requirements. He/she monitors outcomes, participates in strategic planning and implements strategies for program improvement particularly in assigned content specialty area. The Program Coordinator supports the rehabilitation service and serves as a point of contact providing guidance to facility leadership on matters related to specialty content area. He/she collaborates with Clinical Specialists and with Rehabilitation Service leaders to assist with administrative processes to obtain resources and equipment for operations of content specialty area. He/she assists with developing local policy for new or emerging practices and technologies.

Preferred Experience:

• Safe Patient Handling
• Falls prevention
• Leadership/Project Management
• Safe Patient Handling Equipment Management

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-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-13.

Physical Requirements: The work involves continued walking, standing, stooping, some lifting, sitting, pulling, and providing extensive training over long periods of time in use of equipment to direct care providers. Additionally, the incumbent is required to work at a computer workstation to complete his/her documents for purchasing, data collection and/or administrative needs. Incumbent will be required to travel to all campuses of VA WRJ and CBOC's.

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: 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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• 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).
• 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 1 or 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.