PATIENT SAFETY OFFICER (BASED IN ANY MSF OCBA HUB)

GENERAL CONTEXT 
Médecins Sans Frontières is an international independent medical-humanitarian organization, which offers assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflict, without discrimination and irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation. 

MSF is a civil society initiative that brings together individuals committed to the assistance of other human beings in crisis. As such MSF is by choice an association. Each individual working with MSF does it out of conviction and is ready to uphold the values and principles of MSF. 

The MSF movement is built around five operational directorates supported by MSF’s 21 sections, 24 associations and other offices together worldwide. MSF OCBA is one of those directorates. The operations are implemented by field teams and the mission coordination teams; together with the organizational units based in Barcelona, Athens and decentralised in Nairobi, Dakar and Amman. The field operations are guided and supported by 5 Operational Cells, the Emergency Unit and other departments supporting operations, including the Medical department. 

CONTEXT AND GENERAL OBJECTIVE 
The MSF Medical Department of the Operational Centre Barcelona-Athens (MSF-OCBA) is composed of four units: the Health Unit 1,2 and 3 and, the Medical-Operational Unit. Each of these Units has a Head, and the Head of the Medical-Operational Unit is also the Deputy Medical Director. The Medical Director is in charge of the overall management of the Department with the support of the Heads of the four Units and an Assistant. The Medical Director, the 4 Heads of Unit and the Department Assistant make up the Management Team of the Medical Department. 

MSF OCBA’s Strategic Plan has a decided commitment to ensuring the best possible quality of care in all our programs. Patient safety is an essential pillar of quality of care and as such, a priority to OCBA. Improving patient safety requires the coordinated work of managers, clinical leaders, and front-line staff. The Patient Safety Incident Reporting Officer is a new position created for working collaboratively with all stakeholders in headquarters and projects with the objective of measurably improving patient safety and reducing patient harm/errors. This requires the implementation of effective, evidence-based practices and developing an institutional patient safety culture. 

The successful applicant will be based at one of the MSF OCBA hubs. The work will be carried out in the framework of the Strategic Plan, the Operational Policy and OCBA Annual Plans as well as the Medical Department Plans, working in close collaboration with other Technical Advisors and Operational Health Advisors (TESACO). 

PLACEMENT WITHIN THE ORGANISATION 
The Officer will be hierarchically and functionally accountable to the Quality of Care Referent. Together with other Referents, s/he will support MSF medical activities and programs through close collaboration with TESACOs (Headquarters), Medical Coordinators (in missions) and Project Medical Referents (in projects), and with the rest of the members of the Medical Department. S/he will also collaborate with members of other Departments in OCBA when required (Operations, Human Resources, Learning, Logistics, General Direction). 

While in the field, s/he works under the regular hierarchical and functional structures of the missions, while keeping in communication with the Quality of Care Advisor. 

RESPONSABILITIES

• Contribute to the development and implementation of patient and health care surveillance and safety programs to minimize health care errors.
• Contribute to the creation of non-blame and just patient safety culture through trainings, briefings and debriefings, meetings and interactions with MSF teams/staff. 
• Contribute to the  establishment of strictly confidential patient safety incidents (PSI) reports transmission and storage system. Immediately alert supervisor of any potential breach.
• Encourage field staff of timely submission of SMAE and any PSI report.
• Support and coordinate root cause analysis of SMAEs and follow up on the implementation of resulting action plans. 
• Ensure timely closure of patient safety incident report and proper filing.
• Maintain and update records of patient safety incidents, analyze trends to identify priority causes.
• Report cases of suspected negligence to the Medical Professional Commission (MPC) and conducts the investigation in coordination with the MPC Lead as required. 
• Coordinate with Behaviour Lead in management of cases in which Patient Safety incidents and medical practice have elements of abuse, and contribute to elaboration of guidance documents and processes.
• Contribute to the definition of necessary indicators for monitoring and reporting of patient safety incidents.
• Contribute to the development/adoption of intersectional and/or OCBA PSI platform and cascade training as appropriate.
• Participate on any intersectional initiative as advised by the QoC Referent.
• Produce reports as advised by the QoC referent. 
• Conduct training sessions for staff on patient safety protocols and procedures.
• Support field teams to conduct risk analysis to patient safety incident reporting.

SELECTION CRITERIA 

• Medical doctor or Registered Nurse. 
• Master’s degree in health preferred/an asset.
• Minimum 2 years of clinical field experience and/or in health management positions in MSF projects/missions or equivalent organizations. 
• Fluent in English and French (both written and oral). Local languages is an asset.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Training or certification in-Patient Safety or Quality improvement will be highly valued as asset. 
• Knowledge of Spanish or Arabic is an asset.

CONDITIONS 

• Position based in any MSF-OCBA Hub: Bogotá, Amman, Dakar, Nairobi, Barcelona or Madrid. Final location will be subject to the employability of the preselected candidate (e.g., residency, work permit, etc.). For the rest of Spain Delegations as Bilbao, Sevilla and Valencia: Final location will be also subject to the availability of space at the time of the final selection. 
• Availability to travel at least 30% of the time.
• Full-time job. 
• Contract duration: 3 years with possibility of extension.
• Annual gross salary: HQ-3B level + secondary benefits based on MSF OCBA Reward Policy. Subjected to local conditions.
• Starting date: August 1st 2025.

HOW TO APPLY 

• To apply, please submit your CV and cover letter. 
• Closing date: July 21st, 2025, 23:59 CET (Central European Time).

MSF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, race, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. We are committed to achieving a balanced gender distribution and therefore encourage women to apply.

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. MSF provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, teamwork, integrity and a healthy balance of work and life. MSF does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo reference checks.

Médecins Sans Frontières, as a responsible employer, under the¨Ley General de la Discapacidad de 2013 (LGD)¨ invite those persons with a recognized disability and with an interest in the humanitarian area to apply for the above-mentioned position.