RN, Infection Preventionist Lead - Baroness Hospital - Full-time

Job Summary:
Supports and assists the Infection Prevention Director with all daily operations of the Health System's Infection Prevention and Control program and assumes responsibility for Infection Prevention departmental functions in the absence of the IP Director.

Education:
Required: Graduate of an accredited school of Nursing with BSN or higher nursing degree
De-escalation training, if applicable.

Experience:
Required:
o 5 years of clinical experience in accredited healthcare organization
o Computer and internet skills to include Microsoft Office
o Clinical leadership experience

Preferred:
o 3 years of experience in infection prevention
o Recent clinical expertise with critical care or surgical experience.
o Previous experience in information analysis, computer knowledge and quality improvement desired

Position Requirement(s): License/Certification/Registration:
Required:
o Current Tennessee licensure as a RN
o Certification in Infection Control (CIC)

Department Position Summary:
o Performs manual chart review and consistent application of the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) National Health & Safety Network (NHSN) definitions to identify and report for surgical site and device associated infections.
o Utilize clinical expertise to impact HAI outcome through guiding clinical staff within quality committees and workgroups.
o Lead for exposures (patient, visitors, or staff) to ensure appropriate clinical decisions are made in the best interest of exposed persons.
o Will act as clinical lead when other Infection Preventionist are on-call.
o Plan, organize and assist with directing the entity specific day to day operations related to monitoring, prevention and control of infection.
o Serves as a consultant on infection prevention issues and assists in providing a safe environment.
o Meets with other staff members to discuss performance improvement activities and develop future courses of action.
o Coordinates activities to identify and reduce the risks of acquiring and transmitting infections in assigned focus area(s). These activities include problem identification and management, data and information collection, analysis and management, improvement processes, policy/procedure management, outcome evaluation and education.
o Communicates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and county health departments, other health agencies, medical facilities and practitioners for reporting and/or investigation of infectious disease cases/clusters, required agent and disease case reports.
o Participates as a principal member of the Infection Committees and workgroups and serves on other ongoing and ad hoc committees or task groups throughout the organization.
o Coordinates the development and periodic review of Infection Control related standards, policies, procedures, practices and guidelines for assigned focus area(s) including infection surveillance, isolation/precautions, prevention and control in accordance with state, federal, and organizational guidelines.
o Institutes disease/agent transmission control measures as necessary
o Communicates with all personnel and medical staff regarding the interpretation and enforcement of and compliance with infection prevention program policies, practices, and procedures.
o Analyzes data to recognize potentially important relationships or patterns of infection and to detect significant variations in processes or outcomes.
o May coordinate, support or assist in the design and execution of special studies and projects.
o Attends educational in-services, webinars and conferences as appropriate.
o Participates in professional activities and organizations to maintain knowledge of current trends, practices, and developments.
o Collects patient, laboratory, process and performance data and information. Ensures confidentiality, security and integrity of data and information are maintained.
o Prepares, reports and presents infection control activities and improvement processes to meet organization needs and comply with applicable regulations in assigned focus area(s)
o Recommends changes in information systems hardware and software to improve internal and external reporting and data storage capabilities.
o Reviews and makes recommendations regarding selection of products related to infection prevention and control and current professional, industry and community standards and practices.
o Routinely assesses and investigates clinical infection and infection risks in concert with department objectives and assigned focus area(s)
o Conducts patient care practice and environmental rounds and recommends corrective action to administrative and management staff.
o Collaborates with employee health to identify and reduce the risks of acquiring and transmitting infections among all staff.
o Serves as the department liaison to individuals, programs, committees, functions, facilities, schools, industry, agencies and associations.
o Plans, conducts and documents formal and informal educational activities pertaining to infection control.
o Updates infection prevention materials used in the orientation of Nursing staff.
o Reviews, recommends and maintains infection prevention educational material in EOLs.
o Reviews construction projects pre-construction to assess risk; and conducts rounds during construction to identify and address safety issues as they might arise.
o Serves as key contact with public health and other outside authorities and as liaison with Employee Heath and Safety on Emergency Preparedness issues such as management of biosafety issues or highly infectious patients, pandemic influenza, etc.
o This position will provide 20% of its efforts devoted to administrative duties. The remaining 80% will be to support infection prevention activities.