Summary:
The Infection Prevention Specialist functions in an administrative and leadership role, implementing the Virtua Infection Prevention Plan at the local level, creating an effective hospital wide infection control program. This includes enforcement of Standard Precautions, hospital-acquired infection surveillance, specific environmental monitoring, outbreak management, regulatory compliance, and educational programs designed to inform and instruct hospital employees in safe patient care practices.
The Infection Prevention Manager serves as a consultant to physicians, staff, patients, families and the community.
An essential component of the infection control program is ongoing implementation and evaluation of the infection control performance improvement plan.
The Infection Prevention Manager supervises the collection of data for submission to the New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services, the Center for Disease Control, County Health Departments and other mandatory regulatory reporting requirements.
Position Responsibilities:
Leadership Role
• Develops and manages the local Infection Control Program in cooperation with the System Infection Control Committee.
• Works closely with the Virtua Infection Control Officer to conduct annual risk assessment and gap analyses to serve as the foundation to prioritize and implement infection control initiatives locally and across the system.
• Collaborates with local management and leadership team to ensure systematic implementation of policies, procedures and improvement initiatives. This includes educational programs to inform, instruct hospital leaders, physicians and staff in safe patient care practices, Oversees and consults with ambulatory areas associated with hospital license or affiliation.
• Serves as local content expert. Interprets and maintains current knowledge of federal, state, and local regulations and makes recommendations regarding prevention and control of communicable diseases within health care facilities.
• Acts as liaison between the local Virtua campus and County Departments of Health. Regulatory agencies includes TJC, CDC, OSHA, U.S. Department of Health & Senior Services.
• Participates in system meetings of the Infection Control Committee.
• Is a member of the local emergency management team. May serve as an incident command center leader in cases of infection outbreaks internally or within the local community.
• Represents Virtua and participates in local and regional emergency planning activities.
Performance Improvement
• Supports local and system Quality Improvement initiatives and communicates hospital concerns with the Director of Quality Management.
• Implements performance improvement activities which are selected based on data analyses, annual risk assessment and regulatory requirements.
• Serves as team member or consultant to Six Sigma, Kaizen and other performance improvement teams.
• Provides education for all levels of staff as well as to members of the community.
Surveillance and Data Reporting
• Responsible for the monitoring of Standard and Isolation Precautions, hospital-acquired infection surveillance, specific environmental monitoring, outbreak management, regulatory compliance, and educational programs.
• Uses Excel graphs & spreadsheets, other appropriate software and web based programs to collect data and generate reports for analysis.
• Supervises and conducts collection of data for submission to the New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services and all other regulatory reporting agencies and databases.
• Works in coordination with the Occupational Health Department in exposure determination and with special programs and projects.
• Works in coordination with Environmental Services, Engineering, Construction and Facilities staff and contractors to assure construction safety, participates in and advises in the completion of hospital ICRA.
Position Qualifications Required / Experience Required:
At least 2 years of experience in Infection Prevention.
Current membership in APIC (Association of Professionals in IC) preferred.
Strong leadership skills demonstrated ability in infection prevention concepts and practices.
Required Education:
Bachelor’s degree in nursing, Medical Technology, Biology or related field with education in Infection Prevention. Master’s in public health (MPH) preferred.
Training/Certifications/Licensure:
CIC preferred.
If RN, must have valid NJ RN License or obtain within 3 months of hire. “#RD_P1