Foreign Service Registered Nurse - Limited Non Career Appointment (RNLNA)

About the role

The U.S. Department of State is developing a rank-ordered list of eligible hires for a limited number of Registered Nurse Limited Non-Career Appointment (RNLNA) positions. Learn more about Foreign Service careers at *** There is more to joining the Foreign Service than just salary.

Refer to the Benefits section for more information on total compensation.

What you will do

• The Bureau of Medical Services (MED) maintains and promotes the health of employees and their eligible family members (EFM) who represent U.S. government (USG) agencies abroad.
• The Department assigns Foreign Service Medical Specialists, Limited Non-Career Appointment Registered Nurses (RNLNA) to select posts overseas.
• Many of these posts have significant health risks and local medical facilities are often inadequate to cope with them.
• This position is for a Registered Nurse (RN).
• A Limited Non-Career Appointment (LNA) does not lead to onward employment in the State Department or conversion to another form of employment.
• Candidates must be willing to accept assignments based on the needs of the Foreign Service, primarily in high-threat locations.
• Limited Non-Career Registered Nurses (RNLNA) presently serve at unaccompanied posts in Iraq, Pakistan, and Haiti.
• Assignments may change at any time based on the needs of the Service.
• Family members are not permitted to accompany RNLNAs to post.
• However, at some locations, adult eligible family members (EFMs) may be approved to accompany the RNLNA to post if they will fill certain mission-critical positions.
• EFMs must be employed and hired by the mission before traveling to post.
• All Medical Specialists working with the Bureau of Medical Services must provide primary care services and counseling to all patients regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, language, disease, disability, or religion.
• RNLNA duties include but are not limited to: Maintains a primary care/urgent care clinic by ordering and stocking supplies and performing quality control on all laboratory tests and equipment.
• Evaluates and assesses patients within their scope of training, including assessing vital signs, observation, taking a health history, performing physical examination, and performing selected diagnostic testing.
• Records all findings accurately in the Electronic Health Record (EHR).
• Uses Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) and/or collaborates care with Health Unit providers.
• Other responsibilities include but are not limited to vaccinating patients, dispensing medication, home visits, hospital visits, and responding to compound emergencies and exercises.
• Participates in after-hours call responsibilities with other Health Unit members.
• May need to assist or arrange Medevacs through medical provider direction and coordinate with MED/Foreign Programs or the appropriate Regional Medevac Center.
• RNLNAs are considered essential personnel and are on call to provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• All LNAs are members of the Foreign Service and have the same obligations and standard of conduct expectations as all Foreign Service employees.

Requirements

• Essential Physical Requirements The most important physical requirements of the job are speaking, hearing, vision, mental endurance, tolerance for extreme environmental conditions, physical endurance, dexterity, and mobility.
• RNLNAs may need to perform essential functions effectively in environments that pose physical or other occupational challenges.
• These duties may include: Provision of direct patient care that may require heavy lifting, pulling, stooping, bending, and twisting in tight and limited spaces.
• Travelling independently to posts utilizing commercial air carriers, military aircraft, or other transportation types that may not offer special access or accommodations.
• Provision of emergency care in any location following an accident, natural disaster, or attack in potentially hostile or physically challenging environments, such as in buildings without elevators or in areas with irregular spaces that require kneeling, bending, stooping, lifting, walking, and running over uneven terrain.
• Transportation of self or patients via small aircraft, helicopters, ambulances, or other non-standard modes of transportation with small entrances and high floors, such as high-axle armored vehicles.

Education

At the time of application, the candidate must possess: At minimum, an Associate's degree from an accredited Nursing Program. Education from a program or institution within the United States must be accredited at the time of program completion by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Foreign Education Foreign education acquired outside of any state of the U.S., the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, or any territory or possession of the U.S. must be evaluated by a member organization of one of the two national associations of credential evaluation services (NACES or AICE) to be given credit towards qualification.

