Pathology Specialist

Summary

The Pathology Specialist assists in providing service in Anatomic Pathology under the supervision of the Chief of Surgical Pathology and Supervisor Health Science Specialist. The position is located at Bay Pines VA Medical Center in Bay Pines - Florida. The Pathology Specialist participates in the accessioning - examination - dissection - and processing of tissue samples - and when necessary performing autopsies and generating autopsy reports to be reviewed by the pathologist.

Qualifications

IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION AT THE GS-11 LEVEL YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING: BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: You must possess a Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree with major study in an academic field related to the medical field - health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the degree was obtained. (COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION) ~AND~ In addition to meeting the basic education requirement above - you must also meet one of the additional requirements listed below. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess at least one year of specialized experience that equipped you with the particular knowledge - skills - and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position - and that is typically in or related to the work of this position. To be creditable - this experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-9 level in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes performing gross examination - sectioning - and dictation of surgical pathology specimens including biopsies - skin excisions and surgical tissue - both simple and complex in nature; experience in gross and microscopic human anatomy - pathophysiology - medical terminology - and embryology in order to distinguish normal versus disease states; initiating requests and proper specimen preparation for specialized tests such as but not limited to histochemical - immunohistochemical - and flow cytometry. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE.) ~OR~ SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE: You must possess three (3) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree with a major in an appropriate field (as described above) which provided the knowledge - skills - and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one (1) year of full-time study. If that number cannot be obtained from the school - 18 semester hours will be considered an academic year of graduate study. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. (COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION) ~OR~ COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: You must possess an equivalent combination of specialized experience and graduate education as described above to qualify at the GS-11 grade level. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE AND COPY OF TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED AT TIME OF APPLICATION) For more information on these qualification standards - please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at

Duties

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION - YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Major duties and responsibilities include: Performing all elements of gross examination and sectioning of every type of surgical pathology specimens
• Providing description of tissue received from surgery (includes noting size - color - consistency and anatomic orientation)
• Cutting specimens to preset optimal specimen detection for microscopic examination - pathologic diagnosis and cancer staging
• Removing and dissecting visceral organs - brain and spinal cord in order to demonstrate the presence or absence of disease and/or atomic variation by sections various tissues and body fluids for further examination
• Performing autopsies - with or without an autopsy assistant by correlating of the gross pathology with the patient's clinical presentation - preparation of external and internal descriptions
• Preparing the body for pickup by a funeral home
• ordering special studies (e.g. - cultures - histochemical and immunohistochemical stains - electron microscopy) - and providing interpretation
• Preparing frozen tissue sections and other tissue sections within or outside of the histology department
• Performing on complex instruments such as cryostat - cameras - and automatic tissue processor - IHC - this includes knowledge about technical and mechanical indicators of malfunction - sufficient to locate and correct errors
• Maintaining regulatory compliance related to his/her duties on a daily basis
• Maintaining regulatory compliance including reviews regulatory criteria - ensuring all procedures and protocols are maintained up to date with regulatory criteria - preparing work areas for inspection - and participating in the inspection process as required
• Developing and/or revising standard operating procedures by establishing performance standards to improve or extend test systems
• this includes: evaluating - modifying or adapting new methods to meet the requirements of particular testing situations
• Overseeing the morgue for adherence to facility and regulatory safety - quality control and privacy regulations Assisting in the collection - reporting and interpretation of data for Anatomic Pathology QA programs - participating in the PALMS QA committee - making recommendations as needed - and directing and implementing quality improvement initiatives approved by the committee
• Providing instruction at the bench and through discussion of relevant topics including: evaluating - selecting - organizing - and adapting educational - training - and resource materials for teaching programs
• Educating and training residents in pathology - other medical specialties - and medical students - regarding the practice of Anatomic Pathology and Autopsy - including: creating special study rotations to introduce new technologies and processes and constructing learning modules for pathology residents and other trainees
• Participating in the orientation and training of new employees - residents - and students in Anatomic Pathology
• Performing other duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:00am - 3:30pm Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: May be authorized for highly qualified candidates Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved

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The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,321 health care facilities, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,138 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services such as organ transplants and plastic surgery.

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