About the job

About the job:

The Foundation for African Medicine and Education (FAME), a not for profit hospital in rural Tanzania, is seeking a Medical Director who is passionate about advancing high quality, patient-centered care.

FAME is a learning organization and a model for patient centered care in a limited resource environment. The all African Medical staff are both resilient and innovative. Doctors and nurses are coached by western volunteers, increasing their skills and confidence, to expand procedures available in the rural Karatu area. Whether performing surgery or making beds in the wards, employees across the hospital understand the mission and vision and are aligned in their work. The hospital is infused with beautiful gardens and children with their parents on Well Baby Tuesday. It is a place of healing.

The business side of FAME is managed by a highly competent Director of Operations. The long term goal of the Medical Director role is to expand capacity within the hospital’s local medical team. This position offers a unique opportunity to balance the best of evidence based practices with local resources creating a legacy Medical Director position for FAME.

Reporting to the Co-Executive Directors, the Medical Director will oversee a team of 108 medical professionals, including 16 doctors, 70 nurses, 14 lab personnel, 5 pharmacy staff and two radiographers. This position requires strong management skills.

Job Description:

1) Administrative

- Provides medical direction -- developing, maintaining and/or adapting clinical practice guidelines consistent with best practices.

- Serves as member of the Executive Team and the Senior Management Team.

- Participates in Strategic Planning Process

- Works collaboratively with the Executive and Senior Management

- Teams to ensure that a culture of patient-centered care and life-long learning reaches across all medical departments.

- Oversees medical issues of day-to-day operations.

- Provides clinical innovation and thought leadership in developing sustainable programs in a low resource setting.

- Ensures that FAME’s practices and policies are in accordance with those required by the Tanzanian Ministry of Health.

- Assists FAME Head Doctor in preparing for interactions with local and regional government health authorities, as appropriate.

2) Medical Staff

- Serves as a liaison between the medical staff and the Executive Team.

- Supervises and mentors medical department heads.

- Oversees the selection process for clinicians.

- Oversees medical care team meetings.

- Oversees efficiencies related to scheduling and patient coverage.

- Oversees efficiencies related to ward rounding and handoffs of clinical care between caregivers.

- Collaborates with Head Doctor and Clinical Education Coordinator in assessing continuing medical education needs and coordinating on-site CME for FAME Clinical Team.

- Works with Volunteer Coordinator to reinforce FAME’s model of “partnership” and capacity building with volunteers.

- Orient and oversee Medical Volunteers while at FAME

- Pair volunteers with FAME staff in a targeted way to maximize learning opportunities.

3) Patient Care

- Develops and reviews protocols, policies and procedures.

- Ensures that the quality of patient care is in accordance with the established protocols, policies and procedures.

- Assists the facility staff in identifying and solving patient-care problems.

- Assists the Head Doctor in maintaining continuity of patient care through coordination of physicians and nursing staff.

- Serves as a point person and mentor for FAME clinical staff in the management of complicated cases.

- Liaises with existing list of volunteer specialists through email/zoom on complicated cases as needed.

- Cultivates linkages with referral entities to improve continuity of care for patients whose needs go beyond FAME’s scope of services.

- Liaises with existing global health partners, overseeing program implementation and addressing challenges on the ground.

- Evaluates potential global health partners for compatibility with FAME’s strategic priorities, advising the Executive Team accordingly.

- Provides clinical care as appropriate, focusing on complicated ward patients requiring internal medicine expertise.

- Provides supervision and assistance to FAME clinical staff when patient referrals to other institutions are required for care beyond that which FAME can provide.

4) Performance Appraisal and Continuous Quality Improvement

- Oversees and mentors Head Doctor in the provision of clinical supervision, including regular performance appraisals and feedback.

- Oversees the development and implementation of a system for reviewing and auditing patient files, focusing on quality of care and adherence to clinical protocols.

- Works with Head Doctor and Clinical Team Leaders to develop and consistently implement a comprehensive orientation program for newly hired clinicians.

- Works with Head Doctor to investigate breaches of quality patient care or ethical conduct by medical staff members and ensures corrective action has been taken.

- Ensures that Department Heads are enforcing medical staff rules and regulations and facility policies and procedures.

- Participates in performance reviews of medical staff members up for contract renewals.

5) Financial Practices

- Promotes cost containment and efficient use of facility resources.

- Makes recommendations for potential cost-effective improvements.

- Assists in educating medical staff about cost-containment issues.

Qualities and Characteristics:

- Passionate about advancing high quality, patient-centered care in rural Africa.

- Committed to building local capacity in rural Africa.

- Enjoys teaching, mentoring and empowering doctors and medical staff to serve their patients well.

- Excellent listening skills and sensitive to other points of view.

- Willing to learn from mistakes and always willing to ask for help when needed.

- Possesses an innate social intelligence that makes it easy to relate to people from very different backgrounds and cultures.

- Knowledge of local cultural norms as they apply to health care delivery.

- Ability to promote a favorable facility image with doctors, and patients, donors, partners and the general public.

- Ability to be decisive, but fair, and capable of making tough decisions when necessary.

- Skilled in organizing and prioritizing workload and meeting deadlines.

- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

- Ability to work as an effective team member, function independently, exercise sound judgment and demonstrate self-initiative.

- Models a strong work ethic, is dependable and punctual.

- Has a good sense of humor.

Requirements:

- M.D. or equivalent degree from accredited medical school.

Masters in Medicine or a Specialty Residency - any specialty (an internal medicine preference)

- Medical practitioner with an active license in the country of residence.

- At least 10 years experience as a medical practitioner.

- Successful track record of working in the developing world.

- Ability to thrive living in a beautiful, but very rural and isolated setting.

- Experience in medical management.

- Strong ethical and moral character references.

- English fluency, oral and written; knowledge of Kiswahili is an added advantage.

- Computer literacy required; knowledge of electronic medical record systems would be an added advantage

Location and Hours:

- This is a full-time position located in Karatu, Tanzania.

Compensation:

- Salary commensurate with experience and education

- 20 days Paid Time Off (PTO) annually

More About FAME:

FAME is an organization entirely focused on advancing quality medical care in rural Tanzania. From the beginning, the founders set out to provide communities in the Northern Highlands of Tanzania with a unique healthcare experience – one marked by patient-centered care and high-quality service. In that spirit, FAME endeavors to meet the medical needs of ordinary Tanzanian people, including underserved populations in the most rural parts of the region.

FAME began as a Mobile Clinic serving remote populations. Now, 19 years later, in addition to providing comprehensive primary care in its Outpatient Clinic and Inpatient Hospital, FAME provides services in Surgery, Maternal and Child Health, Diagnostics and Health Education. Additionally FAME offers an ambitious, in-house continuing medical education program designed to build local capacity. With 187 Tanzanian staff and nearly 28,000 annual patient visits, FAME serves a catchment area of 2.9 million rural Tanzanians who would otherwise have extremely limited access to quality healthcare. FAME also collaborates with more than 50 international medical volunteers annually to mentor and learn from its Tanzanian doctors and nur