Senior Medical Scientist NHISSOT

Job Summary:

The position requires a strategic approach to the development of services and structures, embracing continuous quality improvement and technological development and the management of changes necessary to achieve organizational objectives.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities:

General responsibilities

1. To assist the chief medical scientist in the performance of his/her duties.
2. To train medical laboratory assistants, support staff and visiting workers as required.
3. To assist with maintaining laboratory accreditation and a high quality standard of work throughout the laboratory.
4. To organise, monitor, assess and report on the appropriate Internal and External QA schemes.
5. To train new and existing staff including witness audits for C/P training.
6. To assist in implementing measures for Safety, Health and Welfare to all staff.
7. To ensure that statistical and management information is provided when required.
8. To co-operate with the chief medical scientist with regard to departmental budgeting.
9. To order reagents/equipment as required by the department.
10. To attend courses and meetings as appropriate to maintain up-to-date knowledge.
11. To fulfill CPD requirements.
12. To take an active role in finding solutions to scientific and management problems in collaboration with the chief medical scientist and consultant immunologist
13. To provide leadership, guidance and support to the medical laboratory assistants, medical scientists and other staff in the department.
14. To participate in staff annual review.
15. To support the on-call service.
16. Any other duties as appropriate to the grade and qualifications.

Specific responsibilities

To act as Deputy Chief Medical Scientist in his/her absence

General duties for Senior Medical Scientist

The following are the duties the senior medical scientists are responsible for to assist the chief medical scientist in the performance of his/her duties or in the absence of the chief medical scientist/deputy chief medical scientist:

• Monthly transplant pool statistics
• Monthly on-call claims
• Monthly sick leave/absence returns
• Interviews for medical scientists
• Attendance at the chief/consultant reporting sessions for discussion/signing reports
• Signing post transplant reports: Antibody Screening senior
• Signing living donor work-up reports: Living Donor senior
• Reviewing and signing donor work-ups and updating transplant figures
• Daily Attendance
• Input and guidance in training new medical scientists in the department
• Attendance at the multi disciplinary meetings.
• Attendance at the QMS meetings.
• Education sessions to the user groups
• Act on the behalf of the chief/deputy chief medical scientist in discussing issues with the user groups
• In the absence of the chief/deputy chief medical scientist, the senior medical scientist to deputize for them is arranged on the availability and seniority of the senior

Specific duties for Deputy Chief Medical Scientist

Deputy chief is arranged on a rotational basis of 8 months to senior members of staff who have been in a senior role of at least 2 years.

The following are the duties the deputy chief medical scientist is responsible for in the absence of the chief medical scientist in addition to the above senior duties:

• Interviews for senior medical scientists
• Staff induction for new staff

• Writing the agenda, presenting items, updating action lists and taking the minutes at the chief/consultant reporting sessions
• Attendance at the Multi Disciplinary Meetings: Surgical MDM, Consensus MDM,
• Attendance at the CP&O
• Annual Management Review
• Joint review for medical scientists
• Annual leave approval
• Assisting in organising training and development days and meetings/conferences
• Assisting  in organizing staff rotations
• Assisting in organising workflow/assignment of staff on a day to day basis etc as required
• Staff poor performance/staff non-conformances reviews

The senior posts in the department are responsible for the following areas and programmes:

1. Main Laboratory Section
2. Molecular Section
3. Antibody Screening Section
4. Living Donor Section
5. Renal/Pancreatic Programme
6. Cardiothoracic Programme
7. Liver Programme
8. Post transplant Programme
9. Quality and Accreditation
10. Training
11. IT support
12. Research and development
13. Health and Safety

Note: senior members of staff may share responsibilities for some areas and look after more than one area of responsibility.

Main Laboratory Section:

• Processing all samples received in the laboratory (excluding samples for ‘cyto’).
• HLA typing, crossmatching and autocrossmatching.
• Donor and recipient work-up, in collaboration with on-call scientist.
• Living donor and recipient work-up, in collaboration with LD senior.
• Processing clinic reports.
• Updating patient’s status on transplant list.

Molecular Section:

• HLA typing and reporting by SSO and SSP.
• Reviewing donor HLA types.

Antibody Screening Section:

• Antibody screening and reporting for all the transplant programmes.
• Post transplant monitoring.
• Monitoring and maintaining the high level antibody investigation programmes.

Cardiothoracic Programme:

• Ensuring HLA typing and antibody screening is performed on all patients entering these transplant programmes.
• Monitoring screening and antibody sample availability for the active patients on these programmes.
• Liaison with the transplant coordinators in the Mater regarding samples and screening requirements.
• Activating patients on the transplant lists when approved by Mater and updated list sent by email.

