Nurse Assistant, Community Health Nurses - JSI Research & Training Institute

JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), a leader in global health, is a non-profit public health management consulting and research organization dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world.

Job Description

Position Description:  Nurse Assistant – Preventive (Community Health Nurses)

Job Summary

This is a full-time position that will be based in districts of Western Region, Ghana. The role of the Nurse Assistants-Preventive (Community Health Nurses) will be to act as liaisons /focal points in providing quality and comprehensive HIV services for PLHIVs (including Key Populations-KPs) by working directly with defined communities, local Non-governmental organizations or Civil Society Organizations. They will actively seek HIV/AIDS cases, and successfully refer and ensure their linkage to facility-based care and treatment services.

The main objective of the Nurse Assistant-Preventive (Community Health Nurses) is to organize and provide community health nursing services to meet the health needs of a defined catchment population. The successful applicants will be deployed in districts of the Western Region and Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North. Candidates resident in the designated districts will have an added advantage.

No. of Positions:  Ten (10)

Reporting Relationship:  The Nurse Assistant – Preventive (Community Health Nurses) reports to the Senior Program Specialist on the project, and who will be based in Takoradi.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Collaborate with CSO partners in the district, and with health facilities to provide quality and comprehensive care for all PLHIV in the assigned district.
• Develop caseload/catchment area population profile, and identify, prioritize and implement programs of care with relevant stakeholders.
•  With support of CSO partners, assess, plan, implement and evaluate programmes of care with and for clients in the assigned community.
• Collaborate with partners and specifically assist in ensuring continuity of care by tracing defaulters and making follow-ups visit to clients with HIV/AIDS, the aged, low birth weight babies, and advising them accordingly on best behaviours and practices for sustained good health.
• Collaborate with health facility teams to run family planning, post-natal and child welfare clinics in communities.
• Support the DHMT to undertake immunization programs according to national protocols to ensure maximum possible protection against diseases such as diphtheria, measles, poliomyelitis, tetanus, tuberculosis, and yellow fever.
• Liaise with other agencies such as Social Welfare to assist patients/clients in need of Social and other psychosocial support.

• Organize scheduled systematic community mobilization as well as active case finding in the catchment area, and support CSOs to do targeted, and index testing.
• Ensure all equipment used in the community, (syringes, needles etc.) are returned to health facilities and destroyed according to the GHS infection control policy and guidelines.
• Discuss treatment /management of condition with patient and relatives where applicable and encourage them to ask questions. Maintain effective communication with colleagues, patients, and partners.
• Participate in weekly review meetings and submit all activity reports on time.

Required Skills or Experience

• Nurse Assistant Certificate –Preventive (Community Health Nurse). Knowledge of Ghana Health Service HIV AIDS activities will be an advantage. 
• Knowledge and understanding of quality assurance issues
• Excellent written and communication skills
• Good inter-personal skills
• Ability to initiate and maintain clear, concise documentation
• Ability to work under pressure
• Western Region language abilities and cultural awareness will be useful
• Computer literate (Word, excel, PowerPoint)

The post holder must at all times:

• Work in accordance with the GHS/NMC Code of Professional Conduct and Disciplinary Procedure.
• Strictly adhere to the provisions of the Patient’s Charter.
• Monitor own performance against agreed objectives and standards
• Attend in-service training to upgrade skills and knowledge to provide quality care to clients.
• Keep Log of own performance and in-service training log for purposes of appraisal.