Surgical Instrument Sterilization and Maintenance Advisor

Lifebox (www.lifebox.org) is a global non-profit organization dedicated to improving surgical safety in low and middle-income countries and registered in the US, UK and Ethiopia Founded in 2011 by the authors of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, Lifebox works to ensure that surgical teams around the world have the tools and training needed to provide the safest care possible for their patients. Our work focuses on three pillars: Anesthesia safety, surgical safety, and teamwork

Overall purpose:

In 2019, Lifebox worked with an external partner to develop a three day training workshop on instrument sterilization and maintenance (“Safer Surgical Instruments”), targeted at staff responsible for surgical instrument cleaning in low-resource settings. We are seeking to partner with an individual or specialist organization, to review and refine the workshop materials, and further develop trainers for this workshop. Trainers are likely to be based in a range of different countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The individual or organization may have a medical, infection prevention and control, nursing or sterile processing affiliation as well as a track record in delivering training, academia or related fields.

Specific outputs

• Review evaluations and feedback from Safer Surgical Instruments workshops delivered to date;
• Make revisions to the existing education materials for the Safer Surgical Instruments workshop, in line with global standards;
• Identify the need for, and where appropriate oversee the creation of, new supplementary training materials such as videos;
• Develop an instructor manual to aid in teaching the workshop;
• Assist in identifying and developing/mentoring trainers for the workshop, and support them to adapt materials to local context and standards where relevant;
• Deliver training of trainer sessions;
• Offer expertise on workshop implementation and evaluation.

Person Specification:

• In-depth knowledge of global guidelines around surgical instrument sterilization and maintenance;
• Experience of working in or with sterile processing departments;
• Familiarity with and knowledge of teaching methodologies;
• Interest in global health and understanding of the practicalities and challenges of instrument sterilization and maintenance in low and middle-income countries;
• Fluency in English and ideally French and/or Spanish.

Timeframe

• Initial consultancy to 31st August 2022
• Estimated time commitment of 1-2 days per week
• Potential for ongoing advisory role