CHIEF NURSING OFFICER

Location: Any MSF office*

Contract: Fixed- term

Duration: 3 years- renewal

Starting date: January 2025

Deadline t apply: 11th November 2024 

*By default, the successful candidate will be offered a contract in the MSF office of their country of residence at the time of application.

I. MSF INTERNATIONAL

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural disasters. MSF offers assistance to people based only on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.

MSF International is the legal entity that binds MSF’s 24 sections, 27 associations and other offices together. Registered in Switzerland, MSF International provides coordination, information and support to the MSF Movement, as well as implements international projects and initiatives as requested.

II. PLACE IN THE ORGANISATION

To support the organisational commitments to continuously improve the quality of healthcare provision, through a person-centred approach, the position of Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) was approved by the DirMed platform in July 2024. The strategic aims of this position are to strengthen nursing leadership and professional representation within the current MSF governance structures, futureproof MSF’s nursing workforce and promote a culture of interdisciplinary ways of workings and shared accountability to improve the quality of healthcare delivery.

The Chief Nursing officer will:

• Lead the intersectional nursing platform.
• Report to the International Medical Coordinator (IMC)
• Link Strategically to DirMed platform and IMC
• Liaise with the DirMed platform, International Medical Platforms, the SPINCO team, the international guidelines team, the supply platforms, the HR IO team (and others as needed).

III. OBJECTIVES OF THE POSITION

An overall nursing vision and strategy is developed for the entire MSF movement, fostering equity and inclusion, and setting up a nursing leadership reflective of our nursing population and the values of our nursing care: person-centred, caring, empathetic; safe and effective, well-led and interdisciplinary. Working closely with the IMC and the DirMed platform, the CNO plays a pivotal role in supporting and ensuring that the nursing vision and strategy are consistently and efficiently considered at the different levels.

The CNO position focuses on issues relevant to nurses due the professional differences and separate scopes of practice between nurses and midwives. However, acknowledging that in many of the countries where we operate, midwives and nurses are often educated and regulated jointly i.e. the health needs such as neonatal care, cervical cancer screening, contraceptive care, women’s health, sexual violence, and safe abortion care, are addressed by both professions. To ensure effective collaboration and coordination in these overlapping areas, the CNO will work closely with platforms representing midwives, including the Reproductive Health and Sexual Violence (RH SV) platform.

IV. MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

 Activities

•  Coordinates internally the update / development of intersectional medical documents including the international medical documents under international guidelines team.
• Coordinates with SRH intersectional platform and other groups
• Guarantees nurse engagement in the relevant medical and non-medical guidelines that influence or are executed by nurses.
• Coordinates the development of nursing technical resources (procedures, SOPs, handbooks, tools, among others).
• Provides advisory and technical support for the creation of intersectional supply lists aligned with the nursing guidelines and liaise with SRH intersectional platform for midwifery supply list aligned with midwifery guidelines.
• Represent nurses in the item standardization committee. (OC level MSLs stay with nursing advisors/nursing coordinators).

Expected results

Intersectional nursing medical guidance is updated or developed to offer comprehensive clinical, technical and managerial support and advice.

Activities

• Develops a taxonomy to better define and categorise the types and volume of nursing care provided by MSF (“typology” for nurses).
• Develops accountability systems to safeguard standards and quality of nursing care:

1. Provides technical support for the monitorin