TOR BACKGROUND
South Sudan has one of the world’s worst health indicators and most of the deaths that occur in children are highest in the first years of life and occur due to preventable causes.
With support from BHA, UNICEF, UNFPA, ECHO and internal funding, International Medical Corps works with the South Sudan Ministry of Health to deliver health care services directly to nearly 1.3 million South Sudanese and strengthen local healthcare capacity in 5 states of the country. International Medical Corps (IMC) provides integrated primary and secondary healthcare services including emergency preparedness and response through 73 health facilities in urban and rural areas.
In line with International Medical Corps’ Operational Framework objective to enhance the impact of our programs, the IMC-South Sudan mission is working to improve the quality of health care services through capacity building, provision of medical commodities, effective supportive supervision, improving infrastructure, standardizing training tools, continuous coaching, and skills improvement of national staff. One of the greatest obstacles to quality healthcare services is the lack of skilled nursing care providers.
The anticipated time frame for this consultancy is from approximately Mid-November, 2024 to mid-May, 2025 based in South Sudan.
ASSIGNMENT PURPOSE
The Nursing Care Consultant will work at IMC-supported inpatient facilities with relevant staff to improve the quality of nursing care for inpatients. During the six month assignment, he/she will assess and train nursing and patient care staff and facilitate evidenced-based clinical practice. He/she will collaborate with medical practitioners to incorporate nursing processes into the plan of care for patients, develop needed tools to strengthen inpatient care procedures and system and ensure implementation during the period of deployment. The Consultant will provide guidance to nursing services delivered to patients as required, ensuring adherence to IMC, WHO and MoH standards and all related policies, procedures, and guidelines.
The Consultant will adhere to all given security guidelines and International Medical Corps’ code of conduct for the duration of this deployment.
SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The Nursing Care Consultant will:
- Assess the technical capacities of the nursing and inpatient staff.
- Identify and develop classroom and on-the-job training plan for nursing staff.
- Attend nursing activities during daily ward rounds and conduct on-job mentorship to the nursing team during and after every ward round.
- Identify and suggest procuring equipment, and supplies needed to improve the quality of care for patients.
- Develop technical tools, checklists, flow charts, guidelines, and policies identified as gaps in the care of inpatients after collecting and reviewing existing and available documents in consultation with the Medical Director and Health Quality Specialist.
- Serve as a subject matter expert for the nursing and midwifery staff, assess roster, and duty practices, and suggest and implement needed revisions in practices.
- Recommend Schedule nurses’ shift rota.
- Implement proper procedures for handling and taking over of patients and resources during shifts.
- Implement procedures to improve patients documentation completion and filing and clinical management adherence .
- Implement inpatient and outpatient policies and procedures and develop matrices to be signed for the performance of duty.
- Develop a weekly Continuous Medical Education (CME) schedule for clinical areas that need support and coordinate training sessions.
- Implement procedures for proper care in the use and maintenance of equipment and supplies; which promotes continuous improvement of workplace safety and environmental practices.
- Share experience with the nurses to gain confidence in their roles.
- Develop and implement quality improvement projects on identified poorly performing areas e.g. use of partograph in all applicable SBA deliveries.
- Serve as a subject matter expert, advocate, and motivate the nurses and nurses’ supervisor to be able to perform their role continuously.
- Identify poor performing staff and develop a performance improvement plan.
- Assist in interview process and training of new staff.
- Implement procedures that promotes a compassionate environment for patients and caregivers at health facilities.
- Provide training to improve the communication skills of the nursing staff.
- Ensure implementation of any other tasks assigned by the supervisor for improvement of services at IMC-supported health facilities.
- Train staff on key areas of Nursing Care Improvement such as
- Proactive patient assessments and development of nursing care plan
- Nursing care documentation and reporting
- Drug dilution and reconstitution
- Fluid management and monitoring
- Vital sign measurements, monitoring, and charting
- Patient admission, referral, and discharge procedures.
- Death notification and management
- Mentoring/coaching on patient-centered care and accountability
DELIVERABLES DESCRIPTION:
Expected deliverables:
- Activity reports for weekly CMEs conducted in International Medical Corps health facilities.
- Activity summary report for the outcome of quality improvement projects implemented in International Medical Corps ospitals and PHCCs
- Patient care documents:
- Develop and implement drug dilution and reconstitution template/reference document per facility.
- Fluid management and monitoring template
- Vital sign measurements, monitoring, and charting
- Patient admission, handover, referral, and discharge procedures
- Death notification and management
- Tools developed to support the nursing work including charts, forms, job aids, flow charts etc.
- Report on improved nursing care documentation and reporting, e.g., >95% of patient files have the appropriate level of documentation.
- Mentoring/coaching on patient-centered care and accountability
- End of deployment report to outline main findings during the support period based on assessment, and outline areas of strength and opportunities for improvement of nursing care in IMC facilities.
Monthly progress reports are required, summarizing the progress on activities #1-6.
A final report is due two weeks after the end of the deployment
How to apply
Please submit resume and cover letter to apply at this link: Consultant V: Nursing Care Specialist.