Infection Preventionist - St. Rita's Medical Center

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Scheduled Weekly Hours:

40

Work Shift:

Days (United States of America)

The Infection Preventionist provides coordination and supports implementation of a system wide infection control and prevention program to identify and prevent or reduce causes and/or sources of infection. They will also assist in the implementation of processes, to reduce hospital-associated infections. Implementing mitigation strategies in the event of communicable disease outbreaks within the healthcare facilities and/or the community, will also be a top priority. They will assist with the collection, analysis and reporting of infection prevention data to groups through chart abstraction and communication including verbal, written, and group presentation processes.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Supports the goals and objectives for infection control and prevention; maintains policies and procedures to ensure technological advances in infection control and prevention are incorporated in a safe and cost-effective manner and are in compliance with Joint Commission, OSHA, and other regulatory bodies.
• Utilizes current literature, professional organization recommendations and national experts to ensure that best practices are implemented throughout the program. Participates in divisional and corporate infection prevention and control committees.
• Implements a surveillance program to assess and manage healthcare associated infections including activities related to detection, recording, and analyzing data. Supports epidemiological investigations of significant clusters of infection above expected levels or by atypical pathogens.
• Monitors environmental concerns, provides consultation of preventive/corrective measures, provides recommendations to construction projects, product recommendations and coordinates trials of new products to reduce risk of infection in the healthcare facilities. Participates in environmental rounds in all facilities to improve patient quality and safety and reduce risk of infection.
• Reviews all blood and body fluid exposures for the region; monitors for trends and assists in the analysis of data related to exposures. Assists in implementing recommendations for reduction in exposure.
• Assists department/facility representatives in the development and review of infection prevention and control policies and procedures. Supports policy and procedure implementation and acts as liaison with the state and local health department, community and other regulatory agencies.
• Monitors for uncontrolled introductions of pathogens or communicable illness into the healthcare environment. Develops strategies to assess for risk and monitoring of exposed patients, visitors and/or employees for secondary illness. Participates as a team member and subject matter expert in root cause analysis for healthcare associated infections.
• Assists in the implementation of educational programs on infection prevention and control for orientees and annual updates for physicians and employees. Assists in the preparation of education programs on infection prevention and control for services throughout the organization as requested. Assists in the distribution of timely and relevant infection prevention and control information. Maintains regular updates to organization leadership of infection prevention and control activities through the annual Infection Control Risk Assessment, Infection Control Plan, and the Infection Control Committee and it's minutes.

Employment Qualifications

Education Qualifications:

• Required Minimum Education- Bachelor’s Degree
• Specialty/Major: Nursing or healthcare related field
• Preferred Education- Master’s Degree
• Specialty/Major: Nursing or other health related field

Licensing/ Certification:   

• Required Certification in Infection Control (CIC), awarded by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (CBIC), within 3 years.
• Preferred Certification in Infection Control (CIC), awarded by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (CBIC).  Completion of advanced education in Infection Prevention at time of hire. 

Minimum Years and Type of Experience:

• Experience of 2-5 years direct clinical patient care or experience in healthcare related field. 
• Prefer infection control/prevention experience.

Other Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Required Demonstrated ability/experience to lead and facilitate multi-disciplinary teams; Demonstrated experience in performance improvement. Computer skills with Excel, W