CHIEF NURSING OFFICER

Location: Any MSF office*

Contract: Fixed- term

Duration: 3 years- renewal

Starting date: January 2025

Deadline to 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 monitoring of nursing standards (via NCWG and country nursing coordinators).
2. Provides technical support for the monitoring of the nursing quality indicators (QuiPO).
3. Provides technical support for the analysis of the nursing incidents and embeds learnings from incident reporting into operations.

Expected results

Systems of governance and accountability are developed and in use across MSF, ensuring standards and quality of nursing care.

Activities

• Acts as the leader of the Intersectional Nursing Platform and maintains close collaboration with all intersectional medical platforms and a closer link to the SRH platform for cross-fertilization and link to advocacy efforts.
• Fosters coordination, leadership and collaboration to ensure establishment/functioning of the new nursing governance structure.
• Prepares intersection meetings and larger events as required, including agenda, technical support, reading materials and minutes.
• Is the MSF nursing representative for organizations such as ICRC, WHO, ICN as needed
• Links with key nursing academic institutes, private/public sector nursing organizations, strategically harnessing these resources to enhance the effectiveness of our programs.
• Participates in MSF international governance platforms i.e. DirMed, Intersectional groups, supply platforms, etc as needed.

Expected results

MSF is attuned to the key developments within the global nursing profession (policies, practices, and innovations).

Activities

• Support the internal consultation for the development of an intersectional nursing workforce strategy including recruitment, career path and surge nursing capacity, aligned with the demand and challenges experienced in MSF operations and complementary with the ongoing initiatives
• Contribute to the Medical Family revision of Nursing in collaboration/coordination with SRH for midwives and IPC (infection prevention and control) groups for related profiles within the HR transformation projects (IRFFG and others) to ensure job descriptions are concise, clear and align with the operational needs and the international norms.
• Coordinates effective and regular communications with our broader nursing workforce (e.g., ensuring the continuation of the Intersectional Nursing and Midwifery Newsletter)
• Represent the NCWG/CNO on the intersectional medical learning platform. 

Expected results

Close collaboration and partnership are established with HR and actors across the movement to futureproof the MSF nursing and midwife workforce in coordination with SRH intersectional platform.

PROBLEM-SOLVING:

Challenges and decisions that the job faces to achieve the accountabilities:

• Autonomy to think and act.
  
• Complex environment: mantain a cross-communication and liaison role between 28 Intersectional Medical Platforms, Medical Departments, HR representative for the Global Framing, Medical L&D platform, Spinco team among others.

DIMENSIONS:

• Oversights of the Nursing Model of support priorities approved by the DirMed.

 KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, EXPERIENCE:

• Genuine interest in, understanding of and commitment to the humanitarian principles, social mission, operations, and challenges of MSF.

PRACTICAL / TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE:

Skills, qualifications, expertise, experience, e.g.:

• Master’s degree in nursing
• Post-graduate qualifications in an area of specialist nursing would be an asset.
• MSF experience (at least 5 years)
• Experience in a senior nursing leadership position (within MSF or outside)
• Project management experience

PLANNING ORGANISING :

• Outstanding organisational skills with the ability and judgement to prioritise appropriately and to follow multiple tasks at any one time.

COMMUNICATING, INFLUENCING & INTERPERSONAL SKILLS:

• Highly diplomatic,
• Capacity to persuade, motivate and proven teamwork skills.
• Ability to summarize information and produce accurate, well written minutes and reports.
• Data reporting - the ability to collect, review, analyse and report on MSF data to help inform the MSF nursing practice (strategic direction, etc)
• Diplomatic ability and judgement regarding networking, information gathering, and negotiation.
• Self-motivated, responsible and committed, with problem-solving abilities, and with the ability to work effectively in a team.
• Energy, tact, flexibility and tenacity to ensure that tasks are completed well, often within tight deadlines.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment, possessing maturity, patience and understanding.
• Able to cope with pressure and handle changing priorities.

PRACTICICAL REQUIRMENTS:

• Fluent English, French fluency a clear advantage.
• This position requires occasional short trips to other MSF offices within Europe and flexibility to occasionally travel and work outside normal business hours and on weekends.
• Strong computer literacy, including experience utilising Office 360 and SharePoint.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

At MSF, we are committed to an inclusive culture that encourages and supports the diverse voices of our employees. We welcome applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, nationalities, races, religions, beliefs, ability status, and all other diversity characteristics.