Summary

Join the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System as a Nurse Informaticist and help shape how technology supports exceptional Veteran care. In this role, you will optimize clinical workflows, support Federal Electronic Health Record initiatives, strengthen data quality and decision support, engage and train end users, and collaborate with clinical, informatics, and technology partners to improve system performance, usability, and care delivery across VA.

Duties

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Bring your clinical expertise and interest in technology to a role where you can influence how care is delivered across the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System. As a Nurse Informaticist, you will serve as a vital connection between frontline clinicians, informatics leaders, and technology partners, helping transform clinical needs into practical, effective solutions. Through workflow improvement, end-user engagement, education, system optimization, and data-driven innovation, you will help clinicians work more efficiently and support safer, more coordinated Veteran care. This position offers the opportunity to contribute to Federal Electronic Health Record initiatives, guide meaningful change, collaborate across local and national informatics programs, and help build a high-reliability learning environment where technology strengthens both the Veteran and staff experience.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

- Optimize clinical workflows and information systems by evaluating current processes, identifying opportunities for improvement, and helping integrate standardized, evidence-based practices into daily operations.

- Support Federal Electronic Health Record implementation, sustainment, and optimization by troubleshooting issues, evaluating system requirements, validating new functionality, and helping advance technology solutions that meet clinical needs.

- Engage nurses and other clinical staff through huddles, usability check-ins, user forums, and other outreach to identify challenges, monitor system use, and promote effective adoption of informatics tools.

- Deliver timely education and just-in-time training on new workflows, system enhancements, documentation practices, and technology updates to help staff confidently use clinical information systems.

- Strengthen clinical decision support, documentation quality, and data integrity by evaluating information resources, supporting documentation standards, and promoting accurate, reliable, and interoperable health data.

- Lead and support change management for informatics initiatives by communicating system changes, coordinating enhancement requests, assessing workflow usability, and helping teams successfully transition to improved practices.

- Collaborate with the Chief Health Informatics Officer, clinical stakeholders, super users, and Office of Information and Technology partners to develop, implement, and sustain informatics solutions across care settings.

- Contribute to the growth and advancement of informatics practice by serving as a subject matter resource, mentoring new informatics staff, reporting initiative progress to leadership, and participating in Veterans Integrated Service Network and national informatics activities.

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Nurse Total Rewards

Pay: Competitive salary, regular salary increases, potential for performance awards

Paid Time Off: 50 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)

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)

Licensure: 1 full and unrestricted license from any US State or territory

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm and 8:00am - 4:30pm

Telework: Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship; non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• 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.
• 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 evaluation.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7403(f), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English.
• Graduate of a school of professional nursing approved by the appropriate accrediting agency and accredited by one of the following accrediting bodies at the time the program was completed by the applicant: The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) or The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE); OR Individuals attending a master's level bridge program in nursing who have completed coursework equivalent to a bachelor's level degree in Nursing may have opportunity to become registered as a nurse with a state licensing board prior to completion of the bridge program. Upon achievement of a State license, the individual may be appointed on temporary basis and later converted to a permanent appointment upon successful completion and graduation from the bridge program. (Reference VA Handbook 5005, Appendix G6); OR In cases of graduates of foreign schools of professional nursing, possession of a current, full, active, and unrestricted registration will meet the requirement for graduation from an approved school of professional nursing to warrant an appointment as a Nurse who has completed an associated degree/entry level Nursing education program. Credit for foreign nursing education higher that associate degree/entry level requires a formal degree equivalency validation from a recognized equivalency evaluation accepted by VA such as International Consultants of Delaware (ICD).
• Current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a graduate professional nurse in a State, Territory or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico) of the United States, or the District of Columbia. Graduate Nurse Technician (GNT) Exception: Candidates who otherwise meet the basic education requirements, but do not possess the required licensure, may be appointed at the entry step of the grade and level applicable to the completed nursing education as a GNT on a 120-day temporary appointment while actively pursuing licensure (may be extended up to two years on a case-by-case-basis.)

