Public Health Physician Consultant

Minimum Qualifications:

EDUCATION:

Graduation with a degree of doctor of medicine or osteopathy from a medical school approved or recognized by the Pennsylvania Medical Licensing Board or the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Licensing Board and completion of an approved U.S. residency training program; and two (2) years of professional medical experience, including one (1) year in a public health setting.

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENT:

Possession of a license to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued by the State Medicine Board or Osteopathic Medicine Board; or eligibility for such licensure. Candidates must obtain the required license prior to beginning employment.

POSITION COMPETIENCIES:

Infectious Diseases/Pathogen Transmission: Review and consult on isolation precautions for COVID-19; assess available diagnostic tests to correctly identify infections and classify these according to surveillance definitions; describe appropriate vaccination recommendations when vaccine becomes available

Infection Prevention and Control: Apply and consult on appropriate infection control practices; conduct remote and on-site assessments and implement preventive measures for specific projects; evaluate products objectively

Occupational and Patient Safety: Evaluate hierarchy of controls and make prioritized recommendations for improvements in use of personal protective equipment, administrative and engineering controls; able to wear respiratory protection suitable against COVID-19 (e.g., N95 respirator; must be cleared medically and be able to be fit-tested); properly don/doff and operate in a clinical setting in personal protective equipment appropriate to COVID-19; train health care providers in proper PPE use and hand hygiene

Outbreak Investigation: Identify outbreaks; apply investigation steps; use methods to select the appropriate study design; utilize molecular typing methods appropriately and correctly interpret results; assist with sero-prevalence studies

Microbiology and Laboratory Diagnostics: Obtain and interpret results from various testing methodologies and help them incorporate test results into infection prevention interventions

Special Populations and Non-Acute Settings: Develop and implement infection prevention approaches in select sites (e.g., skilled nursing facilities, personal care homes, drug treatment facilities).

Surveillance: Effectively conduct COVID-19 surveillance; distinguish between Influenza and COVID-19 surveillance and clinical definitions for these infectious syndromes; identify outcome data and exposure data; provide clinical input to surveillance activities.

Data Management: Use all available resources to obtain information; perform or assess quality assurance

Quality Improvement Science: Ensure that infection prevention is included in healthcare settings’ strategic plans; ensure that appropriate guidance is available to other risk settings; use standardized tools for process improvement and organizational change (e.g., PDSA, driver diagrams)

Leadership Skills: lead meetings; include stakeholders in decision making processes; use emergency response and incident command principles to lead teams and coordinate organizational and unit response.

Program Implementation, Assessment and Advocacy: recruit leaders; develop reports

Outcomes Assessment, Evaluation and Research: Use basic statistics to evaluate data for trend analysis; design research studies; document and evaluate interventions

Public Health and Emergency Preparedness: List reporting requirements; develop and maintain relationships; assist in policy and response plan development; serve on COVID-19 or other committees

Effective Training/Teaching: Assess learners’ need for information; use presentation tools effectively; use appropriate teaching methods in multiple modalities at different levels of instruction, inclusive of awareness, operations and train-the-trainer.

Statement of Work:

Support the Long Term Care Task Force (LTC-TF); serve as deputy to, and at times surrogate for, Department of Health (DOH) co-lead of LTC-TF. Participate in daily operational synchronization meetings and interagency decision meetings; develop and apply decision making algorithms for allocation of scarce resources. Lead team to provide timely reporting of LTC-TF activities and documentation of specific responses. Propose, implement and assess courses of action for the LTC-TF to accomplish its mission in a resource constrained and rapidly evolving environment.

Provide remote and on-site assessment and consultation to health care facilities experiencing COVID outbreaks. Identify opportunities to address infection control, PPE, training, mental health and staffing needs. Communicate findings to facility leadership, DOH leadership, collaboratively develop prioritized intervention plan, identify available resources in partnership with multiple stakeholders, assist with interventions and facilitate warm hand-off as appropriate. Travel anticipated to be within region (e.g., < 4 hours) and 10-20% averaged monthly.

Provide expert consultation to medical providers in the Commonwealth in the design, implementation, and utilization of surveillance systems related to COVID-19 and of patterns of infection in long term care facilities and other congregate care settings (e.g., skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, personal care homes, residential drug treatment programs).

Facilitate epidemiologic activities and provide technical expertise to a statewide network of more than 200 hospitals, more than 700 nursing homes, 300 assisted living facilities, 900 personal care homes and other types of healthcare settings, in the identification, investigation, and control of COVID-19.

Assist with planning for vaccination and assessment of vaccine efficacy and adverse effects.

Facilitate epidemiologic activities and provide vision and leadership to the COVID-19 response team.

Create and develop effective solutions necessary to quickly limit adverse health outcomes and economic hardships that result COVID-19 is identified in a healthcare or community setting.

Provide technical expertise relating to testing and clinical data for COVID-19, analyze and interpret collected data noting clinically significant aberrations in the collected data or risk of infection posed by an infection control breach, thereby initiating actions such as site visits or disease investigations.

Examine data to identify disease trends, develop or review analytic reports, identify causes and note clinical significance. Make recommendations for the implementation of appropriate disease and/or infection control and prevention measures related to COVID-19.

Provide recommendations concerning the completeness, science and quality of surveillance and investigations, and provides expertise and training support. Review, evaluate and make recommendations concerning the epidemiology and other training needs of stakeholders and field personnel.

Collaborate in the development of statewide plans, policies and procedures related to COVID-19 epidemiology and communicable disease prevention and control. Participate on committees and workgroups. Collaborate with private-sector, local, commonwealth, and federal partners in healthcare associated disease surveillance systems and investigations.

Prepare articles and summaries for statewide reports, lay publications, and peer-reviewed journals. Deliver public health educational presentations to selected audiences.

Participate in the preparation of grant applications, progress reports, scientific articles, and presentations and other deliverables reflecting the status of COVID-19 epidemiological programs in the Commonwealth.

Apply knowledge and confidentiality requirements for protected health information in the gathering, analysis, storage, retrieval and reporting of data for assigned public health programs.

About Us:

TulaRay partners with clients to create staffing solutions that meet unique organizational needs. Our services are designed to reduce administrative burdens, protect your brand, and improve assignment time-to-fill. We believe that mutually successful client relationships are built on lasting quality and exceptional customer service. We pride ourselves on our uncompromising commitment to high-quality emergency management & healthcare personnel, while ensuring that our clients are taken care of with personalized attention. TulaRay manages total compliance and respectfully supports hundreds of professionals and patient-centered programs.

TulaRay is proud to be an affirmative action employer and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by visiting our website at tularay.com