Paediatric POCUS (Point of Care Ultrasound) Volunteer Medical Specialist

Job Posting Organization:
Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian organization founded in 197

• The organization provides medical assistance to populations in distress, including those affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. MSF operates in over 70 countries and employs thousands of staff, including medical professionals, logistical experts, and administrative personnel. The organization is committed to delivering high-quality medical care and advocating for the rights of those it serves, often in challenging and resource-limited environments.

Job Overview:
As a Paediatric POCUS (Point of Care Ultrasound) Volunteer Medical Specialist with MSF’s Telemedicine Program, you will play a crucial role in providing remote medical and clinical support to MSF’s global medical teams. This position is designed for specialists who can review and respond to pediatric patient cases assigned to them via a secure Telemedicine Platform. The support provided is asynchronous, allowing for maximum flexibility in your schedule. Your expertise will be vital in ensuring accurate interpretation of complex ultrasound scans, which is particularly important in remote settings where access to pediatric specialists is limited. By volunteering, you will help bridge the gap in care for children in isolated communities, enabling frontline clinicians to make informed clinical decisions and improve patient outcomes.

Duties and Responsibilities:
Your primary responsibilities will include reviewing pediatric patient cases assigned to you on the Telemedicine Platform and providing timely medical or clinical advice within 24 hours. You will be expected to deliver detailed reviews and expert interpretations of ultrasound images submitted by field clinicians, assisting in clinical diagnosis. Additionally, you will help field teams narrow down complex differential diagnoses by integrating POCUS findings with available clinical data and patient history. You will provide high-level clinical decision support, carefully advising on appropriate treatment plans and trajectories. It is essential that all advice aligns with MSF guidelines and is suitable for low-resource settings. You will also provide constructive feedback on image acquisition techniques to help field clinicians improve the diagnostic quality of their scans and ensure ongoing follow-up on assigned cases until they are resolved. Collaboration with other Medical Specialists assigned to the case is crucial, as sharing specialized expertise contributes to a global community of medical knowledge. Furthermore, you will need to ensure that all telemedicine consultations adhere to strict patient data privacy standards and ethical guidelines regarding digital medical records, and flag incorrectly assigned cases or decline cases that should be allocated to appropriate experts.

Required Qualifications:
To qualify for this position, you must hold a university degree or higher in a medical specialty, with demonstrated proficiency in Pediatric POCUS acquired during residency or advanced clinical training. A minimum of 4 years of post-qualification work experience in using POCUS in daily clinical practice is required. You should have clinical use or teaching experience of POCUS within the past calendar year and be considered a POCUS expert within your hospital or department. Active registration and certification with your professional regulatory body is mandatory, and you should be comfortable using technology and navigating online platforms. Fluency in English (written and spoken) or French is required, and fluency in multiple languages is highly desirable. Previous experience in Global Health, humanitarian work, or work in low-resource settings is also highly desirable, and training in tropical medicine is considered an asset.

Educational Background:
The educational background required for this position includes a university degree or higher in a medical specialty. This should be complemented by advanced training or residency experience that includes proficiency in Pediatric POCUS. Continuous professional development and training in relevant areas, such as tropical medicine, can enhance your qualifications for this role.

Experience:
The level of experience needed for this position includes a minimum of 4 years of post-qualification work experience specifically in using POCUS in daily clinical practice. Candidates should have recent clinical use or teaching experience of POCUS, demonstrating their expertise and ability to provide high-quality support to field clinicians. Experience in global health or humanitarian settings is highly valued, as it indicates familiarity with the challenges faced in low-resource environments.

Languages:
Fluency in English (both written and spoken) is mandatory for this position, while fluency in French is also required. Candidates who are fluent in multiple languages will be considered highly desirable, as this can enhance communication and collaboration within the diverse teams at MSF.

Additional Notes:
This is a volunteer position requiring a time commitment of 2-3 hours per week, with flexible scheduling based on volunteer availability. The role is fully remote, allowing support to be provided from anywhere with a reliable internet connection. Successful candidates will be required to sign a Volunteer Agreement, which includes clauses on data privacy, non-disclosure, and medical liability. Onboarding will include an overview of the Telemedicine Program and platform training, which is self-paced and takes approximately 1.5 hours. Candidates may be asked to provide three professional references, but these will only be contacted with the candidate's permission. Interested applicants should confirm their eligibility by reviewing the qualifications listed above and submit their application, including a brief cover letter highlighting relevant experience and motivation to volunteer.