Job Purpose

The Senior House Officer, Pediatrics and Child Health department will provide quality primary pediatric care to all patients and continuously evaluate and improve the quality of primary pediatric care to meet patient treatment goals.

Key responsibilities:

• Participate in ward/casualty work – clerkship, patient education, writing of discharge summaries
• Discussion of patients with instructors and consultants.
• Participate in general and specialist clinics
• Participate in quality improvement activities – medical audits, process indicators, management guidelines development and application
• Participate in morbidity/mortality review preparation
• Assist in the examination and observation of emergency cases by performing such duties as taking case histories, conducting physical examinations, and ordering diagnostic laboratory and radiology studies.
• Attend to critical patients in a timely manner.
• When necessary, carry out privileged and potentially life-saving emergency surgical and medical procedures.
• Educate patients on wellness, prevention and early detection.
• Provide materials, resources and referrals to patients, family members/care givers.
• Educate patients on informed consent, choice of attending physician and right to seek second opinion.
• Initiate timely discussions with relevant consultants/departments to arrive at the best treatment plan for specialized cases.
• Participate in establishing various planning parameters for addressing referral cases received at AKUH, N.
• Engage nursing and ward staff in ensuring that the most appropriate care and treatment are given to patients.
• Participate in discussions with relevant members of the clinical care team to enable better integration of patient care activities.
• Work closely with members of the clinical care team to reduce errors and waste, improve skillfulness and resource utilization.
• Participate in departmental committees and internal business meetings
• Attending & present at CMEs
• Develop and implement personal learning objectives
• Participate in teaching of interns, elective students and nurses
• Role model junior colleagues
• Demonstrate good interpersonal skills with colleagues and clients
• Readiness to take extra duties
• Organize for locally available data on prevalence and incidence of common ailments in AKUHN
• Help the conferences registrar/resident in organizing for research related activities
• Initiate discussions with consultants and colleagues to enable integration of clinical research activities, shared knowledge, institutional quality improvement and patient wellness activities.
• Participate in all team efforts as departmental needs arise.

Qualifications, Experience and Skills required:

• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB)
• Registration by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board
• A valid Basic Life Support, Pediatric advanced Life Support Course Certificate will have added advantage
• Successful internship completion plus one year post internship experience
• Good communication skills
• A good team player
• Ability and desire to continuously develop professionally
• Demonstrates respect for diversity and is culturally sensitive and applies ethical principles appropriately
• Seeks and accepts advice and adheres to deadlines
• Punctuality and accountability
• Clinician traits of patience, compassion, responsibility, honesty, respect for others, self-awareness, logical thinking and intellectual curiosity
• Good Counseling and patient education skills
• Ability to manage work related stress
• Microsoft Office Application computer skills
• Able to work with minimal supervision