Infection Preventionist

Infection Preventionist FT Day AdventHealth Palm Coast

Location Address: 60 Memorial Medical Parkway Palm Coast, Florida 32164

Top Reasons to Work at AdventHealth Palm Coast

• Career growth and advancement potential
• High quality of life with low cost of living on the shores of Palm Coast.
• Excellent health benefits

Work Hours/Shift:

• Full Time Days

You Will Be Responsible For:

SERVICE:

• Develops, implements and annually evaluates the hospital’s infection control program to prevent and control the transmission of infections in the patient, employee, visitor and medical staff populations.
• Responsible for oversight of the infection prevention and control program.
• Demonstrates commitment to patient safety and protecting patients and providers by advocating safe practices and policies.
• Responsible for the analysis and trending of occupational exposure incidents and information exchange between employee health and infection prevention and control departments.
• Holds paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public in the performance of professional duties and escalates patient safety concerns to appropriate leadership, up to and including executives, with honesty and integrity.
• Leads integration of prevention activities within and across departments
• Leads performance improvement teams on local and region level projects with a focus on reliability and sustainability of prevention practices
• Directs hospital activities required to collaborate with public health agencies in planning community responses to biologic agents and disasters.
• Develops improvement initiatives focused on reducing HAIs, enhancing patient safety, and minimizing waste. Defines the scope of a project to maintain focus and uses process and outcome measures to ensure that interventions are sustained over time.
• Oversees interdisciplinary teams from various departments, disciplines, and organizations to implement into practice pertinent regulatory requirements, accreditation standards, and guidelines.
• Provides leadership to patients, families, administration, committees, health care providers, and ancillary staff in infection prevention, control, and epidemiology.
• Creates and oversees patient safety and quality initiatives and involves the multidisciplinary team to maximize benefits and minimize barriers for all stakeholders.
• Develops strategies to remove barriers to reliability and sustainability of infection prevention measures, such as workflow, space or access to supplies.

CLINICAL:

• Develops a surveillance plan based on the population(s) served, services provided and historical surveillance data
• Prepares accurate tracking and trending of records/reports of epidemiological activities.
• Routinely evaluates the hospital environment through risk assessments, hazard vulnerability analysis and evaluation of emerging prevention practices
• Monitors and reports communicable diseases to the appropriate agency.
• Advises and educates staff on infection control policies and current/emerging prevention practices
• Participates in multidisciplinary rounding with a focus on appropriate use of medical devices and infection prevention expectations at the time of transition
• Maintains facility compliance with infection control related federal and state regulatory agency guidelines and mandates.
• Develops, reviews and revises infection prevention and control policies and procedures.
• Identifies and implements infection prevention and control strategies according to specific topics: hand hygiene; cleaning, disinfection and sterilization; specific direct and indirect care settings; therapeutic and diagnostic procedures and devices; product/equipment recall procedure; use of isolation/barrier precautions when indicated; patient placement, transfer and discharge; environmental hazards; use of patient care products and medical equipment; patient immunization programs; construction and renovation; and influx of patients with communicable diseases.
• Actively participates in region and local antimicrobial stewardship committees.

FINANCE:

• Considers the financial implications, safety implications, and clinical outcomes when making recommendations, evaluating technology and products, and developing policies and procedures
• Provides hospital executive leadership with financial/value analysis assessments, efficacy studies, and product evaluations using a systematic approach
• Incorporates fiscal assessments into program evaluations and/ or reports
• Communicates resource needs to key stakeholders based on the goals and objectives of the program
• Maintains compliance with departmental budget

DEVELOPMENT:

• Completes all mandatory educational requirements
• Attends 75% of the role-specific region council meetings
• Completes a competency self-assessment with a professional development plan at least yearly
• Maintains current knowledge through the review of best practices, evidence-based research, consensus, and guidelines
• Actively participates in professional organizations, both nationally and locally
• Maintains current knowledge through the review of best practices, evidence-based research, consensus, and guidelines.
• Accepts responsibility and accountability for professional competence.

• Knowledge of infection prevention and control practices and infectious disease processes, evidence-based best practices and external/public clinical outcomes reporting requirements
• Knowledge of standardized definitions for the identification and classification of events, indicators/measures, and/or outcomes.
• Knowledge of algorithms used to identify potential HAIs to prompt further evaluation and review
• Ability to apply and use epidemiologic principles to conduct surveillance and investigations, aggregate and analyze surveillance data, and report epidemiologically significant findings to key stakeholders
• Knowledge of advanced statistical methods and tools, including application of standard infection ratio and the ability to use statistical techniques to describe the data, calculate risk-adjusted rates, and establish internal benchmarks
• Ability to influence and persuade teams, up to and including the executive level, to build consensus within and across stakeholder groups (high level negotiation skills)
• Knowledge of regulatory (TJC/CMS/CDC) infection control standards/survey processes with the ability to integrate regulatory requirements into daily activities, learning and the development of the infection prevention plan
• English-language proficient with effective writing, listening, speaking/teaching communication skills
• Mastery of performance improvement methodology and tools.
• Analytical and managerial ability; motivational and team building skills.
• Excellent computer skills including IC-related databases and Microsoft Office products, i.e, NHSN

What You Will Need:

• Bachelor of Science (BSN)

• Graduate from an accredited School of Nursing OR Master’s in Public Health or another healthcare related field

• Current Florida Registered Nurse License, if applicable

Job Summary:

The Infection Preventionist is a qualified individual with knowledge of CDC guidelines and definitions of nosocomial infections, TJC standards, Federal and State regulations. The infection preventionist is responsible for the investigation, identification, reporting, prevention and control of nosocomial infections among patients and personnel. Functions as a key member of the region infection prevention and patient safety teams.