In March 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the third Global patient safety challenge under the theme, Medication Without Harm. This challenge was launched in response to unsafe medication practices and errors which are a leading cause of injury and avoidable harm in health care systems across the world. These errors are attributable to a variety of factors like weak medication systems and/or human factors such as fatigue, poor environmental conditions or staff shortages that affect prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administration and monitoring practices, which can then result in severe harm, disability and even death. WHO also identified variation in the implementation of multiple interventions already developed to address the frequency and impact of medication errors. Collectively, these errors cost an estimated $42 billion USD annually globally.
With the support of the Board, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) will work to develop, test and implement scalable interventions for transforming patient safety practices in 10 District hospitals across three countries. The two-year program will be a ground-breaking initiative that will transform patient safety from a new buzz-word that captures the excitement of the improvement community in Africa to a program with practical actions that can be implemented to reduce medication harm. As the first patient safety program of its scope, it will attract high visibility with significant anticipation for lessons-learned that can be adapted for application in other countries. The initiative has two aims;
To improve the quality and safety practices in District Hospital systems by improving the culture, leadership, capacity, and measurement systems
Assisting to achieve the WHO global aim of reducing severe avoidable medication-related harm by 25% in the next 2 years through improved safety knowledge and reliable care processes in district hospitals in Ghana, South Africa and Ethiopia.
IHI seeks a part-time Quality and Safety Advisors to support the Ministry of Health and the three participating hospitals in Ethiopia. The position will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Relocation costs cannot be reimbursed for this project.
Position Description
This is an exciting opportunity for someone with expertise or an interest in patient safety. Training in quality improvement and/ or support of quality improvement initiatives is also a necessary experience. Experience working in a hospital setting, particularly in organizing and coaching teams is a plus. Preference will be given to candidates with clinical experience or current clinicians – doctors, pharmacists, nurses.
Given the newness of this content area to the African context, the incumbent should be comfortable with working in dynamic environments where routine has not yet been established. In addition to the Quality and Safety roles, the incumbent will be expected to support IHI’s efforts in designing and implementing the baseline data-collection process.
Scope of work
Build professional capability in patient safety
Attend an IHI-sponsored training and apply oneself to building expert-level competence in patient safety.
Building MoH and district hospital capability: patient safety quality improvement, data trainings and quarterly learning sessions
QSA will assist with learning materials development, review and implementation
QSA will work hand in hand with the MoH on preparations for all trainings and learning sessions
Through capacity building in quality and safety courses and Learning Sessions, the QSA will support MoH and district hospital leadership to integrate QI coaching and mentoring roles into their existing duties
QSA will participate and assist with teaching in the first, second, and third Learning Sessions for the three hospitals to make sure that all Collaboratives are being run in a similar manner.
QSA will provide ongoing capability support during scale up phase as requested
QI Coaching and Mentoring
QSA will provide onsite technical support through some joint site visits with the district coaches and technical partners to help ensure a standardized QI approach across the county’s health system
QSA will provide virtual technical support
QSA will teach at Learning Sessions, develop tools and templates for collecting data to access changes, review data, attend regular site visits to coach QI teams, and provide feedback on PDSAs
Analysis and Data Review (throughout project, on a quarterly basis)
QSA will assist with baseline data collection and analysis for district hospitals using statistical process control (SPC) methods of data analysis.
In quarterly/periodic reviews meetings with the DHMTs, the QSA will review project progress to help synthesize, analyze and redesign (if necessary) the work to ensure that it is rapidly achieving its aims
QSA will support development of facility process measures and analysis of both project process and outcome measures through coaching implementing partners and district/MoH coaches
Administration & documentation
QSA will provide ongoing check-ins with district/MoH coaches, facility leaders and QI teams
QSA will provide collaborative monthly reports to IHI
QSA will assist with development of standard data reporting and analysis templates to be used at facilities to document and share best practices an ongoing basis
QSA will assist with change package development within the country by supporting district hospitals to document properly
QSA will also participate and take lead in a year-end meeting of MoH, WHO and key partners to finalize documentation of a set of best implementation practices
Make sure the district hospitals and MoH have all the necessary documents for improvement i.e. how to guide, implementation guide, data guide etc.
Attend all necessary meetings
Support for the Multi-Country Learning Network
QSA will assist with preparations and will participate in the two-day global network meetings, which will happen at twelve and 18 months after the design meeting to ensure that experiences, successes and challenges of implementation by sub-district and district teams are shared, and that the implementation design is adjusted accordingly.
Support dissemination of emerging best practices
The QSA will lead and coordinate the dissemination of best practices and key learnings from the country specific collaboratives.
The QSA will access data from participating hospitals and share with other hospitals in the network on monthly virtual meetings. Data will be presented in either run chart or control chart formats.
Job Requirement
Basic Qualifications
Graduate degree in medicine, nursing, pharmacy or another clinical field.
Certification in quality improvement methods.
At least 1 year of clinical practice experience.
Experience with the public health system in Africa.
At least 1 year of experience in coaching teams to implement quality improvement projects.
Working knowledge of patient safety.
Preferred (not Required) Qualifications
An alumnus of the IHI Improvement Advisor or Improvement Coach Professional Development Programs.
Level of Effort
The individuals in these positions will be expected to commit an average of 5 days per month.