Clinton Health Access Initiative - Quality Improvement Advisor - Jobs in South Africa

Clinton Health Access Initiative - Quality Improvement Advisor - Jobs in South Africa

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organisation committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI approaches some of the most pressing issues in global health with a business-oriented strategy to fundamentally change the underlying economics.

CHAI’s solution-oriented approach focuses on improving market dynamics for medicines and diagnostics; lowering prices for diagnosis and treatment; accelerating access to lifesaving technologies; and helping governments build the capacity required for high-quality care and treatment programs.

By addressing global market failures and accelerating access to the most effective, high-quality health products at affordable and sustainable prices, CHAI helps patients access the care and treatment they need.

Team Overview:

Over the last few decades, South Africa’s Department of Health (DoH) has made significant progress in increasing access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Maternal and Neonatal Health services in South Africa. However, gaps still exist.

Maternal and child mortality continues to be a significant contributor to overall mortality rates and wide variations persist in quality and access to comprehensive, integrated healthcare services, especially for women and adolescents.

To address these challenges, CHAI South Africa’s (CHAI SA) team is supporting the DoH at national and provincial levels to implement a broad range of activities, across demand generation, supply chain strengthening, service delivery expansion, quality improvement and strengthened program monitoring and evaluation, across both public and private sector channels, aimed at significantly increasing uptake of quality health services for women and adolescents.

This is done through the provision of technical assistance to support the development and deployment of strategic and operational plans, resource optimisation in the short and long term and galvanising key stakeholder coordination.

Position Overview:

CHAI is seeking a highly entrepreneurial, energetic, results-oriented and self-motivated individual for the Quality Improvement (QI) Advisor, who will be part of a team responsible for supporting the achievement of a reduction in maternal, perinatal and neonatal mortality through directly supporting health service quality improvement in the DOH’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Maternal and Neonatal Health programs.

This work will focus in priority catchment areas across districts and then scale up nationally.

The QI Advisor will be a key member of the national DoH leadership team. The QI Advisor will be overseen by a QI Lead and work with other QI Advisors to support DoH district management teams, their sub-committees and facility teams.

The QI Advisor will spend at least 50% of time working directly with district teams every month, with responsibility for coaching DoH staff at district and facility levels and documenting all processes and challenges identified during visits, for tabling at district and national meetings.

The QI Advisor is expected to guide DoH staff (including nurses, doctors and managers) to utilise quality improvement tools, techniques and methodologies, develop and test models for improvement in care and facilitate knowledge sharing and learning sessions for QI capability-building, especially at district level.

The QI Advisor will be based in

Pretoria, Gauteng with frequent travel to focal provinces of Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and/or Limpopo. The Advisor will report to the relevant NDoH Program Manager, as well as to CHAI.

Responsibilities

Work with QI Lead and other QI Advisors to support quality improvement activities and advise on the overall direction of the project

Collaborate closely with the national DoH team and participate in all feedback and planning meetings to frame QI plans, explore the latest evidence-based change ideas, document QI success stories and contribute to the development of standardised project tools and resources

Lead, conduct & monitor implementation of QI training activities for all relevant staff, especially senior level DoH managers as needed and continue to provide support and post-training mentorship and tracking of programmatic impact

Conduct regular review and learning visits to focal districts each month on a rotational basis to support different facility level teams (regional and district Hospitals, CHCs and Clinics), with comprehensive reports prepared and shared with district and national teams

Assist district support staff and facility QI teams to:

Develop strong collaborative relationships with DoH staff and test new change ideas at the facility/community level with DoH staff using the model for improvement

Develop and utilise data systems to monitor QI plans, using run charts on a monthly basis

Strengthen and support referral systems between the community, clinics and hospitals to ensure patients receive needed care in a timely fashion

Draft compelling presentations and reports for internal and external stakeholders

Other responsibilities as needed

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences (preferably in nursing or medicine), Public Health, or a related field

Minimum of five years professional experience in a public health sector setting and with increasing levels of responsibility

Advanced problem solving, analytical, and quantitative skills, including significant experience working in Excel and PowerPoint, and presenting findings and recommendations (analytical skills and proficiency levels will be evaluated during recruiting process);

Systems-thinker with ability to think through multi-factorial problems and navigate complex situations

Entrepreneurial mindset; demonstrated ability to work independently on complex projects and solve challenging problems, in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment

Demonstrated ability to multi-task with a strong commitment to excellence, both internally and externally, and with limited structural support

Demonstrated organisational and leadership skills

Exceptional diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and ability to build strong professional relationships with a range of stakeholders in a challenging, multi-cultural environment

Strategically minded, able to think creatively around long-term program objectives and the detailed steps necessary to achieve these goals

Willingness to travel in South Africa as needed

Advantages:

Experience running QI projects in a Primary Health Care and/or public hospital setting

Qualification and/or experience in QI methodology and mentoring and coaching QI teams

Demonstrated an understanding on how to apply a model for improvement, user driver diagrams and identify special cause in run charts

Knowledge of sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health, health systems strengthening, and/or global healthcare systems

End to end project management experience

English language fluency, both written and verbal

Fluency in other local language, both written and verbal

How to Apply

Interested and qualified candidates should apply online by 11th June 2019

For more information and job application details, see; Clinton Health Access Initiative - Quality Improvement Advisor - Jobs in South Africa