Background
Village Health Works (VHW) is a joint American-Burundian NGO based in Kigutu, Bururi Province whose mission is to provide quality, compassionate health care in a dignified environment while treating the root causes of illness, poverty, violence, and neglect in collaboration with those we serve. VHW approach integrates clinical services with education, food security, economic development, environmental protection, music and the arts.
Currently VHW engages in a wide array of clinical and community programs in a catchment area of 200,000 people within the provinces of Rumonge and Bururi. Our clinic provides over 51,000 outpatient consultations per year. Our 60-bed low acuity inpatient wards provide basic adult and pediatric non-operative inpatient services including treatment of malnutrition and performs uncomplicated obstetrical deliveries. These services are administered by our staff of generalist physicians under the supervision of our Medical Director.
Village Health Works has embarked on an ambitious plan to expand our clinical care to provide comprehensive medical care including emergency, obstetrical, and surgical services. To achieve this goal, VHW is constructing and equipping a new 150-bed hospital with 4 operating rooms and 10 bed emergency department. Construction and installation of equipment will be completed by mid 2023 with a projected clinical opening in the second half of 2023. To provide excellent care we must also expand the scope and skills of our clinical staff through training, teaching, hiring and through the development and implementation of systems that are framed by high quality norms and standards. While this work is currently underway, there is much more required to open safely in 2023.
Position Overview
The Head of Emergency Medicine Services will have responsibilities that span clinical, educational, and administrative domains. This position is responsible for enthusiastically serving our community by ensuring the delivery of high-quality evidence based clinical care while promoting a clinical culture of service excellence, teamwork, patient safety, and continuous improvement. The ideal candidate is both able to lead by example and lead by teaching those around her/him, taking the opportunity to turn any situation into a team building and/or capacity building moment.
The Head of Emergency Medicine Services will be engaged in work that spans the entire spectrum of emergency and acute clinical care. They will be responsible for developing and overseeing the pre-hospital systems necessary for clinical transportation, triage and navigation of patients into the clinical care system on campus, and operations within the Emergency Department. Responsibilities within the hospital will concentrate on emergency and acute care, but the leader must have the flexibility and willingness to provide leadership in other clinical areas such as obstetrics, general medicine, and pediatrics in collaboration with other senior physicians as needed. In addition, the head of the Emergency Medicine Services will assist with diagnostic imaging activities (ultrasound and Xray) on campus in lieu of a formal department of radiology.
Liaises with: Inpatient Clinical Staff, Senior Physicians/ Chiefs of Clinical Services, Chief Nursing
Officer, Ancillary Service Chiefs (Including: Pharmacy, Laboratory, Radiology, Biomedical
Engineering, Sterilization), Chief of Clinical Quality and Training, Head of Information Technologies
Qualifications
● License to practice medicine as a medical doctor or osteopathic physician
● Trained in emergency medicine residency or MMED program
● Minimum four years clinical experience
● Demonstrated experience in training junior staff
● Experience with quality assurance and monitoring and evaluation frameworks
● Experience in resource poor settings
● Demonstrated leadership qualities
● Critical care and point of care ultrasound experience preferred
● Simulation training experience preferred
● Fluency in English is required and fluency in French is preferred; knowledge of Kirundi and/or Swahili is an asset
Duties and Responsibilities
Domain 1 – Clinical Care
● Serve as clinical leader for Emergency Services
● Provide direct patient care in a team setting
● Ensure that all patients presenting to the hospital are triaged, evaluated, and treated promptly.
● Ensure that clinical plans are effectively and clearly communicated to the care team and patient.
● Ensure timely clinical documentation for patients under department care and review for quality.
● Lead ultrasound training and quality assurance programs
● Coordinate with radiology service lead to ensure clinical functionality of imaging systems across clinical departments
● Works with the IT and EMR team to facilitate accurate and timely documentation.
Domain 2 – Clinical Staff Management
● Manage and supervise all physicians providing care in emergency department
● Coordinate continual staffing and coverage for the emergency department including the creation of on call systems and schedules.
● Ensure regular performance review including written evaluations and feedback sessions for clinical staff
● Participate in recruitment and interviewing of clinical staff as necessary.
● Develop strategic planning for delivering and expanding emergency medical services to include referrals/transport and clinical training for ambulance services
Domain 3 – Quality
● Ensure regular morbidity and mortality review for emergency services.
● Monitor indicators of quality for emergency services on a routine and quarterly basis.
● Responsible for the development and promotion of clinical practice guidelines, policies, standing orders and protocols for the Emergency department through the Clinical Standards Committee.
● Identify, select, and oversee implementation of clinical evidence-based practices and “best practices”
● Oversee ultrasound quality assurance program
● Support the development of new clinical programming pursuant to clinical excellence in the provision of emergency care services.
Domain 4- Education
● Provide appropriate educational experience for the core clinical team.
● Execute a curriculum (created or adapted) covering topics in emergency medicine which includes basic science and the evaluation and application of up-to-date guidelines and research for staff. This includes medical simulation.
● Provide appropriate skills training to staff across clinical areas for emergency interventions/procedures
Domain 5- Administrative
● Serves as the Emergency Medicine clinical leader, engaged in the discernment, development and strategic planning required to successfully meet the organization’s priorities and performance goals
● Engage with the Chief Medical Officer to create annual budget requests for financial resources needed for emergency services.
● Engage with finance and procurement for all emergency medicine related capital purchases.
● Engage with finance and procurement to ensure consistent and reliable supply of essential consumable items.
● Engage with Biomedical Engineering team to ensure functionality of necessary equipment.
Salary and Benefits
Competitive salary, commensurate with experience. A generous benefit package is offered including items such as paid vacation, travel stipend, medical insurance, and evacuation insurance.
How to apply
Qualified candidates are encouraged to submit a CV and a thoughtful cover letter describing your experience and how it applies to this position along with 3 professional references to: [email protected] and [email protected]. Please include “Senior Staff Physician – Head of Emergency Medicine Services” in the subject line of your email.
Submissions should be in English. In your cover letter, please include an estimate of your salary requirement for this position.
Applications will be considered starting on August 15, 2023 at 8h then on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
