Senior Infection Preventionist

Southeast Health

25d

About The Position

The Senior Infection Preventionist supports Southeast Health’s mission through system-wide coordination of reliable processes designed to prevent hospital-acquired infections and continuously improve infection prevention. The position assists with the administration and clinical operation of the organization’s Infection Control and Prevention Program, addressing patient care practices, epidemiology, statistics, infectious disease, education, communication, surveillance, mandatory reporting, product evaluation, disinfection, and sterilization. The Senior Infection Preventionist collaborates with ancillary, nursing, and medical staff to identify trends, prioritize and recommend improvements, and ensure compliance with federal and state regulatory standards. The role is responsible for surveillance, analysis, and reporting of hospital-acquired infections; employee education; and developing organizational infection control standards aligned with regulatory and accrediting bodies, CDC, and APIC guidelines. The position also investigates incident reports and other infection prevention issues at the supervisor’s request. The role supports the Director of Quality and Regulatory Programs and serves as the facility’s National Healthcare Safety Network administrator. It leads development of the annual infection prevention and control plan, annual report, and risk assessment, supports evidence-based performance improvement, provides consultation during outbreaks, and contributes to infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship committees. There are no direct reports.

Requirements

Baccalaureate degree in nursing with a current nursing license, public health with an epidemiologist focus or another health-related field, or microbiology.
Certification in Infection Prevention and Control, or the ability to obtain and maintain it within two years of hire.
For nursing candidates: five years of clinical nursing experience in an acute care setting.
For non-nursing candidates: two years of acute care experience demonstrating use of basic surveillance and epidemiology knowledge, or two years of prior experience as an Infection Preventionist in an acute care setting.
Ability to communicate and organize concepts and ideas verbally and in writing, using precise wording, clear meaning, strong presentation, vocabulary, grammar, and spelling.
Ability to create reports that synthesize infection prevention metric performance.
Advanced computer skills for statistical, qualitative, and quantitative analyses.
Commitment to the organization’s five priorities and Six Ground Rules: “No excuses”; “We are a team”; “Bring up your ideas”; “Poor performance will be addressed”; “That’s not my job” is not acceptable; and “Manage Up.”

Responsibilities

Monitor, analyze, and interpret pathogen reports and infection statistics, and recommend control measures to prevent the spread of resistant microorganisms.
Collect, aggregate, and analyze data using CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions; provide required reports and submit data to NHSN; serve as the facility’s NHSN administrator.
Report required data to regulatory bodies and local or federal authorities as required by law.
Lead development of the annual infection prevention and control plan, annual report, and risk assessment, and use them to promote the program to internal and external stakeholders.
Promote continuous performance improvement and participate in implementing evidence-based practices to ensure safety, prevent infections, and support strong clinical outcomes.
Conduct on-site infection control risk assessments (ICRAs) and prepare feedback reports.
Apply evidence-based guidelines and manufacturers’ instructions for use to guide equipment cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization.
Provide consultation to prevent, analyze, and predict emerging outbreaks, and support units investigating outbreaks or infection clusters.
Participate in ongoing infection prevention education for employees and new employee orientation.
Develop infection control rounding tools, coach new infection prevention staff in their use, and follow up on the rounding process.
Support antibiotic stewardship by tracking infections and antibiotic use, communicating results, and maintaining investigation records.
Facilitate activities to ensure hand hygiene and isolation compliance.
Review, revise, and develop policies and procedures within the scope of the Infection Prevention and Antibiotic Stewardship Committees.
Facilitate and participate in the Infection Prevention Committee under the chair’s direction, and represent the Infection Prevention program on the Antibiotic Stewardship Committee under the chair’s direction.
Investigate incident reports and other infection prevention issues as requested by the supervisor.
Perform other duties requested by the primary manager that do not compromise the stated conduct or patient and employee safety protocols.