Infection Preventionist

Intermountain Health•Riverton, NJ

13d•$39 - $60

About The Position

The Infection Preventionist performs and coordinates basic activities supporting the Infection Prevention program at a care site or surveillance team. The role may include survey readiness and response, validation of CMS-required reporting, and providing Infection Prevention guidance to care site administration. It is responsible for local implementation of enterprise strategic initiatives and has authority to implement corrective and preventive actions to protect patients, employees, and visitors from infectious disease transmission. Such actions may include instituting isolation procedures; ordering environmental controls at construction sites or in response to utility failures; obtaining surveillance cultures from patients, employees, or the environment; restricting infectious or exposed personnel from work in consultation with Employee Health; and closing or limiting unit admissions during an outbreak. The position builds stakeholder relationships to support Infection Prevention workflows, assists with regulatory compliance, evaluates compliance with standardized policies and procedures, and educates care sites. It applies infectious disease guidelines and regulatory requirements to help meet expected standards. The Infection Preventionist collaborates with enterprise leaders on care site program design and implementation, investigates suspected outbreaks and coordinates corrective actions, and provides Infection Prevention guidance to multidisciplinary project teams. The role co-chairs the facility Infection Prevention Committee, represents Infection Prevention on facility-wide committees and to hospital and medical staff leadership, and facilitates or supports the local program.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Nursing with current license, Public Health, Epidemiology, Clinical Laboratory Science, or another clinically relevant degree from an accredited institution; degree will be verified.
Demonstrated working experience in a relevant clinical field.
Skills in leadership, continuous improvement, organization, communication, problem solving, teamwork, and taking initiative.
Ability to use basic computer programs and statistical analysis.
Ability to present information and data.

Responsibilities

Identify and connect with stakeholders to build relationships that support Infection Prevention workflows.
Assist in ensuring compliance with applicable CMS, The Joint Commission, state, and local health department requirements.
Evaluate compliance with policies and procedures and educate care sites to support standardization.
Apply infectious disease guidelines and regulatory requirements to support planning and meet expected standards.
Collaborate with enterprise Infection Prevention leaders on the design and implementation of the care site program.
Investigate suspected infectious outbreaks and implement appropriate corrective actions in collaboration with the team.
Support multidisciplinary project management teams by providing Infection Prevention guidance.
Co-chair the facility Infection Prevention Committee and represent Infection Prevention on other facility-wide committees and to hospital and medical staff leadership.
Facilitate and support the Infection Prevention program at the care site or surveillance team.
Participate in survey readiness and response, and CMS-required reporting with validation.
Implement corrective and preventive actions, including appropriate isolation procedures and environmental controls.
Obtain surveillance cultures on patients, employees, or the environment.
In consultation with Employee Health, restrict infectious or exposed personnel from returning to work during the potentially infectious period.
Close or limit admissions to a unit because of an infectious disease outbreak.