As part of the Advancing Health Professionals (AHP) program, five Peace Corps Response Volunteers (PCRVs) with degrees in Nursing or Midwifery are needed to serve as Nurse Educators (Skills/Simulation Laboratories) at health colleges in Malawi, without the provision of direct medical care to patients or clinical supervision of students. In response to the high maternal, infant, and child morbidity and mortality rates in Malawi, the government is putting a lot of effort into increasing the national numbers of qualified nurses with the necessary skills and attitude to improve nurse to patient ratios in public hospitals, thereby improving health outcomes for the Malawian population. Health colleges have developed programs to train nurses who will take leadership in midwifery, reproductive, and child health. Through skills laboratories, the student nurses are able to develop their skills and practice before they enter their hospital or clinical rotations. The laboratory nurse officers will play a critical role in helping to ensure that student nurses are equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and confidence prior to their clinical placements in various Malawian hospitals. Health colleges are challenged in this aspect of skills teaching, as there are no adequately skilled clinical faculty at the institutions to properly carry out the activities with the students.

Five Nurse Educators will mentor and train staff on skills laboratories, specifically in utilizing equipment and developing procedures and simulations for the skills labs. The PCRVs will develop teaching aids, conduct demonstrations, assess students, and collaborate with colleagues to confirm the labs are well-equipped and organized. These positions will not include involvement in or provision of any direct patient assessment, management, or care, the provision of any counseling services, or any supervision or conducting of clinical research. The goal of this assignment is for the PCRVs to help the colleges establish sustainable Skills Labs through curriculum development and staff training.

Peace Corps Response established its “Advancing Health Professionals” program in 2019. Response Volunteers serving with the AHP program seek to improve health outcomes on a societal level through the provision of high-level, specialized service in the health sector. AHP projects include programming such as nursing education, health systems strengthening, service delivery improvement, and other non-clinical interventions which enhance the quality of healthcare.

Please note these are approximate departure dates and might change due to programmatic need.

Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN), St John’s Institute for Health, St John of God College of Health Sciences, Mzuzu University (MZUNI)

• Masters in Nursing or Midwifery
• Functional knowledge and expertise in utilization of skills lab equipment and development of skills lab procedures and simulations
• Fluent in English language and communication
• 2 – 3 years’ experience in classroom and/or clinical teaching in a busy setting
• Active U.S. nursing license
• Experience working in a limited resource setting
• Ability to submit all documentation required to become a licensed/registered nurse in Malawi