Infection Control Preventionist

St. Josephs Medical Center•Houston, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Infection Preventionist is responsible for monitoring and recognizing infectious processes, surveillance of the environment, providing education, assisting with performance improvement projects, regulatory reporting, trend analysis and monitoring for sentinel events. This role requires being in office at St. Joseph Medical Center.

Requirements

Working knowledge of statistics, microbiology, patient care practices, epidemiology, and occupational health.
Strong communication skills (written, verbal, and presentation).
Team facilitation skills.
Proficient with Microsoft Office and online applications.
Ability to work independently under minimal supervision, manages multiple deliverables, anticipates needs, responds in a timely manner and is detail oriented.
Ability to communicate effectively and professionally with coworkers across disciplines and with multiple levels of employees.
Bachelor's degree in nursing, public health, medical technology, or related field.
Two (2) years clinical/healthcare experience preferred.

Nice To Haves

Certification in Infection Control (CIC).
Bi or Multilingual.

Responsibilities

Collaborates in establishing, implementing, and administering the infection control program throughout the facility and in developing the goals, objectives, policies, and procedures.
Collaborates in the development and revision of Infection Control guidelines and the periodic review of the Hospital's overall compliance with established guidelines.
Monitors the Hospital environment by conducting site inspections for potential risks and identifying outbreaks of health care acquired infections.
Conducts daily surveillance for community or hospital acquired infections for appropriate actions, precautionary measures, and review.
Reports the presence of communicable diseases to appropriate agencies as required by law in cooperation with attending physicians.
Monitors for sentinel events related to all identified cases of unanticipated deaths or major permanent loss of function associated with health care associated infections.
Consistently follows patient care, and facility guidelines and procedures in performance.
Collaborate with inter and intra-professional colleagues to ensure quality outcomes.
Enhances the patient's experience by fostering a positive relationship with customers.
Acts as consultant during times of emergency or bioterrorism attacks relating to infectious diseases.
Member of the Hospital Infection Control Committee and other committees as directed by the Chief Quality Officer.
Maintains education and competency, as evidenced by completion of competency validation requirements.
Promotes a culture of patient safety which results in the identification and reduction of unsafe practices.
Uses professional judgment and critical thinking to prepare, prioritize, and execute the patient's plan of care consistently with patient assessment data, physicians' treatment plans, and professional standards of care.
Implement measures to prevent exposure to infectious pathogens and communicable conditions.
Identifies risks and hazards to patients through various risk assessments, with actions taken to mitigate patient harm.
Uses appropriate methodologies for collection and analysis of infection control statistics.
Collects and aggregates infection control data and ensures completeness, accuracy, and timeliness of submission - externally for mandatory reporting and internally.
Leads infection prevention robust process improvement initiatives and projects across the continuum of care as needed.
Monitors areas of construction for adherence to Infection Control guidelines compliance.
Maintains competency and knowledge of current standards of practice, trends, and developments.
Completes annual education requirements.
Keep current with trends and developments in the field by reading appropriate books, journals and other literature and attending related conferences, seminars and the like.
Contributes to improving patient satisfaction results.
Promotes stewardship of hospital resources while ensuring quality patient care.
Adheres to all Federal and State regulatory requirements.
Assists in promoting safe patient care by eliminating hospital acquired infections.
Other duties as assigned.