Point of Care Ultrasound Advisor W/M

General context

The vision of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) integration in MSF is to ensure that clinicians, both locally hired and international mobile staff, have the knowledge, guidance, and access to proper and selective use of this diagnostic tool as part of the comprehensive management of patients, in remote and low-resource settings.  There are currently POCUS Regional Managers in DRC, Yemen, Bangladesh, CAR, and South Sudan – who work intersectionally to cover POCUS needs for those regions.

Following the POCUS TIC, which focused on the expansion, scale-up, and integration of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) into MSF operations - particularly by engaging national clinical staff - MSF France has decided to continue this initiative by recruiting a dedicated focal point within the Medical Department. This position will provide high-quality hands-on training, support ongoing POCUS implementation, and focus on strengthening local capacity within OCP projects, with possible support to other Operational Centres as needed and feasible.

To realize these ambitions, the POCUS advisor will continue to work closely with the MSF OCP medical referents, operational cells, the projects, and the other intersectional POCUS advisors and regional managers to support POCUS implementation. The advisor will develop POCUS strategies adapted to the mission needs and coordinate section-wide POCUS needs.

I. PLACE IN THE ORGANISATION

The POCUS advisor is hierarchically accountable to the Head of the Diagnostic Pole and is functionally accountable to the Clinical Integration & Innovation Coordinator (POCUS Project Coordinator) and OCP Dep-DirMed. S(He) works in close collaboration with the clinical referents in the medical department working on improvement of clinical reasoning. S(He) will coordinate with the POCUS program within the Diagnostic Imaging Working Group, through the Clinical Integration & Innovation Coordinator. 

While in the field, the advisor operates under a matrix system: hierarchical and functional accountability remain at headquarter level, with operational coordination and contextual alignment ensured with the mission management team. Technical guidance remains under the responsibility of the Medical Department.

II. OBJECTIVES OF THE POSITION

The OCP POCUS advisor will:

• Develop, execute, and evaluate implementation of ongoing POCUS training programs within OCP, with specific strategies for building of local POCUS teaching capacity.

• To act as the Ultrasound advisor in the medical department and for project staff in the Operational Center Paris, with a general knowledge on the principles of POCUS within MSF and be able to educate members of the OC regarding the program philosophy and setup. 

• To collaborate with the Diagnostic Image Working Group, the POCUS project team, medical department and other sections to improve POCUS usage and impact.

• Global oversight of all POCUS activities for MSF France and support intersectional coordination with the larger POCUS program team.

• Serve as MSF France ultrasound referent for relevant work with MSF Logistique, OCP Biomeds, and OCP Telemedicine cases, in coordination with the POCUS Team.

 III. MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Technical Referent FOR POCUS: Provide OCP specific and intersectional coordination and support as a technical referent. Main tasks include annual Strategy Mapping, budgeting, point person for MSF Logistique/Biomed/MedRef/Cells/Telemedicine/Medical supervisors as first contact.

• Promote best practices in ultrasound use and strengthen clinical reasoning to ensure appropriate indication, interpretation, and integration of POCUS findings into patient management.

• Serve as a technical referent of all ultrasound-related telemedicine cases within OCP projects. Liaise with the experts on telemedicine, as well as the Clinical Case Coordinators, regarding specific ultrasound cases within OCP. Actively feedback to MSF and telemedicine the necessary changes needed to improve the program.

• Advocate with local medical teams for appropriate usage of telemedicine platform and where appropriate, provides training to clinicians on how to use MSF telemedicine platform for ultrasound cases.

• Directly advise and oversee ultrasound equipment validation, procurement, maintenance, daily use, and repair/replacement with international supply centers, biomed teams, and field teams for all relevant MSF projects in OCP

• Identify solutions and improvements in MSF supply, procurement, and biomedical support as pertains to ultrasound equipment, through ultrasound device reviews, direct feedback to the Biomed WG, development of educational material, and training of relevant staff.

• Serve as an OCP consultant on POCUS. Sit in internal medical or operations meetings as relevant, and liaise with key stakeholders in that OC (medical units, cell, referents, BioMed, HR, etc)

• Provide Quarterly updates on OCP POCUS activities for relevant training partners, platforms, and line managers to ensure integration across the MSF movement with other clinical training programs and priorities.

POCUS Implementation: Analyze new/ongoing training requests, organizing training, briefing, and supporting external POCUS trainers and IMS staff in the field, close collaboration with existing field POCUS users, quality control, and longitudinal follow up.

• Throughout the year, the MSF OCP POCUS Advisor will have a highly mobile role, with frequent field visits dedicated to hands-on POCUS training and capacity-building activities. The objective is to provide POCUS training to new OCP projects, consolidate existing skills through multiple training cycles in projects with ongoing POCUS implementation, and place particular emphasis on developing local POCUS facilitation capacity in regions with limited access.

• Provide hands-on field implementations whenever feasible – combining technical ultrasound expertise (image acquisition and interpretation) with medical/clinical expertise (development of appropriate clinical care based on ultrasound results).

• Directly evaluate suitability of POCUS implementation in MSF projects, advise teams on training scope, tailor and develop a project-appropriate curriculum, and then coordinate the context specific field-based deployment itself.

  • Serve as technical mentor for any POCUS facilitators deployed in field sites under their responsibility, including technical briefing, ongoing support, and debriefing

  • Liaise with POCUS Pool manager for facilitator recruitment, matching, and planning

Quality, Integration, Sustainability: The advisor has a role in evaluating the quality of POCUS use in MSF, it’s integration into clinical care, and the sustainability of POCUS within OCP projects. Identifying, developing, and mentoring future leaders, superusers, and facilitators is a core component of the role.

• The advisor has a role in creating local and regional POCUS facilitation capacity. Main tasks include identifying key clinicians for Training of Facilitators, co-facilitation, in-project superusers; and working with POCUS-trained sites on creating teaching opportunities for these clinicians. Eventually, development of POCUS Country Managers and decentralized leadership opportunities should be prioritized.

• Develop in project POCUS Focal Points, and support them in daily clinical use of POCUS in MSF OCP Projects, identifying and mitigating challenges.

• Advise and support medical coordinators and project teams towards longitudinal, sustainable, and responsible integration of high-quality POCUS utilization in all relevant MSF projects in OCP, including budgetary and training planning annually.

• Directly support, advise, and supervise field teams in the clinical management effected by ultrasound use. This includes direct feedback for management of complex clinical cases, linking with external Telemedicine experts, and ensuring additional context-specific POCUS training with longitudinal implementation for all OC within the region of responsibility.

• Contribute to the evolving ultrasound program within MSF including integrating POCUS appropriately into clinical guidelines and providing evidence-based updated information for clinical care WGs in MSF.  To serve as liaison for the pediatric WG.

• Oversee the transformational impact of POCUS through high-quality implementation of ultrasound to change clinical care on a project, regional and international level, and identify areas for improvement