Staff Physician (Thoracic Surgeon) RecruitmentRelocation Incentive Authorized

Thoracic surgery involves the diagnosis and treatment of condition injuries and diseases that affect the organs in the thorax or chest. Specialists in this field care for patients with a wide range of thoracic diseases such as occupational and environmental lung disease tuberculosis cystic fibrosis benign and malignant tumor of the lungs chest wall esophagus stomach and mediastinal contents malfunction of the esophagus abnormalities of the heart and great vessels and diaphragmatic hernia.

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Obtaining medical histories and performing physical examinations
• Providing and coordinating medical care for assigned patients in any care setting including establishing diagnoses formulating and implementing care plans and providing follow-up care
• Ordering diagnostic studies and other special tests such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Computerized Tomography (CT) scans etc.
• Carrying out health promotion disease prevention and patient education activities
• Ordering or obtaining laboratory specimens
• Ordering ancillary services such as pharmacy social services physical medicine and rehabilitation therapies prosthetic services etc.
• Ordering VA specialty service consults and initiate requests for non-VA medical care and consults in accordance with VHA and local facility policy and procedures
• Ordering patient care supplies
• Writing orders for or prescribing medications
• Admitting and discharging patients
• Obtaining admission history and performing physical examinations
• Conducting patient rounds documenting progress notes and summaries in the patient record and writing patient orders on assigned patients
• Obtaining and documenting informed consent for treatments and procedures etc.

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.
• 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 ( Effective May 7 2025 drivers licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• 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

To qualify for this position you must meet the basic requirements as well as any additional requirements (if applicable) listed in the job announcement. Applicants pending the completion of training or license requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Currently employed physician(s) in VA who met the requirements for appointment under the previous qualification standard at the time of their initial appointment are deemed to have met the basic requirements of the occupation.

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.
• Language Proficiency: Proficiency in spoken and written English.
• Education: Degree of doctor of medicine or an equivalent degree resulting from a course of education in medicine or osteopathic medicine. The degree must have been obtained from one of the schools approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the year in which the course of study was completed.
• Licensure: Current full and unrestricted license to practice medicine or surgery in a State Territory or Commonwealth of the United States or in the District of Columbia.
• Residency Training: Physicians must have completed residency training approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in an accredited core specialty training program leading to eligibility for board certification. (NOTE: VA physicians involved in academic training programs may be required to be board certified for faculty status.) Approved residencies are:
  • (1) Those approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) OR
  • (2) Those approved by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA)OR
  • (3) Other residencies (non-US residency training programs followed by a minimum of five years of verified practice in the United States) which the local Medical Staff Executive Committee deems to have provided the applicant with appropriate professional training and believes has exposed the physician to an appropriate range of patient care experiences.