Infection Preventionist

Overview

Location: Finley Hospital - Dubuque, IA

Shift: Full-time, 40 hours/week, Monday-Friday, Days

The Infection Preventionist  supports advancement of the infection prevention strategy through investigation into patterns and causes of infection and implementation of plans to prevent and control the spread of infectious agents. This position collaborates with diverse teams and individuals throughout the healthcare environment to support improved outcomes and promote compliance with internal and external infection prevention regulations, requirements, standards and guidelines. 

Why UnityPoint Health?

At UnityPoint Health, you matter. We’re proud to be recognized as a Top Place to Work in Healthcare by Becker's Healthcare several years in a row for our commitment to our team members.

Our competitive Total Rewards program offers benefits options focused on your needs and priorities, no matter what life stage you’re in. Here are just a few:    

• Expect paid time off, parental leave, 401K matching and an employee recognition program. • Dental, health and vision insurance, paid holidays, short and long-term disability and more. We even offer pet insurance for your four-legged family members. • Early access to earned wages with Daily Pay, tuition reimbursement to help further your career and adoption assistance to help you grow your family.

With a collective goal to champion a culture of belonging where everyone feels valued and respected, we honor the ways people are unique and embrace what brings us together.  

And, we believe equipping you with support and development opportunities is a vital part of delivering an exceptional employment experience.

Join our team of experts and make a difference with UnityPoint Health.

Responsibilities

• Performs surveillance for healthcare-associated infections (HAI) utilizing the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) surveillance definitions and in accordance with state and/or federal requirements and UPH infection prevention strategies and priorities as outlined by affiliate and enterprise-wide annual infection prevention plans. 
• Reports HAIs and applicable denominator data to NHSN. 
• Facilitates healthcare associated infection (HAI) event investigation and root cause analysis. 
• Assesses performance of infection prevention process measures and interprets data related to infection prevention outcome measures.
• Performs observations to assess compliance with infection prevention-related regulatory requirements. 
• Performs formal education, just-in-time education and coaching at the elbow. 
• Performs outbreak investigations. 
• Supports enterprise-wide policy and procedure implementation and compliance monitoring.
• Supports infection prevention teams and uses current standards, guidelines and evidence-based practice to implement improvement activities designed to prevent healthcare-associated infections. 
• Regularly interacts, communicates and collaborates with other healthcare workers and multidisciplinary groups regarding improvement efforts. 
• Assists with internal and external reporting of information and data. 
• Utilizes data to make recommendations for action.

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in infection prevention, health science, healthcare delivery, public health, laboratory science or related field

  OR

  Registered Nurse with 10 or more years of experience in infection prevention and control

Experience:

• 1 year of experience in healthcare, public health, laboratory or related field required
• 1 year of experience in infection prevention and control preferred

Credentials:

• Infection Prevention and Control (a-IPC) or Long-Term Care Certification in Infection Prevention (LTC-CIP) preferred