Infection Preventionist I

Infection Preventionist II

Join one of the nation's premier academic medical centers, UChicago Medicine, as Infection Preventionist II for our Infection Control department. This is a hybrid position at Hyde Park with some travel to other clinic sites as needed such as Orland Park, Northwest Indiana, etc.

The infection preventionist works with the hospital epidemiologist, other members of the infection prevention and control program, hospital administration, providers, and staff to develop and implement the hospital-wide infection prevention and control program.

Activities include investigation of infection problems and outbreaks, formulation of infection prevention and control policies and procedures, performance of unit and laboratory-based infection surveillance, implementation, project management, process improvement, identification and follow-up of significant pathogens (i.e., perform pulse-field gel electrophoresis), and education of hospital personnel.

Essential Job Functions:

• Conducts routine surveillance plans to detect hospital associated infections and outbreaks.
• Collects and analyzes clinical and laboratory data to accurately detect and characterize infections as community associated or hospital associated.
• Collaborates with peers and clinical laboratory staff in order to identify, investigate and resolve cases of hospital acquired infections.
• Performs analysis of data, and prepares reports, including relevant charts, tables and graphs, of hospital related outbreaks.
• Presents educational programs using adult learning principles concerning hospital infection control to hospital personnel.
• Provides timely written and verbal reports of findings from surveillance, investigations of problems or important inquiries, and ensures that recommendations are implemented, and problems are resolved.
• Oversees the planning, design, implementation, and completion of small to medium projects with support from supervisor.
• Executes project plans and provides daily support for moving the project forward on large strategic initiatives with support from leadership.
• Within the first 12 months of employment as an Infection Preventionist, must have a working knowledge of patient care practices, asepsis, disinfection and sterilization, adult education principles, epidemiology and disease transmission, surveillance techniques, statistical methods used in Infection Prevention and Control, and occupational health issues as they relate to infection prevention and control, performance measurement, and improvement principles.
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge base in area of Infection Prevention and Control and functions as a professional role model.
• Assumes responsibility for maintaining own competency and continued education in infection prevention and control by reviewing current literature and seeking out new standards and regulations.
• Attends relevant workshops, conferences, and seminars locally and nationally and disseminates relevant information to staff.
• Contributes to the professional development of the field by preparing and presenting scientific findings at local or national meetings.
• Evaluates the performance of the Infection Prevention and Control Program and proposes modification of the Program's procedures and goals, when necessary.
• If coming into the role with limited experience, must become certified in Infection Control by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology after working for 2 years.

Qualifications:

• Must have a current RN licensure in Illinois; or MLS (ASCP) certification as a medical laboratory scientist or equivalent with at least 3 years of experience in microbiology; or a master's degree in public health.
• Must have at least 3 years of work experience in an acute care setting or health related field, such as direct patient care, clinical or laboratory research, epidemiology or infectious disease.
• Infection Control Certification by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology.
• Must be able to identify common bacterial and fungal pathogens, be able to accurately perform basic laboratory procedures and critically evaluate laboratory and clinical methods, procedure, and results.
• Must be able to work independently to collect and critically evaluate information to characterize and manage infection problems.
• Must have the ability to identify best approaches to problems/questions and determine when to seek outside or more senior advice.
• Must have the ability to work under pressure and be flexible in a fast-paced environment.
• Must have strong organizational and time management skills.
• Must be able to identify and evaluate situations, which place patients or staff at immediate infection risk, and formulate and implement timely interventions to ameliorate risk.
• Requires strong interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written. Ability to work well with senior management, directors, medical staff, and employees at all levels of the organization and externally.
• Requires excellent computer skills, including advanced use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Requires understanding of basic epidemiologic methods and statistics.
• When on call, must be able to respond to a page or call within 10 minutes and report to the Hospitals, if needed, within 1 hour. Must be able to complete investigations or resolve concerns that arise from on-call in a time-sensitive manner.

Position Details

• Job Type/FTE: Full Time, 1.0 FTE
• Shift: Days + on-call rotation periodically
• Job Location: Hyde Park (Rotational) and travel to other clinic sites as needed.
• Unit/Department: Infection Control
• CBA Code: Non-Union