Summary

The Greenwood VA Clinic in Louisville, KY is recruiting for a full time Physician Assistant III (PA). A Physician Assistant is a credentialed healthcare professional who practices in Primary Care Service to provide a full range of services emphasizing quality, timeliness, and the advancement of the Veterans Affairs (VA) mission. The PA provided advanced clinical practice, consultation, and management with a geriatric focus.

Duties

FUNCTIONS OR SCOPES OF PRACTICE

• Obtaining medical histories and performing physical examinations.
• Providing and coordinating medical care for assigned patients, including establishing diagnoses, formulating, and implementing care plans, and providing follow-up care, in collaboration with the attending physician.
• Ordering diagnostic studies and other special tests, such as Ultrasound, XRAY, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Computerized Tomography (CT) scans.
• Ordering or obtaining laboratory specimens.
• Ordering VA specialty service consults and initiating requests for non-VA medical care and consults in accordance with VHA and local facility policy and procedures.
• Ordering patient care supplies and equipment.
• Ordering medical care including, but not limited to, diets, therapies, nursing care, and medications as permitted by VHA directive and local policy.
• Admitting and discharging patients in consultation with, and on behalf of, the collaborating physician, obtaining admission history and performing physical examinations, participating in patient rounds, documenting progress notes and summaries in the patient record, and writing patient orders on assigned patients.
• The collaborating physician must co-sign admission notes and discharge summaries written by the PA, in accordance with The Joint Commission standards.
• Providing education and counseling of patients and families in preventive care, medical conditions, and the use of prescribed treatments and drugs.
• Providing end-of-life education and counseling to individual patients and or patients family members.
• Perform Geriatric Medicine, Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE), and Palliative Medicine consultations in the outpatient clinics, telehealth clinics, home environment, emergency department, and inpatient wards.
• Perform other delegated tasks not specifically outlined herein upon the direction of the collaborating physician.
• Assist with data collection and implementation of quality improvement measures.
• Assist with workflow coordination (i.e., updating the team and SharePoint with patient assignments as determined in collaboration with resident, fellows, attending physicians, and GEC leadership.)
• Perform procedure as approved by Service Chief and credentialing body.

Expanded Elements

• Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation in accordance with VAMC policy.
• Evaluate patients placed in restraints for behavioral purposes; i. Work with patient and staff to identify ways to help the patient regain control. ii. Revise the patient's plan for care, treatment, and services as needed. iii. Provide required written orders as necessary.

Practice Autonomy

Full autonomy is appropriate for an experienced PA in Primary Care, other outpatient, or inpatient settings where enough clinical competence has been demonstrated in carrying out assigned patient care responsibilities. This level may also be used when the PA performs lower risk outpatient therapeutic and diagnostic procedures common to the area of the PA's practice. The PA at this level practices with a high level of autonomy on a day-to-day basis and requires infrequent consultation with the collaborating physician. When consultation with the physician does occur, it must be documented in the patient record by the PA. The physical presence of the collaborating physician at the site of PA practice is not required. The collaborating physician's oversight responsibilities for this level of PA practice include periodic monitoring of the PA's clinical activities through a retrospective review of at least five randomly selected patient encounter notes each quarter to ensure the presence of ongoing competency and medical appropriateness. In addition, the collaborating physician and PA will be in contact at least weekly to discuss any difficult or unusual clinical management. The collaborating physician will concur with continuing this level of autonomy or recommend changes when the PA's Scope of Practice is renewed, or interim changes are requested. This level of autonomy is appropriate for most PA practice settings (e.g. inpatient, outpatient, Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC), Community Living Centers (CLC), Long Term Care, Home Based Primary Care (HBPC), Telemedicine, or remote sites).

Additional Duties

• Perform administrative tasks.
• Teach and provide direction for health care students and residents.
• Act as liaison with outside facilities in coordinating transfers.

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package.

Work Schedule:

Monday-Friday, 8am-430pm

Telework:

This is not a virtual position.

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives:

Not authorized

Requirements

Conditions of employment

All qualified candidates encouraged to apply. Open to U.S. Citizens but non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens. 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.

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.

• Citizenship. Citizen of the United States.
• Education. Graduate of a training program which is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education of PA (ARC-PA) or one of its predecessor organizations.
• Certification. Must have successfully passed the PA National Certifying Exam (PANCE).
• Licensure. PAs must possess an active, current, full, and unrestricted license to practice in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth of the United States, or in the District of Columbia.

Preferred Experience:

Geriatric and home health experience preferred. Meets the minimum requirements for the APRN or PA discipline.

Grade Determinations:

Physician Assistant-III Experience and Education. PAs at the PA-III grade are at the full performance level and lead and organize patient care independently, practice within multi-disciplinary teams, and coordinate all aspects of patient care across the health care system.

Additional information

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status. VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply.