Accountabilities:
- Assess patient support needs and defining the patient support strategy according to the changing medical needs and context
- Develop patient support tools (counselling and education protocols, flyers, flipcharts, games, etc.)
- Ensure implementation of patient support activities (health talks, education and counselling sessions, strengthening of support groups, linking with social actors, community awareness activities,…) according to protocols and tools.
- Monitor and evaluate patient support activities (defining indicators and follow-up tools, collecting and analysing data)
- Ensure good communication and collaboration with the other components of the project and other partners working on patient support
- Manage staff involved in patient support. Plan and supervise, in close coordination with the HR department, the associated processes (recruitment, training, performance evaluation, development and internal communication) of the staff under his/her responsibility in order to improve staff capabilities and to ensure both the sizing and the amount of knowledge required
MSF Section/Context Specific Accountabilities:
- Ensure that patient support activities are implemented in line with MSF principles, medical ethics, confidentiality, and “do no harm” approaches.
- Lead the implementation of MSF Patient Charter to promote person-centred care through community and staff awareness of patient rights and responsibilities
- Work closely with all departmental managers to improve person-centred care, follow up on agreed actions, and raise any unresolved patient-related issues to the appropriate management level
- Support implementation of safeguarding measures and ensure that staff understand and follow MSF’s behavioural commitments and child protection principles.
- Assess patient support needs in collaboration with medical, nursing, allied health, mental health, health promotion, IPC, WatSan, and humanitarian affairs teams.
- Develop, implement, and regularly update the patient support activity plan according to project objectives and hospital needs.
- Ensure that patient support activities are clearly integrated into hospital departments such as emergency, inpatient wards (adult, maternity, pediatrics, neonatal, isolation), mental health, outpatient, and referral services.
- Ensure patients and caregivers receive appropriate information on hospital services, admission procedures, treatment plans, discharge processes, referral options, and available support.
- Identify and address non-medical barriers to care, including financial, social, protection-related, logistical, language, cultural, disability-related, or administrative barriers.
- Coordinate patient navigation within the hospital to support vulnerable patients, including children, pregnant women, survivors of violence, people with disabilities, older persons, unaccompanied patients, and patients with chronic or complex conditions.
- Support discharge planning in collaboration with clinical teams to promote safe return home, treatment adherence, and follow-up.
- Coordinate with referral and humanitarian affairs teams, and external facilities to support continuity of care for patients requiring services not available at the hospital.
- Ensure that patient support activities respect confidentiality, dignity, informed consent, and non-discrimination.
- Participate in multidisciplinary meetings, ward rounds, case discussions, quality monitoring and improvement processes, and hospital coordination meetings to advocate for improvement of patient experience and person-centred approach.
- Develop and maintain tools to monitor patient support activities, including service utilization, vulnerability criteria, referrals, discharge follow-up, patient feedback, patient experience survey, and key performance indicators.
- Act as a focal point in managing feedback from patients and communities; ensure appropriate investigation process and involvement of relevant personnel, and timely closing of the feedback loop.
- Analyse key trends and themes from patient and community feedback and make recommendations for service quality improvement based on analysis of patient and community feedback.
- Collaborate closely with Safeguarding Case Manager to strengthen integration of safeguarding principles in all patient support activities and triaging of patient/community feedback received.
- Collaborate closely with Health Promotion and Community Engagement Manager to raise awareness of MSF Patient Charter among patients and communities, develop patient education materials and messages, and receive feedback through the HPCE Team for further investigation and management.
- Identify training needs and organize capacity-building activities on topics such as patient-centred care, communication skills, confidentiality, safeguarding, psychological first aid, referral pathways, documentation, and ethical patient support.
- Promote respectful communication, teamwork, and accountability among patient support staff.
- Supervise the identification of patients with social or protection vulnerabilities and ensure appropriate follow-up.
- Monitor risks related to patient abandonment, treatment interruption, family separation, stigma, exploitation, or abuse, and escalate concerns through appropriate channels.
- Ensure accurate, timely, and confidential data collection and reporting.
- Contribute to project planning, annual reviews, budget planning, and operational reporting.
- Ensure transparent, accountable, and documented distribution of patient support materials or assistance.
- Monitor stock levels of patient support items and coordinate timely requests with logistics and supply teams.
- Contribute to budget forecasting and expenditure monitoring for patient support activities.
