Nurse Volunteer (Clinical & Education) | Funded

Overview

The focus of this role is to strengthen nursing systems by empowering nurses with the knowledge and skills they need to provide the best patient care. This will be done through a combination of formal & informal education sessions, as well as on-the-job clinical mentorship. The role is part of a 2.5 year grant which started in October 2020, you will follow in the footsteps of a nurse volunteer who was on-board during the initial start up of the programme and continue with a structured work plan towards the programmes objectives.

Key Activities

• Support & collaborative working with the Connaught Nurse Training Coordinator

• Support to implement Continuous Professional Development Education Courses: Sierra Leone Early Warning Score (SLEWS), Mini-RATES (Recognition of the acutely unwell adult), Triage assessment (South African Triage System), SHARED (Clinical shift handover)

• New starter induction

• On-the-job clinical mentorship and skills development to embed CPD learning across a variety of departments

• Clinical nursing work in the emergency department alongside the nursing team to improve the quality of patient care and nursing systems

• Update and review of training materials for theory and practical sessions

These objectives will be achieved by drawing on KSLP’s strong partnerships with the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Team at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the Matron’s office within Connaught Hospital. The project is driven by a truly collaborative approach, which is practical and flexible.

The Opportunity

KSLP has been supporting Connaught Hospital since 2013, in the last 7 years the partnership has been involved with clinical, education & research based interventions across a range of care areas; infectious diseases, surgery & anaesthesia, emergency & critical care, medical records, maintenance & oxygen capacity and documentation, to name a few. KSLP has also supported at national and local level in times of crisis such as the Ebola & Covid19 outbreaks.

As the main adult tertiary referral hospital, Connaught Hospital located in the bustling capital city provides inpatient and outpatient services for an average of 400 patients per week. This busy and resource constrained environment has a multidisciplinary team but is heavily reliant on nurses who make up the majority of the workforce, to deliver safe and adequate care to a wide range of patients.

Connaught has a nursing workforce of over 200 staff lead by a team of Matrons, nurses based at Connaught are from a variety of training backgrounds (Certificate, Diploma, Degree, Masters), The hospital also hosts a variety of pre-registration nursing students for clinical placements from local training institutions.

This role is a wonderful opportunity for a nurse with a passion for education and clinical excellence to strengthen the capacity of the Connaught nursing team to develop their skills and experience, which will have a direct impact on the improvement of patient care delivery.

Who do we want?

Pre-requisite requirements:

This role is exclusively available to nurses who have either:

• Studied pre-registration nursing via the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, King’s College London or London South Bank University and who have undertaken clinical experience during training at King’s College Hospital
• OR nurses who have studied pre-registration nursing at another higher education institution but have worked for the King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust or Princess Royal University Hospital for a minimum of 1 year, and are employed by those trusts when joining the KSLP

Academic & Professional qualifications:

• Essential – Adult nursing qualification & professional registration in home country. A postgraduate qualification in education or mentorship.
• Desirable – Diploma in Tropical Nursing or country equivalent.

Professional Experience:

• Essential – A minimum of 4 years clinical work experience in either a critical care or emergency care area(s). Previous experience (minimum 1 year) working and teaching within a hospital in a low resource setting. Experience of mentoring and training others in both theory and practical sessions (Type – OSCE, Simulation, Scenario, Lectures).
• Desirable – Experience of implementing a quality improvement project in a low resource setting and showing impact. Good knowledge of infection prevention measures and/or working time spent in an infectious disease’s specialty.

When?

Start dates: Between March 2021 & September 2021

Covid19 Travel Practicalities: Lungi Airport in Freetown is now open with enhanced Covid19 safety & testing procedures in place, due to the changing nature of logistics during the Covid-19 pandemic we are continually monitoring the situation and will review with the post holder when an offer is made. We are happy to discuss this further and other practicalities at interview.

Start dates: Interviews will be held online, following the closure of this advert.

Our offer to you

You will have the opportunity to work as part of a dynamic team and contribute to improving health outcomes for a population in need. In addition, there is strong evidence that health partnerships like ours do not only benefit people in low-resource settings. They also bring real benefit to NHS staff and services as well as citizens in our partner countries. Among others, these benefits include the opportunity to develop:

• Leadership skills

• Skills in interdisciplinary team working

• Knowledge and skills in innovation and quality improvement

• Clinical and teaching experience

• Cross-cultural experience and experience of managing diversity

• Personal resilience and efficiency – including an enhanced ability to stay calm and make good quality decisions

Volunteers on short term trips and longer placements will receive additional support which is listed below. Please note these are not applicable to all placements, so please make sure you clarify any expectations with the London team:

• Pre-departure and in-country induction

• Cost of return flights to and from initial post covered by KGHP

• One paid annual leave flight per 6 months worked in country

• £500 monthly stipend KSLP

• Multi-entry visa, residency permit and professional registration with the Sierra Leone Nursing & Midwifery Board

• Cost of vaccinations and antimalarials covered by KGHP

• Enrolment onto King’s College London Travel Insurance policy

• Medical indemnity cover

• Cost of accommodation covered by KGHP

• Structured work plan & line management support

• Opportunity for study leave during placement time