Technical Officer (Quality & Patient Safety) - Cairo, Egypt

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME : 1- Assist Member States to improve the quality and safety of healthcare at all levels of the health care delivery system by generating evidence, monitoring quality and safety of care and developing interventions that are adapted to the national health system; 2- Develop tools, instruments, guidelines, protocols that can help in assessing, monitoring, and improving the quality and safety of care adapted to the healthcare needs of the EMR; 3- Build institutional capacity among Ministries of Health or independent accreditation bodies in order to develop and/or strengthen programs that promote clinical governance or healthcare accreditation approaches by providing the best evidence and helping to develop national quality and safety programs.
Description of duties: Purpose of the Post: To provide assistance to Member States on quality and patient safety aspects of healthcare with a focus on hospital as well as primary care services. Summary of Assigned Duties (Describe what the incumbent has to do to achieve main objectives; include main achievements expected): Under the direct supervision of the RA/HMS and general supervision of Director Health Systems and Services Development, the incumbent will perform the following tasks: 1. Provide technical advice to ministries of health on implementation and monitoring of patient safety and quality programs, both at hospital and primary health care level; 2. Develop tools, instruments, guidelines and protocols for assessing, monitoring and improving quality and safety; pilot these to ensure their validity, reliability and applicability in the countries; and build capacity of nationals in their effective and efficient use; 3. Prepare, coordinate and conduct training sessions, seminars and conferences, relevant to the quality and patient safety programme, at regional and national levels; 4. Develop programs that demonstrate improvements in patient safety and quality of healthcare in hospitals as well as in primary health care facilities, and that have the potential to be scaled up; 5. Assist Member States in developing a framework for introduction of patient safety in undergraduate curricula; 6. Engage with civil society working in the area of quality and safety to enhance their capacity in giving greater voice to patients and contribute to bringing about a cultural change as part of the national quality and safety programs; 7. Support Member States in developing sentinel reporting systems for adverse events in hospitals that enhance early detection, introduce a non-punitive and non-blame culture; and support corrective measures to minimize such events in future; 8. Develop a network of regional quality and patient safety experts that can contribute to raising the importance of the subject on the regional and national health policy agenda, guide the development of tools and instruments, assist nationals in implementing quality and safety programs; 9. Support Member States in developing/strengthening national accreditation systems for heath care, strengthening the clinical governance approach or by doing both and strengthen capacities in the ministries of health or independent accreditation programs.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Education: Essential: University Degree in Medicine or Nursing and Masters Degree in Public Health.
Skills: Competencies: 1) Producing results 2) Communicating in a credible and effective way 3) Moving forward in a changing environment Functional Skills and Knowledge (Describe skills and knowledge specific to the post): Good knowledge in writing reports; Skills in scientific writing and basic data analysis.
Experience: Essential: At least seven years combined experience at the national and international levels in quality and safety in health or any related field of public health. Desirable: - Working experience in an international organization. - Experience in patient safety-related research in a medical or healthcare related field.
Languages: - Excellent knowledge of English. - Knowledge of Arabic and/or French languages will be an asset.
Additional Information: Applicants are kindly requested to pay attention to the screening questions as they will be used to screen out unqualified candidates: - Only qualified applicants with the relevant experience will be considered. - A written test/presentation and interviews will be used as a form of screening. The written test might be used as an eliminatory tool. - Other similar positions at the same level may be filled from this vacancy notice (this could be the base for rosters) - Candidates will be interviewed using a competency based approach. This vacancy is published in English only.
Annual salary: (Net of tax) US$67,483 at single rate US$72,467 with primary dependants	Post Adjustment: 39.6 % of the above figure(s). This percentage is to be considered as indicative since variations may occur each month either upwards or downwards due to currency exchange rate fluctuations or inflation.
Online applications are strongly encouraged to enable WHO to store your profile in a permanent database. Please visit WHO's e-Recruitment website at: www.who.int/employment. The system provides instructions for online application procedures.
All applicants are encouraged to apply online as soon as possible after the vacancy has been posted and well before the deadline stated in the vacancy announcement.

Technical Officer (Quality & Patient Safety) Position 343460
Vacancy Number: EMRO/12/FT266
Duty Station: Cairo Egypt
Grade: P4
Contract Type: Fixed-Term Appointment
Closing Date: 17 Aug 2012