Infection Preventionist

Assists with implementing infection prevention and control programs and maintains dashboards of infection cases. Participates in investigations and interviews for surveillance programs to monitor infection control problems, disease outbreaks, exposure, epidemics, and pandemics. Collects data on infection prevention and control programs to identify areas of improvement. Assists in planning, implementing, and evaluating infection prevention and control educational programs. Participates in reviewing policies and procedures related to occupational health.

• Promotes learning in others by proactively providing and/or developing information, resources, advice, and expertise with coworkers and members; builds relationships with cross-functional/external stakeholders and customers. Listens to, seeks, and addresses performance feedback; proactively provides actionable feedback to others and to managers. Pursues self-development; creates and executes plans to capitalize on strengths and develop weaknesses; leads by influencing others through technical explanations and examples and provides options and recommendations. Adopts new responsibilities; adapts to and learns from change, challenges, and feedback; demonstrates flexibility in approaches to work; champions change and helps others adapt to new tasks and processes. Facilitates team collaboration to support a business outcome.
• Completes work assignments autonomously and supports business-specific projects by applying expertise in subject area and business knowledge to generate creative solutions; encourages team members to adapt to and follow all procedures and policies. Collaborates cross-functionally and/or externally to achieve effective business decisions; provides recommendations and solves complex problems; escalates high-priority issues or risks, as appropriate; monitors progress and results. Supports the development of work plans to meet business priorities and deadlines; identifies resources to accomplish priorities and deadlines. Identifies, speaks up, and capitalizes on improvement opportunities across teams; uses influence to guide others and engages stakeholders to achieve appropriate solutions.
• Educates others on infection prevention and control by: responding to hospital and clinical staff and patients inquiries on infection prevention and control and new patient care equipment and escalating inquiries to senior staff; assisting in assessing learning needs of customers and soliciting feedback to meet needs; and assisting in planning and implementing infection prevention and control educational programs and materials for general orientation and clinical departments.
• Provides expertise in epidemiology by: monitoring rates and trends of occupational exposure to infectious disease(s); and participating in reviewing infection prevention and control policies and/or workflows related to occupational health.
• Utilizes epidemiological principles to conduct surveillance by: participating in investigations and interviews and performing chart reviews to gather information as directed; assisting in implementing surveillance programs to monitor infection control problems, disease outbreaks, exposure, epidemics, and pandemics following clear direction; and recording data and preparing documentation of findings from investigations following infection control problems, disease outbreaks, exposure, epidemics, and pandemics.
• Participating in performance improvement initiatives by: collecting data on the effectiveness of infection prevention and control programs to identify areas of improvement; leverages performance improvement tools and methodologies to implement in continuous improvement initiatives; gathering input on and synthesizing customer needs and expectations during the design of processes, products, and/or services; providing and monitoring data to identify issues or blockers to performance improvement initiatives and reporting findings to senior staff; and attending performance improvement committees and teams.
• Engages in ongoing surveillance by: maintaining dashboards and creating regular reports of infection cases in relation to an annual infection prevention and control program plan; assisting in implementing organizational infection prevention and control program(s); documenting and distributing infection prevention and control policies and protocols that are in line with national (e.g., Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], National Healthcare Safety Network [NHSN]) standards; assisting in conducting routine on-site visits to assess clinical space and practices related to infection prevention/control (e.g., patient waiting areas, respiratory etiquette station, cleaning procedures, sterilization); and identifying and monitoring changes to infection prevention and control regulatory and accreditation standards at the local, state, and federal levels.

Qualifications:

• Minimum one (1) year(s) of experience in infection prevention, clinical quality management, or a directly related field.
• Masters degree in Nursing, Public Health, Epidemiology, Microbiology, or related field AND minimum two (2) years of health care/professional experience INCLUDING minimum one (1) year of experience in patient management, occupational health, clinical rounds, laboratory, public health, or a directly related field OR Bachelors degree in Nursing, Public Health, Microbiology, or related field AND minimum four (4) years of health care/professional experience INCLUDING minimum three (3) years of experience in patient management, occupational health, clinical rounds, laboratory, public health, or a directly related field OR Registered Nurse (RN) License (without a Bachelors degree) AND minimum six (6) years of health care/professional experience INCLUDING minimum five (5) years of experience in patient management, occupational health, clinical rounds, laboratory, public health, or a directly related field OR Minimum seven (7) years of experience in patient management, occupational health, clinical rounds, laboratory, public health, or a directly related field.

• Infection Control Certificate within 24 months of hire

• Information Gathering; Change Management; Business Documentation; Business Process Improvement; Critical Facility Operations Knowledge; Facilities Management/Operations; Operational Excellence; Preventative Maintenance; Risk Management; Issues and Crisis Management; Written Communication; Compliance Management; Confidentiality; Safety and Environmental Health Management; Health Care Compliance; Maintain Files and Records; Health Care Data Analytics; Health Care Outcome Data; Trend Analysis; Consulting; Quality Assurance Process; Hazard Mitigation; Emergency Preparedness; Patient Safety; Laboratory Procedures; Bloodborne Pathogen Knowledge