Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor at Palladium Group Full Time

Job Title: Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor – Nigeria IHP

Reference ID: req13549
Location: Bauchi

Project Overview and Role

• The Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor will manage the quality improvement, referral and defaulter tracing portfolio of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Integrated Health Program (IHP).
• The position works and coordinates closely with clinical and subject area leads, senior advisors, headquarters technical backstops, State Technical Directors and State QI focal points to implement quality improvement strategies to strengthen State, LGHA and facility management, quality of service delivery, two-way referral, care coordination processes and defaulter tracing approaches. The position will be based in the Abuja County office (ACO) and will liaise with State Technical Directors and other technical staff to facilitate strong integrated service delivery.
• The Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor will be responsible for providing technical leadership and capacity in quality improvement methodology and approaches for IHP-supported states, LGHAs and health facilities within five IHP-supported States (Bauchi, Kebbi, Sokoto, Ebonyi and FCT).
• The position will provide QI capacity building (training and ongoing mentoring in QI, with emphasis on using data to guide service delivery approaches) for state, LGA and facility stakeholders and for project staff.
• The position will provide technical oversight of IHP-supported QI workstreams in collaboration with government counterparts including but not limited to the design and support of QI initiatives at state and LGA-level aligned with the national RMNCH QoC strategy and State QoC operational plans.
• The Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor will provide oversight and management to an intra-project Quality of Care Community of Practice which brings together technical staff from across all IHP States, the Abuja Country Office and Headquarters to address and mitigate challenges and identify and scale best practices.
• S/he will facilitate gathering, documenting and disseminating lessons learned. The Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor will be responsible for supporting the integration of quality improvement methodology into ongoing mentoring and supportive supervision.
• The Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor will also be responsible for providing technical guidance and mentoring to and across facilities to set up and sustain two-way referral systems and strengthen defaulter tracking for key services such as antenatal care, facility delivery, routine immunization and family planning.
• The position requires proven experience implementing healthcare quality improvement at a large scale, a degree in medicine and/or experience in public health.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide overall technical guidance on quality improvement methodology (plan-do-study-act cycles), tools and approaches within the project and for state, LGHA and facility counterparts. This includes the design of implementation of QI at a large scale (i.e., approach to implementing QI in 1,300 facilities), institutionalization of QI into health systems and integration of QI approaches and tools into ongoing mentoring.
• Provide guidance for the design of QI initiatives in IHP-supported states and LGAs including supporting stakeholders and IHP state teams to set priority improvement aims and measures, phasing and sequencing of interventions, and application of QI to address areas beyond clinical service delivery, such as referral and defaulter tracking systems, logistics management, or facility management.
• Build capacity of IHP staff and stakeholders in QI skills through on-the-job training, mentoring, learning sessions, WhatsApp groups, and occasional virtual sessions using existing resources and/or developing additional exercises. Support the development and roll out of a QI coaching job aid.
• Actively review quality of care and coverage data and indicators from state, including review of run charts and use of control charts when appropriate. Build capacity of staff to analyze data from a quality improvement perspective, understand variation, and determine when improvement has been achieved. Promote and strengthen the regular analysis and use of results to determine priorities and drive actions. Participate in review of data from states monthly for key improvement aims and provide feedback to state counterparts to determine if any targeted capacity development is required. Provide guidance to IHP state teams for consistent display of data in facilities.
• Support IHP state teams to design and implement effective peer learning workshops which focus on use of data to determine improvement and effectiveness of changes/solutions tested. Actively participate in peer learning workshops for each state and provide feedback for improving these workshops and increasing evidence-based sharing.
• Guide IHP state teams to support state, LGHA and facility stakeholders to implement a harmonized referral-linkage system that must be documented and demonstrate that it is scalable across Nigeria. Specific elements to address will include but not be limited to a harmonized approach for documentation of in-bound and out-bound referrals, availability of complete documentation and valid data for referral in referral registers, follow up of referred patients/clients to track outcome and completeness of the referral. Develop a system for spot-checking on-site data validity for referral data.
• Review with IHP state teams the functionality of emergency transport system (ETS) and availability at IHP-supported facilities. Determine common barriers and challenges with facility and ETS staff and develop action plans for improving reliability.
• Provide guidance to IHP staff on expectations and approaches to defaulter tracking and pre-emptive systems for ensuring continuous care, including effective use of automated appointment reminders (AAR) app.
• Provide ongoing updates to IHP HQ technical backstops on work with state teams, successes, challenges and next steps.
• Develop simple change package/change ideas to support IHP mentoring and spread of evidence-based/proven changes/solutions in the areas of antenatal care, labor and delivery, newborn care, child health, family planning and reproductive health, nutrition, malaria, referral, defaulter tracing, and areas of facility management.
• Participate in relevant federal-level Technical Working Groups, especially the National QoC Network meetings, and provides support to the FMOH and in IHP states for updating quality of care policies based on global, national, and IHP state needs.
• Contribute to annual work planning, training plans and quarterly reports and other required technical reports.
• Contributes to timely, accurate and appropriate reporting of program activities and results.
• Collaborate with the program’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) team to review data and performance on an ongoing basis and to ensure that the program meets set targets in accordance with national and USG standards.
• Ensure quality program implementation consistent with MOH Nigeria Guidelines, global best practices and USAID Nigeria Strategic Directions.
• Evaluate program progress against deliverables on a quarterly basis.
• Work with the Chief of Party and Deputy as well as other Leads and Senior Advisors to oversee program design, implementation, quality assurance and monitoring of work plan in the targeted states.
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor which contribute to the achievement of program goals.

Required Qualifications

• The Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor must have experience supporting large-scale implementation of quality improvement in a health care setting in a low-and middle-income setting and be a proven leader in the field with senior-level management experience in public health programs.
• The Senior Quality Improvement and Referral Advisor must be intimately familiar with the health care context and health system in Nigeria. Additional qualifications include:
• Expertise in quality improvement methodology (Model for Improvement, plan-do-study-act), data analysis and use for QI (run charts, control charts), and tools for QI (flowcharts, driver diagrams, Pareto charts, etc)
• Demonstrated experience in building capacity for quality improvement, including developing and implementing capacity building materials, coaching and mentoring tools, and serving as a trainer.
• Experience in supporting facilities and health systems to improve referral systems and retention in care (defaulter tracking, appointment systems, etc).
• Clinical training (medical doctor, nurse, health worker, related field) preferred, or extensive experience working in clinical settings as a public health expert; experience supporting RMNCH public health programs preferred
• Strong skills in design, implementation and monitoring of program components; e.g. services, training, integrated supportive supervision, clinical mentoring, patient counseling, advocacy and coordination.
• Knowledge of Federal Ministry of Health HMIS tools and processes, DHIS2 data systems preferred.
• Demonstrated expertise in working directly with host-country senior government officials and policy makers to improve quality of care.
• Strong, demonstrated management and organizational skills.
• Experience working with host-country partners, organizations, and institutions.
• Demonstrated capacity to work with Nigerian experts and partners in developing technical materials and providing training in quality improvement and referral.
• Experience with technical leadership for programs funded by USAID and/or other donor programs in developing countries, with significant Nigeria experience.
• Strong verbal, listening, writing, and intrapersonal skills essential for effective coordination among several institutions and staff involved in a broad range of activities.
• Fluent in English, (written and oral communication) and Hausa and/or Fulfulde.
• Willingness to travel throughout Nigeria as necessary, especially Bauchi, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Ebonyi.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.