Living Donor Programme:

• Liaison with the transplant coordinators responsible for the Living Donor programme.
• Booking in potential donors for workup.
• Scheduling crossmatching with all the sections involved.
• Reporting all living donor workup.
• Scheduling and reviewing HLA typing and antibody screening required on the recipients.
• Attendance at the Living Donor MDT meetings.

Renal/Pancreatic Programme:

• Ensuring all required testing has been performed on patients going on the renal/pancreatic transplant pools and requesting/scheduling any further testing required.
• Activating patients on the transplant lists.
• Updating patient’s status on transplant list.
• Transplant waiting list sent to all dialysis centre each month.
• Sending patients their activation letters.

Liver Programme:

• Monitoring patients on the liver transplant pool.
• Transplanting patients on the computer system.
• Preparing report post transplant for St Vincents regarding GVHD risk status.

Quality and Accreditation:

• Monitoring and running the Document Management System (DMS -Q Pulse).
• Maintaining, monitoring and updating SOPs and Policies.
• Organising and reviewing audits within the department.
• Reviewing non-conformances within the department and with the consultant immunologist.
• Internal and External Quality Assurance reviews.
• Suppliers reviews.
• Assets reviews.
• Documentation preparation for EFI accreditation.
• DMS training.
• Attending the Quality Management System (QMS) meetings.

Training:

• Tracking and updating CPD records.
• Tracking and updating Competency/Proficiency training records.
• Input and guidance into trainee and new medical scientists training in the department.

IT Support:

• Creating and updating all H&I reports.
• Statistics for the consultant immunologist.

Research and development:

• Whatever section of the department the senior is based in – there will be a need for evaluation of new techniques, kits, analysers from time to time – to either undertake this evaluation or organise for it to be done and report findings to the chief medical scientist/ consultant immunologist for consideration.

Health and Safety:

• Updating risk assessments.
• Attending the laboratory health and safety meetings.
• Updating staff on health and safety developments.
• Ensuring attendance at appropiate meetings or training days.

The job description is an outline of the post as it is currently perceived by the hospital and will be subject to review and amendment. This job description will therefore be subject to change in light of the various strategies for the hospital and the development of the Clinical Directorate model and any future developments that arise and will evolve and change over time.

Selection Criteria: 

Selection criteria outline the qualifications, skills, knowledge and/or experience that the successful candidate would need to demonstrate for successful discharge of the responsibilities of the post. 

Applications will be assessed on the basis of how well candidates satisfy these criteria.

Mandatory:

1. Statutory Registration, Professional Qualifications, Experience, etc

(a) Candidates for appointment must:

(i) Be registered, or be eligible for registration, on the Medical Scientists Register maintained by the Medical Scientists Registration Board at CORU.

AND

(ii) Possess one of the following NFQ Level 9 post graduate qualifications or equivalent qualification at minimum Level 9 validated by the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine;

• MSc Clinical Laboratory Science, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT).
• MSc Clinical Laboratory Science, Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin).
• MSc Clinical Chemistry, University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD).
• MSc Biomedical Science, University of Ulster (UU)
• MSc Biomedical Science, Cork Institute of Technology (CIT)/University College Cork (UCC).
• MSc Biomedical Science, Munster Technological University (MTU)/University College Cork (UCC).
• MSc Molecular Pathology, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)/University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD).

OR

(iii) An equivalent qualification at minimum Level 9 validated by the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine (ACSLM).

OR

(iv) Possess Fellowship of the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine awarded before July 2018.

OR

(v) Have attained the Fellowship examination of the Institute of Biomedical Science (Awarded prior to 1999).

AND

(vi) Possess four years full time clinical experience (or an aggregate of four years full time clinical experience) as a medical scientist in a clinical diagnostic laboratory since qualifying as a medical scientist.

AND

(vii) Demonstrate evidence of Continuous Professional Development.

AND

(viii) Have the requisite knowledge and ability (including a high standard of suitability and professional ability) for the proper discharge of the duties of the office.

AND

(ix) Provide proof of Statutory Registration on the Medical Scientists Register maintained by the Medical Scientists Registration Board at CORU before a contract of employment can be issued.

Annual registration

(i) On appointment practitioners must maintain annual registration on the Medical Scientists Register maintained by the Medical Registration Board at CORU

AND

(ii) Practitioners must confirm annual registration with CORU to the HSE by way of the annual Patient Safety Assurance Certificate (PSAC).

Informal Enquiries ONLY to: (Please note NO APPLICATIONS will be accepted via the Informal Email)