NOTE: Grandfathering Provision - All persons currently employed in VHA in 0610 series and performing the duties as described in the qualification standard on the effective date of the standard (1/29/2024) are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the grade held including positive education and licensure/certification.

Grade Determinations: The following Scope, Education and Dimension criteria must be met in determining the grade assignment of candidates, and if appropriate, the level within a grade. The Dimension requirements (Practice, Veteran/Patient Driven Care, Leadership, Professional Development and Evidence-Based Practice/Research) are detailed for each grade and level within the online assessment: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/[redacted].

Grade/Level

Scope

Education

Nurse I, Level I

Delivers fundamental, knowledge-based care to assigned clients while developing technical competencies.

An Associate Degree (ADN) or Diploma in Nursing, with no additional professional nursing required.

Nurse I, Level II

Demonstrates integration of biopsychosocial concepts, cognitive skills and technically competent practice in providing care to clients with basic or complex.

An ADN or Diploma in Nursing AND 1 year of specialized nursing experience equivalent to Nurse I, Level 1 ;OR a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) with no additional professional nursing experience required.

Nurse I, Level III

Demonstrates proficiency in practice based on conscious and deliberate planning. Self-directed in goal setting for managing complex client situations.

An ADN or Diploma in Nursing AND 2 years of professional nursing experience in which one year is equivalent to Nurse I, Level 2; OR a BSN and 1 year of professional nursing experience equivalent to the Nurse I, Level 2; OR a Master's degree in nursing (MSN) and no additional professional nursing experience; OR a Master's degree in a *related field with a BSN and no additional professional nursing experience.

Nurse II

Demonstrates leadership in delivering and improving holistic care through collaborative strategies with others.

A BSN with 2 years of professional nursing equivalent to Nurse I, Level 3; OR an MSN with one year of specialized nursing experience equivalent to Nurse I, Level 3; OR a Master's degree in a *related field with a BSN and one year of specialized nursing experience equivalent to Nurse I, Level 3; OR a Doctoral degree in Nursing with no professional nursing experience; OR a Doctoral degree in a *related field with a BSN with no additional professional nursing experience.

Nurse III

Executes position responsibilities that demonstrate leadership, experience and creative approaches to management of complex client care beyond the immediate practice setting.

MSN and 2 years of specialized nursing experience, one of which is equivalent to Nurse II and meets all dimension requirements for Nurse III; OR a Master's degree in *related field with BSN and two years of specialized nursing experience, one of which is equivalent to Nurse II and meets all dimension requirements for Nurse III; OR a Doctoral degree in Nursing with and one year of specialized nursing experience equivalent to Nurse II and meets all dimension requirements for Nurse III; OR a Doctoral degree in a *related field with a BSN and one year of specialized nursing experience equivalent to Nurse II and meets all dimension requirements for Nurse III.

*Note: Foreign education programs/degrees are not creditable as related degrees.

Preferred Experience:

• Informatics expertise such as order set management, clinical reminders, templates, or dashboards used facility-wide, and serving as a subject-matter resource during system rollouts or technology assessments preferred.
• Informatics certification preferred
• Work experience spanning core informatics functions: content management, application/EHR support, health IT system optimization, enterprise data management, requirements management, and change management preferred.
• Direct experience in a Nursing Informatics or Clinical Informatics role preferred.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

Additional information

As a VA employee, you will enjoy a truly rewarding career, comprehensive benefits, competitive pay and other generous perks to help build a fuller, more balanced life for you and your family.

• Strong starting salary, career growth, and recognition
• VA Nurse Locality Pay System (LPS) - ensuring our nurses are paid competitive rates within each local labor market
• VA Special Rates - providing regular performance-based increases and potential accelerated increases for outstanding performance
• Premium Pay - including overtime, Saturday, Sunday, holiday, on-call and night work
• Incentive Awards - including Superior Performance Awards, Special Contribution Awards, VA Honor Awards, and Non-Monetary Recognition.
• 8 hours of annual leave (Vacation Time) accrual for full-time Nurses and Nurse Anesthetists for each full biweekly pay period. (The highest leave accrual of any VA employee!)
• 4 hours of Sick leave accrual per full biweekly pay period.
• 12 Weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Organ