Published on: 30 August 2019

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Family Medicine Faculty
Organisation: Lesotho Ministry of Health, Lesotho-Boston Health Alliance
Location: Lesotho: Motebang Hospital, Leribe district
Type of Employment: Full-time

The Lesotho-Boston Health Alliance (LeBoHA), in association with the Department of Family Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, and with the Lesotho Ministry of Health, is seeking an experienced, highly motivated family medicine physician to join our team as faculty member for the Family Medicine Specialty Training Program (FMSTP) in the country of Lesotho in southern Africa.

The faculty position is approximately 40% clinical care and 60% administrative. He/she will provide site-based teaching to registrars undergoing their specialty training in family medicine as part of Lesotho’s first and only post-graduate training program for physicians. The successful candidate will also contribute to the further development of the program and curriculum and will mentor future instructors.

Requirements:

LeBoHA expects the successful applicant will have proven health care experience, experience in global health, and a history of practice in a low-resource setting.

We expect excellent written and spoken English, superior communication skills including the ability to listen, a good grasp of health policy issues, the ability to work with senior administrators and members of Government and other organisations as well as being willing and able to work easily and well with health professionals at the front line. Applicants should have the ability to develop new skills as well as impart skills and knowledge to others by example and by providing direct technical assistance to varying levels of staff.

Evidence of skills in medical education is a strength as well as demonstrated ability to plan, manage and evaluate health services. Evidence of analytic skills and the ability to work with government staff around difficult resource allocation choices, including predicting the operating cost implications of alternative program, equipment and drug choices, is a plus.

A medical degree from a recognized medical university and a specialty degree in Family Medicine is required.

The ability to self-supervise and operate without day-to-day direction is essential. The successful candidate will have a superb understanding of the goals of the Family Medicine Specialty Training Program and will be able to respond to unforeseen challenges as well as initiate and support activities that move the program towards its goals of an enduring world class specialty training program.

Excellent computer literacy is required. Occasional travel to regional and national conferences and meetings is needed.

Scope of Work:

Location: Motebang Hospital with occasional travel to Registrar rotation sites and Maseru

Direct Supervisor: LeBoHA FMSTP Director

Direct Supervisee(s): LeBoHA Family Medicine Specialty Training Program Administrator

The role of the Family Medicine Specialty Training Program Faculty for the Lesotho-Boston Health Alliance is to provide operational leadership in the further development of the Family Medicine Specialty Training Program, refinement of program curriculum, site-based teaching of registrars and institutionalization of the program. In addition to the specific roles and responsibilities that fit within this role, outlined below, we expect the incumbent to be able to fill whatever function may be needed and makes sense to continue making progress as efficiently as possible towards our program objectives.

LeBoHA has high standards and high expectations for its entire staff. Our objective is excellence in everything we do. To do this each staff member must pull their own weight, consistently perform at a high-level and, of the utmost importance, be a team player. The intent is always to get the job done with excellent results in a timely manner.

The incumbent will be expected to plan, initiate and carry out programmatic and administrative duties with extensive delegation to all Family Medicine Program staff. Listed below are the roles and responsibilities of the LeBoHA’s Family Medicine Specialty Training Program Faculty.

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Provide oversight to all Family Medicine Specialty Training Program in-country activities
2. Support institutionalization of FMSTP within long-term in-country bodies
   1. Ongoing training of preceptors
   2. Advocacy for program to in-country and international stakeholders
   3. Meet with appropriate Government officials to discuss mechanisms of institutionalization
3. Recruitment and Certification
   1. Participate in registrar recruitment activities
      a) Participate in visits to regional universities and hospitals
      b) Assist with medical student caucus and intern meetings
      c) Review credentials of candidates and program records
   2. Assist in registrar selection
      a) Interviewing candidates
   3. Participate in orienting new registrars
   4. Examinations – mid-term and final
      a) Creation of test questions
      b) Validation of test questions
      (b1) Participation with regional bodies
      c) Proctoring exams
      d) Grading exams
      (d1) Reviewing with registrars
      (d2) Maintain soft copies of all test bank questions
      e) Faculty Recruitment
      (e1) Interviewing faculty candidates
      (e2) Selecting and on boarding of new faculty
4. Clinical Teaching
   1. Curriculum Refinement and Development
      a) Review and revise source documents as necessary
      b) Refinement of reading assignments
      (b1) Selection of textbooks and reading assignments
      (b2) Review and refine registrar rotations
      (b2a) Registrar feedback
      (b2b) Faculty decisions
   2. Conduct teaching rounds
   3. Instruct/supervise registrars regarding evidence-based medicine
   4. Conduct and instruct registrars on internet medical literature searches
   5. Conducting didactic presentations
      a) Grand rounds
      b) Case presentations
      c) Group teaching
   6. Supervise registrar research and community-oriented primary care (COPC) projects
      a) Initiate topic selection discussion with registrars
      b) Assist in the planning and implementing of projects
      c) Supervise and guide ongoing work
   7. Evaluations
      a) Registrars by faculty
      b) Faculty by registrars
      c) Visiting faculty, residents and medical students by faculty and registrars
      (c1) Review and refine registrar orientation packet
      (c2) Review and refine program’s policies and procedures
      (c3) Orient new registrars to hospital departments
      (c4) Orient new registrars to rotation sites
   8. Program Scheduling
      a) Convene planning meetings with rotation sites
      b) Communicate with rotation sites and departments
      c) Coordinate Visiting Faculty
      (c1) Schedule visit time and confirm faculty who will be visiting
      (c2) Hosting of faculty as necessary
   9. Registrar meetings/logistics
      a) Leading FMSTP meetings
5. Contact Sessions
   1. Plan and execute monthly didactic sessions for registrars
      a) Create and deliver lectures
      b) Coordinate and invite local, regional, and international educators
      c) Create pre- and post-tests and evaluations
6. Clinical Patient Care
   1. Direct patient care of outpatients
      a) At outlying clinic sites or at Motebang Hospital
   2. Direct patient care in wards
      a) Generally as part of registrar rotations
   3. Giving a consult to other doctors/registrars
   4. Program coordination with DMO, Queen Mamohato Hospital, Baylor, etc.
7. Guest Faculty, residents and medical student visitors
   a) Orient visiting faculty, residents and medical students
8. Send and receive timely and professional email communication to all necessary internal staff and external associates
9. LeBoHA management conference calls
   1. Establishing agenda items
   2. Chairing conference call
   3. Follow-up on action items
10. In-Country staff meetings
    1. Contributing agenda items to meeting
    2. Actively participating in meeting
    3. Actively following up on individual action items from meeting
11. Reimbursements
    1. Timely submission of all outstanding reimbursements to Financial and office Managers

Location:

The home of the FMSTP is currently at Motebang Hospital in Leribe District.

Evaluation:

1. By LeBoHA FMSTP Director and staff
2. By registrars and clinical volunteers at the end of each rotation

Compensation and Benefits:

Employment is directly through the Lesotho Ministry of Health and onboarding is required with the MOH and LeBoHA. Salary is provided by the MOH at the consultant level, grade M of the Lesotho civil service scale.

The selected applicant will be offered faculty appointments at Boston University School of Medicine commensurate with their qualifications and responsibilities. Associated benefits include access to university library resources.

Mileage accrued on any personal vehicle for business will be reimbursed according to the Lesotho-Boston Health Alliance in-country policies.