The accredited interpretation must include the summary and the foreign education transcripts. The Department of State will not accept foreign education transcripts that have not been evaluated by a credential evaluation service and will terminate the candidacy.

For further information on the evaluation of foreign education, please refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Foreign Education section, and the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of State neither endorses nor recommends any individual evaluation service.

OPM: *** U.S. Department of Education: *** Please refer to the Required Documents section on how to submit the required educational documentation for this position. Licensure and Certification Current and active license as a Registered Nurse in a state, the District of Columbia, or a territory of the United States.

Active and current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification is required.

How you will be evaluated

The Department of State will evaluate candidates on their total background including experience, education, awards, training, and self-development as it relates to the position. The Department of State will select only from among candidates possessing the best qualifications for this position. Part-time work experience will be prorated.

The Department of State prohibits candidates from plagiarizing any portion of their employment application materials, including responses to questions in which candidates must provide a narrative response.

Candidates must create their own responses originally and not copy or adapt them from other sources.

The Department analyzes candidate submissions for plagiarism and will discontinue any individual's candidacy if found to have violated this plagiarism policy.

While the Department of State encourages candidates to create their narratives with great care, including correct use of grammar and style, candidates are prohibited from using any artificial intelligence (AI) tool, including but not limited to ChatGPT, to aid in their written responses.

The Department will discontinue any individual's candidacy if found to have violated this prohibition on use of AI tools in the application process. The Department of State reserves the right to cancel and/or disqualify any application or to withhold test results when, in its judgment, a testing irregularity occurs.

Testing irregularities include, but are not limited to, candidate misconduct, plagiarism as mentioned above, and/or misrepresentation of material fact, including in narrative descriptions of accomplishments. The Department may verify content provided by candidates by contacting references.

It also conducts extensive background checks of work and education history of candidates offered employment. Medical Credentialing and Indemnification Candidates are subject to a credential verification process conducted by the Quality Management Staff Unit of the Bureau of Medical Services.

This process includes query of the National Practitioner Data Bank and independent verification of state licenses and national certifications. Once hired, medical personnel are indemnified for official duties only through the U.S. Federal Tort Claims Act, so long as they are acting within their scope of work.

Active Bureau of Medical Services clinical privileges, specific to the position, are a condition of employment for all Foreign Service Medical Specialists. You may preview questions for this vacancy.

Documents you must provide

• The candidate must ensure required documents are uploaded and the application is complete before the announcement closing deadline.
• PDF documents are required.
• The Department of State will terminate the candidacy if the required documents do not meet the requirements below or if the application is incomplete.
• Resume from USAJobs Resume Builder, the only resume format accepted.
• An additional work experience PDF is required if your work experience does not fit within the two-page USAJobs resume requirement.
• This will ensure that the total number of years of experience, as outlined in the vacancy announcement, is accurately displayed.
• Education and Other Documents: Candidates must submit the documentation below to demonstrate they possess the educational level required, or the Department will terminate the candidacy.
• Official/unofficial college/university transcripts are accepted.
• University diplomas are not accepted in lieu of or in addition to transcripts.
• At minimum, transcripts from an Associate's degree from an accredited Nursing Program.
• Certifications and Licenses must adhere to the same requirements as transcripts.
• Attach the required certifications listed in the Qualifications: Licensure and Certification section.
• Active license as a Registered Nurse in a state, the District of Columbia, or a territory of the United States.
• Active and current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification required.
• All documents must comply with the following requirements to be accepted: Be in PDF format.
• The Department will reject other formats.
• The Department will reject documents sent via link, secured message, or in any other non-attachment format, or sent directly from credential evaluation services.
• Be complete with no missing pages.
• Transcripts must include the candidate's full name, the school's name, and the degree and date awarded/conferred.
• Candidates with a name change should submit an official document reflecting the change.
• All foreign education transcripts must adhere to additional requirements.
• See Foreign Education Information in the Education Requirements section.
• Veterans' Preference Documentation for candidates aged 60 to 64.
• If claiming Veterans' Preference, a copy of the candidate's DD-214 "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty" — which must include the candidate's Character of Service — must be submitted with the application.
• If claiming a 10-point Veterans' Preference, the candidate's VA letter and SF-15 must be submitted in addition to the DD-214.
• A certification from the armed forces is required only if a veteran has not yet received their DD-214.
• It must confirm that the service member is expected to be discharged under honorable conditions within 120 days and include service dates, expected discharge date, character of service, and any applicable disability rating.

