Medical Education Consultant At Syrian American Medical Society Foundation

Adult ICU Nursing Program/Medical Education Consultant

1. Background

The Syrian American Medical Society Foundation (SAMS) is a non-profit, non-political, medical relief organization, with a mission to provide lifesaving healthcare services and to revitalize health systems for refugees populations, internally displaced persons, and vulnerable host community members in countries affected by conflicts and other disasters. SAMS implements an integrated model of essential and specialized health services that emphasizes priority needs and specialized interventions, including medical education, professional training, and financial support to healthcare workers in Syria and beyond.

Since 2014, SAMS has been providing educational and training opportunities to our medical personnel working in Syria to address the gap in healthcare workforce and services and ensure that physicians and allied health staff are up-to-date with the latest developments and innovations in the field of medicine.

2. Purpose and specifications:

The growing medical needs due to Syria ongoing conflict, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, are especially significant in the field of critical care for adults and the management of intensive care departments in NW Syria hospitals. Despite the important role the incentive care units in these hospitals play, unfortunately the majority of their medical staff have not received formal training in relevant fields and do not have adequate access to academic resources to compensate for gaps in knowledge and skills.

The majority of current ICUs allied health staff are still largely drawn from nursing background with ICU experience limited to on short time training provided by individuals serving as heads of these unites. This training focuses on the use and care of different medical devices, critical drugs dosing, and basic procedures and care of patients. These cadres are employed under the name of intensive care technician. With the increase in the number of admissions to intensive care units due to the conflict and COVID pandemic, the need for highly sophisticated support and monitoring methodologies, and an occupancy rate reaching 100% frequently, the need for more qualified staff and better training models has become essential for quality care of the patients.

SAMS would like to put into practice evidence-based intervention to fill the gap in qualified allied health professionals in the field of critical care and to enhance the capacity of the ICU current staff through the development and provision of a specialized nursing academic diploma in the field of Adult Critical Care to be implemented in northern Syria.

This initiative will include the development of an Adults ICU curriculum (theoretical and clinical) by a technical consultant who will be recruited to conduct an assessment for medical education in the field of ICU nursing during a period of 6 months with the following tasks/deliverables:

Tasks:

A- Adults ICU Workforce Assessment:

This assessment should focus on:

1- The educational background of those who are currently managing ICUs and practicing Adults critical care in NW Syria

2- The job descriptions, roles, and responsibilities of Adults ICU staff

3- The standard operation procedures (SOPs) for Adult ICUs

4- On hand raining and practical skills required for Adults ICU staff

5- The volume of work in the intensive care unit, including patient/staff ratio, work schedules, shifting of patients care and staff roles.

6- What are the guidelines and assessment tools used in hiring Adults ICU staff in NW Syria

B. Development of Programmatic Guidance Document and Curricula for specialized nursing in Adult ICU in NW Syria that will include:

1- Selection Criteria of trainees.

2- Instructors/Trainers Specialties, Certification requirements and qualifications

3- Curriculum topics, Duration of courses, Contents outline, and knowledge retention enhancing techniques and testing.

4- The curriculum references.

5- Needed training/study plans

6- Necessary scientific protocols and guidelines.

7- Practical and procedural needs necessary for graduation (graduation requirements).

8- Clinical follow-up notebook for students

9- Monitoring tools for practical training.

To deliver the above requirements, the consultant should incorporate:

(a) Desk review of existing national and international relevant ICU curricula, materials, monitoring tools and preceptor guidelines that can be adapted to the Syrian context;

(b) Meetings and interviews with specialist parties from SAMS and other organizations and academic bodies with relevant work

(c) Collect primary data from existing ICU workforce, employer and supervisors

(d) Analyze primary data and provide initial findings within the final report.

Timeline for Deliverables

Deliverables Estimated # of days

**

Assessment tools that will be used to collect data 10

Raw datasets, including Excel files with questionnaire responses, interview transcripts 5

Needs assessment report 15

Situation report summarizing existing service provision and programs and curricula from existing programs 10

Specialized Nursing Programmatic Guidance Document and Curricula for ICU . 10

Clinical tools 10

Monitoring tools for practical training 5

3. Required Qualifications:

• Certified ICU Physician or accredited ICU nursing trainer with at least 5 years of experience in various settings of ICU training and practice.
• Previous teaching experience as a clinical preceptor for ICU Diploma students (and or adjunct faculty preferred).
• Previous experience with mentorship models of training.
• Previous experience with dealing with training on ICU medical equipment
• Experience in low- resource and humanitarian setting which include the use of basic ICU tools
• Willingness to travel to Turkey.
• ICU trainings certified including ACLS + advanced ICU.
• Computer skills with Microsoft suite including MS Excel, power-point and word.
• Skills with virtual conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Skype and go to meeting.
• Team player with flexibility and superior interpersonal skills.
• Ability to function independently with limited direct supervision.
• Arabic and English – speaking and communication skills

4. Deadlines:

Preliminary Findings by 30 June 2022

Draft of Guidance Document and Curricula by 30 July 2022

Final Guidance Document and Curricula by 20 August 2022

5 . Payment Policy

The payment will be delivered in two phases:

• First payment after submission and approval of the situation report and revised technical design (50%)
• Second payment after submission of the final approved Guidance Document and Curricula (50%)

6 . Application Materials

Interested applicants should submit the following in PDF format:

• CV/Resume
• 2-3 samples of previous needs assessment reports
• Technical proposal (2 pages maximum), including the overall procedure, qualitative and quantitative methods, proposed assessment tools, timeline, and analyses
• Budget, including the applicant’s daily rate (in USD), travel, accommodations, etc.