Infection Preventionist - Infection Control - Full Time

Guthrie Enterprise•Cortland, NY

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Infection Preventionist coordinates mandated Infection Prevention and Control Program activities to prevent, detect, and mitigate communicable diseases and infections within acute care settings and hospital outpatient areas. This involves reviewing, developing, and implementing policies, processes, and procedures for identifying, preventing, controlling, and reporting infectious diseases. The role includes conducting outbreak investigations, analyzing infection data for trends, monitoring staff compliance with infection prevention requirements, initiating corrective actions, and advising staff on best practices. The position is also responsible for the implementation and evaluation of the facility’s infection prevention program, including performing annual risk assessments and integrating relevant public health issues and regulatory standards into practice. The Infection Preventionist serves as a consultant, collaborates with healthcare professionals, and leads interdisciplinary teams in establishing infection prevention goals for quality assurance and performance improvement.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in an applied clinical science (Nursing, Medical Technology, Microbiology, Public Health).
Must have college-level reading comprehension, college-level writing skills and college-level data analytics skills.
Five years of relevant acute care Infection Prevention experience with Certification in Infection Control (CIC) for non-nurse applicants;
Registered Nurses should have a broad level of experience including critical care, emergency medicine, and medical/surgical nursing and preferred minimum of 3 years of acute care Infection Prevention experience.
Registered Nurse if applicable or MT/MLT if applicable
Certification in Infection Prevention and Control (CIC) required within 2 years of hire.
Excellent computer skills and experience with Microsoft Office.
Understanding of Data Management
Strong written and oral communication skills.
Can work independently.
Confident in facilitating conversations across a wide range of caregivers.
Excellent organizational skills: ability to prioritize, use good time management and adhere to deadlines as directed.

Nice To Haves

CIC preferred (for Registered Nurses)
Certification in Infection Prevention and Control preferred

Responsibilities

Responsible for the implementation and evaluation of the facility’s infection prevention program including performing annual risk assessment and ensuring existing standards and guidelines of applicable professional organizations and regulatory and governmental agencies are incorporated into the program.
Reviews relevant public health issues to integrate into practice, serves as a consultant and resource person regarding infection prevention issues for all facility personnel, collaborates with other healthcare professionals within and outside of the facility, and implements infection prevention education programs.
Systematically collects and analyzes healthcare-associated infection data using epidemiological principles and statistical methods to identify trends and risk factors.
Conducts outbreak investigations and studies infection trends to determine the sources of infection and creates mitigation plans to contain the spread of disease
Daily rounding on all nursing units for isolation, hand hygiene/PPE compliance, device rounds and education.
Leads interdisciplinary teams in the identification and establishment of infection prevention goals and objectives for quality assurance and performance improvement.
Participates in rounding for Environment of Care (EOC) and TJC Tracers on a predetermined schedule in all hospital and Hospital outpatient departments.
Participates in system-wide functions including surveillance, rounding, policy and procedure development, new hire orientation, and regulatory site visits as needed.
Participates in ICRA planning, assessment, and daily rounding on applicable construction projects.
Navigates and reports through Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) as required.
Develops and prepares summary reports, presentations, spreadsheets, and dashboards for Infection Control and Quality committees.
Reviews and interprets electronic medical records, physicians’ orders, pharmacy reports, and laboratory and diagnostic tests to identify infections, assess their cause, and monitor symptoms.
Integrates surveillance with improvement plan, reviews and analyzes existing regulations, standards and guidelines, recommends revises practices based on evidence-based strategies, integrates public health issues into practice.
Participate in infection prevention education that addresses topics including standards of care, infection risks, evidence-based practices, cleaning and disinfection practices, hand hygiene, and instrument, equipment storage and other infection prevention education as needed.
Participate in activities including daily entity huddles that support compliance with government and agency regulations.
Travel to other system entities as needed for orientation, meetings, rounds, etc.
Travel for orientation, education as needed.
Participate in assigned committees.
Perform related duties, as required.