Infection Preventionist Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• Meet the basic education requirement through graduation from an appropriately accredited school of professional nursing, or an applicable qualifying nursing education pathway described in the announcement.
• Hold current, full, active, unrestricted RN registration in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, or the District of Columbia, subject to the stated Graduate Nurse Technician exception.
• Demonstrate basic written and spoken English proficiency.
• Meet the applicable VA Nurse grade and level education and experience criteria.
• Meet U.S. citizenship requirements, except where appointment of a non-citizen is permitted under VA policy.
• Complete required pre-employment screening and onboarding, including a drug test, background/security investigation, and physical evaluation; participation in random drug testing may be required.
• Participate in the seasonal influenza vaccination program.
• Be able to work effectively in stressful situations and shift priorities based on organizational needs.
• Be able to meet the position’s physical demands, including potentially long periods of walking, standing, stooping, sitting, bending, pulling, and pushing.
• Be flexible regarding schedule and assignments; occasional travel may be required for off-site training.

Nice To Haves

• Five years of RN experience.
• Previous work as an infection preventionist.
• Experience conducting infection surveillance and outbreak investigations.
• Experience analyzing infection trends.
• Participation in hospital infection-control audits.
• Familiarity with reporting healthcare-associated infections to the National Healthcare Safety Network.
• Regulatory compliance experience.
• Ability to independently assume program responsibilities immediately.

Responsibilities

• Monitor for and help reduce the risk of acquiring and transmitting infections among patients, employees, visitors, and students.
• Contribute to the annual Infection Control Risk Assessment, determine resources needed for the proposed plan, communicate variances to administration, and revise the plan as needed.
• Provide education on infection control issues and deliver annual and ongoing staff training.
• Foster a safe, supportive environment conducive to the professional development of healthcare professionals.
• Serve as an infection control and epidemiology education resource for employees, providing knowledge and guidance.
• Support colleagues through knowledge sharing and question clinical practices to promote evidence-based, safe, quality nursing care.
• Collaborate with Employee Occupational Health and interdisciplinary team members to plan and implement the Immunization Program, including influenza vaccination.
• Assist the Infection Control Provider in managing the Clinical Case Registry for HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, including providing reports and alerts to clinicians.
• Implement and maintain systems for analyzing, trending, and reporting data.
• Assist in developing and maintaining mandatory documents, including standard operating procedures, policies, outbreak and exposure investigations, and documents required by external agencies.
• Perform other assigned duties.

Benefits

• 50 days of paid time off per year: 26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, and 11 paid federal holidays.
• Traditional federal pension, with five-year vesting.
• Federal 401(k), with VA contributions up to 5%.
• Federal health, vision, dental, term life, and long-term care insurance; many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement.
• Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
• Potential performance awards.