Obstetrician/Gynaecology specialist advisor (40%) | ReliefWeb 138 views

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent, medical, emergency relief organisation that provides assistance to people worldwide, regardless of their background, religion or political convictions. Above all, we aim to save lives and to offer medical care to victims of disasters, wars and epidemics. Working together with local staff, we give direct support to the population. MSF also appeals to those in power, including governments and international organisations, and speaks out about the abuses we encounter in the course of our work.

The Public Health Department of MSFs Operational Centre Amsterdam (OCA) supports the overall purpose of MSF, providing medical and public health leadership for the organisation. The department is responsible for providing strategic direction and integrated advice on medical and public health issues to the field and headquarters. The PHD plays a key role in developing and maintaining the medical humanitarian identity and image of MSF-OCA, and in continuing to develop and improve intervention strategies so as to be relevant and effective.

The Public Health Department is made up of a group of generalist Health Advisors (based in Amsterdam and Berlin) and medical and public health specialists (based in Amsterdam, Berlin and London) who provide expert support in a range of fields including infectious diseases, mental health, nutrition, paediatrics, and vaccination as well as epidemiology, health promotion, laboratory, pharmaceutical quality/medical supply, and water/sanitation.

MSF-OCAs reproductive health strategy includes ensuring access to, and quality in provision of, antenatal, intrapartum, postnatal, and neonatal care and prevention of mistimed/unwanted pregnancy. The O&G specialist along with the RH specialists is expected to lead us in achieving this objective.

With immediate effect our Public Health Department is looking for a

Obstetrician/Gynaecology specialist advisor (40%)

POSITION WITHIN THE ORGANISATION

The Obstetrician/Gynaecology specialist reports to the Coordinator of Medical Specialists for the Mother-Child Health group in the Public Health Department. She/he works in close collaboration and communication with the two reproductive health specialists and with the surgical specialist to assure coherence in the approach to RH programming.
The two reproductive health specialists positions will carry individual responsibility over different portfolios and the O&G specialist will provide an overall technical contribution to ensuring quality RH care.

The location for the office and desk work is flexible, so he/she can work from any location. However one should be flexible enough to plan face to face cooperation with the two RH specialists who are based in Amsterdam on a regular basis.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

The overall aim of this post is to provide support to reproductive health in MSF-OCA projects with a specific technical focus on obstetrics and gynaecology including obstetric and gynaecological surgery.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
We foresee a 50/50 division between overall technical support and support to key missions.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

In collaboration with the reproductive health specialists, provide technical and strategic support to MSF-OCA field programmes while supporting operations in the implementation of the strategic plan and the MSF RH policy. This will include:

• Provide quality and timely technical support to field staff concerning obstetric and gynaecological clinical questions
• Working together with HR in establishing essential competencies and skills for field obstetrician-gynaecologists, and checks and balances to make sure staff fil this profile. Supporting HR in ongoing recruitment, matching and development of these staff (i.e., Ob-Gynae pool)
• Provide support to monitor obstetric and gynaecological quality of care, ensure technical norms and develop improvement plans where needed
• Promote culture of patient safety; support field teams with quality review process including root causes analysis and follow-up of incident reports

• Contribute to the development and promotion of middle and long term strategic vision and plan for reproductive health within the PHD and MSF-OCA along with the practical implementation means and plans

• Support field teams in the use and analysis of routine data; oversight and analysis of RH activities and outputs on key indicators so that quality of care can be evaluated and followed up effectively

• Advocate on RH policy and quality issues to MSF-OCA operations and other relevant staff

• Monitor developments in the field of RH and assess relevance for MSF-OCA field projects

• Develop further networks to enhance MSF-OCA expertise and support for field implementation

• Collaborate with fellow PHD specialists and colleagues of support departments on cross-cutting issues

SUPPORT TO KEY MISSIONS

• Conduct field visits to selected missions to support ongoing operational research related to ensuring quality basic and emergency obstetric care
• Provide field based training and mentoring in key missions
• Brief/debrief field obstetricians and other reproductive health staff in key missions ensuring opportunity for topical preparation on RH care components prior to departure and feedback at end of mission
• Assist Health Advisors and Operations Managers with implementation of obstetric services (as a member of the medical support team in key missions), identify constraints and implementation challenges and recommend measures to overcome them
• Facilitate implementation of RH component of appropriate tools (e.g. guidelines, protocols/procedures, training materials, minimum equipment/drugs lists, etc)

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Education, qualification, and experience

Fully qualified obstetrician-gynaecologist with current registration/license with relevant national professional body (consultant/attending level)

• Minimum 3 years independent clinical experience in hospital, including the recent 2-year period (i.e., clinically current)
• At least two missions providing obstetric care in MSF (or a similar organisation)
• Commitment and passion for the goals of MSF
• Coordination and/or project management experience is an asset
• A Masters degree in Public Health or other relevant field is an asset

Capacities and Skills

• Excellent oral and written communication skills; Fluency in English is required, French or Arabic are an asset (Dutch is not necessary)
• Proven ability to work in diverse cultural and professional backgrounds
• Enthusiastic, motivated and independent; able to work with minimal supervision
• Able to work under time pressure on various projects and deadlines at any given time
• Is innovative, able to take the lead and produce timely outputs
• Able to work with a flexible schedule that allows for HQ visits and support to projects
• Competence in facilitation, capacity building, coaching and mentoring