Job Description

Staff - Union

Job Category CUPE 2950

Job Profile CUPE 2950 Salaried - Publishing Assistant (Gr3)

Job Title Communications Assistant

Department Perrone Laboratory | Pathology and Laboratory Medicine| Faculty of Medicine

Compensation Range $3,632.00 - $3,727.00 CAD Monthly

Posting End Date January 31, 2023

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.

Job End Date Jan 30, 2024

This position is located within a health-care facility, therefore, the successful candidate will be required to provide verification of full vaccination against Covid-19 provided prior to the start date, as required by a provincial health mandate.

This position is part time at 0.6 FTE (24 hours a week).

Job Summary

The Communications Assistant will work at the Canadian Microbiology Proficiency Testing Program (CMPT), a service unit within the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. The Communications Assistant will be responsible for supporting the CMPT Editor, Education Coordinator with several ongoing activities and initiatives within the program.

Position responsibilities include: client portal maintenance, website development and maintenance, assistance in the development of marketing and communication material, direct mail to clients, e-mail, multi-media, newsletters, and promotional material as needed.

Organizational Status

CMPT is an established laboratory external quality assessment (EQA) related program in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine whose clinically related services support laboratory quality management towards the goals of reducing laboratory error and improving patient safety. Established in 1982, CMPT provides EQA challenges for Microbiology Testing Laboratories across Canada and globally. CMPT adheres to the philosophy that as a university-based program, in addition to providing support for accreditation and regulatory specifications, there exists a mandate for CMPT to support continual improvement and continuing education and to provide a platform to support academic pursuits.

CMPT is a not-for-profit national and international provider of proficiency testing samples for microbiology laboratories. The CMPT laboratory cultures live organisms, formulates proficiency testing challenges, ships challenge sets to clients and grades the challenges for clients for their quality assurance. Samples are realistic and modeled on clinical specimens, often incorporate complex flora, and to the extent possible, look and act like true samples, so that they can be handled and processed as usual as possible. The CMPT EQA program is accredited to ISO 9001 and 17043.

The funding for the CMPT program comes through a number of revenue streams, including service contracts, cost reimbursement for services and tuition fees from contuinuing professional development courses. External to UBC, the CMPT collaborates with Canadian and international stakeholders in laboratory medicine as well as many international agencies.

Work Performed

The Communications Assistant is responsible for the:

• Maintenance of the client portal and customer communication channels (e.g. Upload final reports (reports to be prepared by the CMPT Editor) for CMPT\xe2\x80\x99s programs, modify order forms as necessary, conduct site backup and routine maintenance );
• Maintains and updates the CMPT website (e.g. new programs, shipping dates, due dates, ordering information, grading schemes);
• Develop and maintains the online CMPT EQA services catalog (e.g. modifying website design to accommodate service changes, enable website optimization for better customer service) with technical input from team members;
• Supports professional development courses (e.g. Create quizzes questions provided by PD course coordinator, updates content in the learning management system);
• Help in the creation and emailing of certificates of completion for CPD course participants;
• CMPT website site backup / database /updates;
• Designs and develops promotional, communication, and presentation material for CMPT programs with input from others (e.g., direct mail, e-mail, multi-media, newsletters);
• Performs design and layout work for CMPT related newsletters, annual reports and publications;
• Conducts research on content and gathers related materials from a variety of sources;
• Prepares materials for distribution by performing tasks such as proofreading drafts, completing reference work, and editing and formatting manuscripts;
• Disseminates materials to external media outlets such as public facing websites and peer-reviewed journals following technical and final review of CMPT leadership;
• Oversees arrangements for printing and distribution of physical media related materials;
• Develops and distributes CMPT newsletter;
• Support CMPT\xe2\x80\x99s Social media accounts/community of practice (e.g. Linked In, listservs)

Consequence of Error/Judgement

Consistent with the philosophy and context of quality management, the Communications Assistant is expected to learn from mistakes through a process of continuous improvement. The Communications Assistant once trained and appraised, is expected to be capable to decisions consistent with CMPT goals and objectives, with the expectation that the Chair, Coordinator, and Editor of the program are aware.

Certain decisions are made in collaboration however executive decisions impacting CMPT, in particular, those that have an impact on external relationships, are made by the Chair only. Finding an error in an activity or judgment is an understandable expectation however not reporting, or addressing the error through a process of remedial, corrective and preventive action is unacceptable.

Supervision Received

Under the overall supervision of the Principal Investigator, but reports directly to the CMPT Editor, Education Coordinator;

Works independently under general managerial direction in assigned areas of responsibility;

Work is reviewed in terms of effectiveness within established policies and guidelines;

Exercising independent judgment in selecting and interpreting information, and reconciling deviations from standard methods;

Job tasks are governed generally by broad instructions, objectives, and policies, usually involving frequently changing conditions and priorities.

Supervision Given

Is not required to supervise;

May be required to explain work procedures to other CMPT staff

Minimum Qualifications
High School graduation, plus two years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a similar role
• Work is performed in accordance with established procedures and accepted practices involving freedom to select which methods are applicable in any given situation
• Job tasks are generally standardized with ability to choose action within limits defined by standard/accepted data, information and procedures
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, prioritize and meet deadlines, effective time management skills and prioritization of work to accomplish goals is expected
• Effective interpersonal, oral and written communication and organizational skills required.
• Uses initiative, interpretation, and/or ingenuity to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative procedures, practices, standards, specifications, services, or projects.
• Ability to recognize and acknowledge error and to learn from the experience.
• Word processing/computer/web design experience required (Wordpress - MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Survey tools, Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator and HTML).

University of British Columbia