Clarification from the agency

All US citizens. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position.

A Mental Health Nursing Assistant (MHNA) will significantly enhance patient care and support organizational goals by improving efficiency, safety, and quality outcomes. Mental health patients often require specialized attention, emotional support, and continuous monitoring, which can be challenging for nurses managing high workloads. An MHNA provides dedicated assistance with therapeutic interventions, de-escalation techniques, and routine care, reducing stress on nursing staff and allowing them to focus on complex clinical tasks.

Duties of the Nursing Assistant with Mental Health - Perry Point include, but are not limited to:

• Mental Health Nursing Assistant provides essential support to patients with psychiatric or behavioral health needs by assisting with daily living activities.
• Providing care to patients/residents with acute to chronic conditions in a health care setting. The significant factor is that they provide care under close supervision and refer issues/questions to supervisors, higher graded NAs or other healthcare professionals.
• Observe and document patient behaviors, report changes to nursing staff, and help implement therapeutic and recreational programs to promote emotional well-being.
• Appropriately utilizes glucose monitoring machine to collect and document appropriate glucose readings for assigned patient veteran.
• Bathing, dressing, and eating, while ensuring safety and comfort.
• Maintains a positive therapeutic relationships by displaying respect for human dignity with patient, families and/or significant others utilizing learned communication skills.
• Utilize observation skills for data collection, reporting and recording patient/resident observations,.
• Performs aspects of nursing care to meet patient's needs for personal hygiene, physical comfort, activity, exercise, rest, nutrition, elimination, prevention of skin breakdown, rehabilitative aspects of care.
• Engages in group activities such as off-station trips, reality orientation, current events and other therapeutic groups, utilizing principles of proper body mechanics while caring for patients, reports patient observations to the RN and or other members of the treatment team.
• Sets up patient care related equipment, organizes and obtains routine supplies and equipment.
• Assists with orienting patient/family to unit routines and policies, work as a cooperative, courteous member of the interdisciplinary team.
• Under supervision, they may assist with medication administration and treatment plans, maintain a clean and secure environment, and intervene during crises to prevent harm.
• Offer empathetic communication and emotional support, fostering trust and stability for patients in their care.
• Additional duties as assigned.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Work Schedule: 3:30pm-12:00am Rotating every other weekend.
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): 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).
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)Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
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 #:#512-26787-F, #512-26788-F, and #512-26789-F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Conditions of employment

• 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 evaluation.
• 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.

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:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Experience or Education or Training:
  • Six months of general experience. Experience must demonstrate the ability to acquire the knowledge and skills to perform the work of a NA;OR,
  • One year of education above high school with courses related to the NA occupation; OR
  • Completion of an intensive, specialized, occupation-related [training]course of study [or program] of less than one year as a NA may also meet in full the experience requirements for GS-3.
• English Language Proficiency. NAs must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j.

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 for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

• GS-3 NA (Entry Level)
  • Experience and Education. None beyond the basic requirements. o Assignments. Individuals assigned as GS-3 NAs are considered to be at the entry level and are closely supervised.
• GS-4 NA
  • Experience. One year of specialized experience as a NA or experience in another medical field (licensed practical nurse, health technician, hospital corpsman, etc.), performing technical and nursing skills requiring knowledge of the human physical and emotional states, therapeutic communication, and technical skills required for basic and intermediate treatments; OR,
  • Education. Successful completion of 2 years above high school in an accredited institution with courses related to nursing care, healthcare or in a field of study appropriate to the specialization of the position, such as education in a program for psychology, psychiatric, or operating room technicians; AND
  • Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
    • i Ability to provide a range of patient/resident care and contribute to the completion of the nurse care plan and recovery of patients/residents.
    • ii Ability to observe patients/residents' or resident's physical or emotional status and refer deviations and/or problems to supervisor in a timely manner.
    • iii Ability to properly use equipment, materials and supplies in simple diagnostic and treatment procedures such as bladder scan, continuous passive motion device, blood glucose monitoring machine, specimen collection, etc.
    • iv Ability to communicate effectively with patients/residents, their families and other health professionals.
• GS-5 NA (Full Performance Level)
  • Experience. One year of progressively responsible assignments and experience equivalent to the GS-4 level which demonstrates knowledge, skills, and abilities that are directly related to the specific assignment. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the professional KSAs in subparagraph (c) below; OR,
  • Education. Successful completion of a 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree that included 24 semester hours of courses related to health care or possession of a bachelor's degree; AND(c)
  • Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs).
    • i Ability to assist in the full range of nursing care to patients/residents with physical and/or behavioral problems in a hospital, long-term care or outpatient setting under the direction of a Registered Nurse and/or Licensed Vocational Nurse/Licensed Practical Nurse.
    • ii Ability to communicate orally with patients/residents, families, interdisciplinary team and other personnel. This includes serving as a preceptor to new NAs by assisting with the coordination of their orientation and overseeing/assessing their practical experience while in a clinical setting.
    • iii Ability to recognize and react to emergent patient/resident care situations and intervene while waiting for assistance. For example, recognizing need for basic life support, controlling bleeding and assisting with behavior crisis, etc.

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-05. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-03 to GS-05.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

RESUME REMINDER: Your resume must include the following information for each job listed:

• Job title Duties (be as detailed as possible)
• Start to end dates month and year (e.g. June 2019 to April 2020)
• Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week)

*Please be aware that your answers will be verified against information provided on your resume. Be sure that your resume clearly supports your responses to all of the questions by addressing your work experience in detail.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV)

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Other (1)
• PCS Orders
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Next steps