Benefits

Benefits include health and medical coverage, federal retirement benefits, and paid leave. Not all benefits are available to LNA positions. Student Loan Repayment and Language Incentive Pay (if language is a hiring prerequisite) programs are not included under the LNA program.

The salary range listed is extracted from the Foreign Service Overseas pay scales. The starting step is determined in part by the highest education level achieved and specialized experience beyond minimum qualifications. Individuals already working in government positions may be appointed based on their highest previous rate as a federal employee.

Continuing Medical Education (CME) The Department of State provides expenses for obtaining CME credit hours.

What to expect next

After the close of the announcement, the application status in USAJobs will say "Reviewing Applications." This status on USAJobs will not be updated further. You can click "Track This Application" for more information. Candidates should use a personal email address to which they will have regular, long-term access throughout the hiring process.

Candidates who are current U.S. government employees may not use their U.S. government email addresses for the Foreign Service application, testing, and assessment process. Candidates will be notified by email from the U.S. Department of State about the outcome of the initial application review and whether they will be further considered for this Foreign Service position.

Candidates should add the U.S. Department of State domain (@state.gov) and @e.pearson.com as trusted senders. Check the spam/junk mail folder to ensure receipt of email messages regarding candidacy status. Due to the high volume of applications, we ask all candidates to remain patient and await communication.

It is not uncommon for several months to pass before candidates are informed of the application results.

Additional information

*EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION PROGRAM (E-Verify) – Verification of employment eligibility in the United States is required. U.S. law requires companies to employ only individuals who may legally work in the U.S. – either U.S. citizens, or foreign citizens who have the necessary authorization.

This agency utilizes E-Verify to compare information from the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) records to confirm employment eligibility. If the employee's information does not match DHS and/or SSA records, the employee is given an opportunity to resolve the problem.

If eligibility cannot be verified, employment will be terminated. **The U.S. Department of State Suitability Review Panel and standards are defined in Chapter 3 of the Foreign Affairs Manual.

For more information, please visit: *** ***For more information about Veterans' Preference and how it is applied in the selection process, please visit: *** No candidate will be considered who has previously been separated from the Foreign Service under §607, §608, §610, or §612 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, as amended, or who resigned or retired in lieu of separation under these provisions.

In addition, no candidate will be considered who has previously been separated for failure to receive a career appointment under §306 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, as amended, or who resigned or retired in lieu thereof.

A Foreign Service Specialist separated pursuant to §306, 607, 608, 610, or 612 may not reapply to be in the same skill code but may apply for another skill code or to be a Foreign Service Generalist. A Foreign Service Generalist separated pursuant to §306, 607, 608, 610, or 612 may not reapply as a Generalist but may apply to a Foreign Service Specialist vacancy.

Executive Branch agencies are barred by 5 U.S. Code §3303, as amended, from accepting or considering prohibited political recommendations and are required to return any prohibited political recommendations to sender. In addition, as mandated by 5 U.S. Code §3110, relatives of federal employees cannot be granted preference in competing for these employment opportunities.

It is the policy of the federal government to treat all employees with dignity and respect and to provide a workplace that is free from discrimination and retaliation, in accordance with the standards set forth by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Department of State provides reasonable accommodation to qualified candidates with disabilities.

Procedures vary by test type, and all candidates must request reasonable accommodations in advance.

For information on requesting reasonable accommodations, please visit: *** Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.