I-TECH Data Quality Assurance Consultants 19 Jobs in Kenya

I-TECH Data Quality Assurance Consultants 19 Jobs in Kenya
February 2, 2015 Job Description

Positions: Data Quality Assurance (DQA) Consultants

No of available positions: 19

Consultancy period: 15th Feb2015 – 31st Mar 2015

Background: Since 2005, I-TECH has collaborated with Kenya’s Ministry of Health on nationwide implementation of organized, sustainable, and synchronized electronic medical information systems.
Currently, I-TECH has supported implementations of an open-source electronic medical record system, KenyaEMR in 341 clinics and hospitals in 22 Counties.

As part of EMR implementation work, I-TECH Kenya is also supporting the data migration across these facilities including the facilities implemented with IQCare EMR system.


Towards ensuring that the data migrated in these EMR systems (KenyaEMR and IQCare) is quality, we are seeking the services of Data Quality Assurance Consultants whose roles and the responsibilities will be to ensure quality control and quality assurance.
The Data Quality Assurance Consultants will work closely with the MOH, Facility Managers, Health Records and Information Officers (HRIOs), County Health Records and Information Officers (CHRIOs) and the Implementing partners supporting these facilities.

Qualifications

The Data Quality Assurance Consultants should have the following qualifications:-
Minimum of KCSE mean grade C+
Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Health Records and information systems, public health or social sciences (with a bias in data management)
Experience working in a similar position in the health sector will be an added advantage
Familiarity with the national HIV program and data collection tools – MOH 257 and accompanying Indicator definitions guideline
Familiarity with KenyaEMR system and or IQCare system is required
Basic ICT literacy
Skills
Good computer skills
Ability to work in a busy environment
An understanding of data confidentiality issues
An understanding of Quality Control, Quality Assurance of information within the health sector
Ability to work quickly and accurately, and pay attention to details
Ability to work independently and with a team
Scope of work and deliverables
Ensuring Quality control (QC) measures and Quality assurance (QA) measures are adhered to during data migration process
Ensuring that high quality data is entered into the EMR system in terms of correctness, accuracy, completeness, concordance. The gold standard used for comparison will be the MOH 257 Blue Card
To periodically collect and review the data being entered into the EMR system and the reports to uncover any data errors and to coordinate corrections
Assessing and identifying if there are any defects in the data entered at least once in 2 weeks
Monitoring data entry process and doing spot checks to assess data quality status while assuring a high level of consistency
Planning with the MOH, Implementing Partners, CHRIOs, HRIOs and the facility staff overseeing data entry on how issues identified will be rectified/resolved
Aim to minimize and prevent future occurrence of the identified issues
Prepare reports of the work that indicate what data have been entered, challenges encountered and resolution of the same
Deliverables, Roles and Responsibilities of the data quality assurance consultant

Towards ensuring that quality data is migrated in the EMR systems (KenyaEMR and/or IQCare) the following will are the roles and the responsibilities of a data quality assurance consultant.
Working closely with the MOH, facility manager, HRIOs, CHRIOs and the Implementing partner, the staff will ensure that: -

i) Before legacy data migration
The quality assurance consultant will work with the facility to establish all data/files that are available in the facility which will need to be migrated.
S/he should ensure that they are noted down in the data migration log-book and will include
All active patients
All patients deceased
All patients who are lost to follow
Transfer in and transfer-out patient files
Working with the facility , the quality assurance consultant will ensure that the files removed for data migration are recorded in the data migration log-book daily
Working with the facility, s/he will ensure that the files are returned in the shelves and recorded in the data migration log-book daily
Working with the facility, s/he will ensure that loose papers in the patient files are well handled and fixed accordingly
S/he should ensure that each data migration log book has the following columns to facilitate better tracking (removal and return in the shelves)
Unique patient number as indicated in the patient file/Blue Card
Date patient file/Blue Card pulled out
Name of person who pulled out the files
Name of person who was handed over the blue card for entry into the EMR system
Signature of person receiving the patient files/blue cards for entry
Date patient files / blue cards handed back for filing
Signature of person handing back blue cards
Signature of person receiving blue cards for filing
ii) During legacy data migration

The quality assurance consultant will do the spot checking of data migration activity to ensure that:-
The personnel performing manual data migration does not enter information into the EMR which is different from that appearing in the paper record/blue card
The personnel performing manual data migration pay attention to any data validation flags that arise during data entry
Information which is faithful to what is written on the paper record (blue card), but which still fails validation checks should not be altered in order to pass the validation check
Information which is illegible on the paper record (blue card) is reviewed and migrated accordingly. The quality assurance person should always remind and encourage those people migrating data to ask for a second or third opinion to decipher any illegible information. If there is no clear consensus on the meaning of the illegible information, then the information should be considered missing and be left as blank within EMR
Missing information on the paper record (blue card) is left as blank
Fortnightly and/or during the visit to the facility, the quality assurance consultant should pick at least 2 files completed by each person participating in the exercise and cross-check with what is entered in the system.
The quality assurance person should note down the validated files and whether they pass the quality test
Files that do not pass the test should be reviewed keenly to establish whether the challenge is with the person doing data entry, if so, the necessary guidance should be provided and such files should be kept aside for corrections by another individual, and another review on such corrections will be made
iii) After completing data migration (mid-way and final assessments)
A more intensive quality data assessment should be conducted by all people participating in the data migration (including the facility staff) and those also providing the leadership and guidance (including the MOH, CHRIO and implementing partners) in the process at least twice (while at the mid-way during data migration and upon completion)
Using the RDQA tool and guidance, this team should randomly selected the files for review as per the guidance and key indicators should be reviewed
After this inspection, if all the indicators scores > 95% in terms of consistency between EMR and paper-based data, the data quality assurance consultant, the MOH, the CHRIO, the IP and the facility can sign-off that the data migration meets quality standard
If quality standards (following an assessment) are not met, the team should spend 2 more days reviewing and correcting the errors uncovered as well as returning to all the recent migrated records for corrections before the final sign-off (the intensive assessment should be done twice:- mid-way during the data migration and after a completing data migration)
Any other action plan developed, based upon the data quality assessment findings must specify the timeline for a follow-up and responsibility on the same
The SOP on maintaining and improving data quality (on-going) should also be shared with the facility within this period for ongoing routine data quality assessment and improvement.

How to Apply


All interested candidates should send their application letter with a resume to jobs@itech-kenya.org with a subject heading of DQA consultant by Friday 6th February 5p.m.