Country: Burundi
Closing date: 31 Oct 2017
Village Health Works Overview
The mission of Village Health Works is to provide quality, compassionate community-based health care in a dignified environment while treating the root causes and the social determinants of illness, disease, violence and poverty.
Since 2007, VHW has operated a health center in Burundi’s rural Kigutu region, providing services where there were none. Our health model is holistic, incorporating medical treatment and disease prevention, women’s economic development cooperatives, demonstration animal and crop farming, nutrition and food security programs, educational classes and support for adults and children, and extensive arts and culture classes and activities.
Our rural catchment area includes over 200,000 residents. VHW employs 300 Burundians, including 6 doctors, 21 nurses and over 250 village-based community health workers. Community members provide volunteer labor and ongoing input as VHW’s programs grow to meet their needs.
Position Overview
The EMR Specialist is the steward of clinical applications with which VHW documents the health care it provides, and from which essential management and reporting data is derived. This individual understands and uses the current VHW MS Access EMR, participates in assessing and improving the quality of EMR data, and leads the VHW migration to the OpenClinic EMR to improve and broaden our information systems capability.
Responsibilities
Participate in MS Access EMR data entry, maintenance and improvement
Participate in activities in clinical data quality and security improvement, including recommending and implementing improvements in collaboration with other departments
Work with the Reporting, Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality department to generate data sets and standard reports for internal and external users of VHW data
Lead IS Group and organization-wide activities in support of implementation of the OpenClinic EMR
Lead IS Group activities in processing, prioritizing and implementing clinical user requirements and requests, in collaboration with other departments
Participate in IS Group activities in information systems selection, implementation, configuration and integration
Participate in the standardization and modeling of the business processes of the clinic
Participate in the writing of OpenClinic user manuals
Work with VHW Program Leads to generate data reports for program evaluation and improvement
Assist in the training of users of VHW information systems
Participate in project management of health information systems
Organize regular presentations for clinical staff on some aspects of health information systems
Other duties in support of the mission of VHW, as required
Requirements
Required Experience and Skills
Endorsement of the mission of Village Health Works
Possess and manifest a knowledge sharing spirit, with an ability to mentor other staff
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience in an information science discipline or health information systems
Familiarity with medical and health care delivery processes, language and culture
Minimum of 2 years’ experience with client/server applications, including Java, Tomcat and SQL
Minimum of 2 years’ experience in health information systems
Minimum of 2 years’ experience with relational databases
Advanced SQL skills such as nested selects, inner joins and regular expressions
Ability to independently analyze issues, report findings, formulate recommendations, implement corrective plans and assess mitigation efforts
Desire and ability to learn new skills, processes and information systems
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with a culturally diverse staff
Strong organizational skills, orientation to detail, written and oral communication skills and maturity of thought and behavior
Fluency in Kirundi conversation, reading and writing
Fluency in French conversation, reading and writing
Fluency in English conversation, reading and writing
Ability to bring innovation, flexibility and enthusiasm to work
Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
Willingness to live in a dormitory setting with limited amenities on VHW’s Kigutu campus
Able to make at least a one year commitment
Desirable Experience and Skills
Experience with MS Access
Master’s degree in an information science discipline or equivalent work experience (epidemiology, medical statistics, health information system, public health)
Clinical data analysis experience
Familiarity with standard medical terminology and coding systems (CIM-10, CISP-2, LOINC, ATC)
Experience with scripting languages such as perl, python, powershell, etc.
Experience with a variety of operating systems, such as Windows, linux, AIX
Intermediate competence with Microsoft Office applications
Experience with national information systems and related documentation
How to apply:
This is a full time position on the Village Health Works campus in Kigutu, Burundi and is paid in Burundi Francs at a Burundian scale. If interested, please send a cover letter and your CV to David Aronow: daronow@villagehealthworks.org