Infection Preventionist IV, Regional Program (0.6 FTE)

In addition to the responsibilities listed above, this position is also responsible for learning about standardization of care across the continuum of care; assisting senior staff with surveillance and regulatory reporting programs within medical centers and facilities within the region; monitoring protocols and workflows at regional facilities as directed; preparing reports (e.g., regional scoreboard, scorecard, dashboard) at local facilities; listening and responding to medical centers, facilities, and physician groups on region-specific infection prevention and control protocols and policies following general guidance; coordinating region-wide infection prevention educational programs; and participating in situation management related to exposures, recalls, and other events that put patients and the organization at exposure risk.

• Promotes learning in others by proactively providing and/or developing information, resources, advice, and expertise with coworkers and members; builds relationships with cross-functional/external stakeholders and customers. Listens to, seeks, and addresses performance feedback; proactively provides actionable feedback to others and to managers. Pursues self-development; creates and executes plans to capitalize on strengths and develop weaknesses; leads by influencing others through technical explanations and examples and provides options and recommendations. Adopts new responsibilities; adapts to and learns from change, challenges, and feedback; demonstrates flexibility in approaches to work; champions change and helps others adapt to new tasks and processes. Facilitates team collaboration to support a business outcome.
• Completes work assignments autonomously and supports business-specific projects by applying expertise in subject area and business knowledge to generate creative solutions; encourages team members to adapt to and follow all procedures and policies. Collaborates cross-functionally and/or externally to achieve effective business decisions; provides recommendations and solves complex problems; escalates high-priority issues or risks, as appropriate; monitors progress and results. Supports the development of work plans to meet business priorities and deadlines; identifies resources to accomplish priorities and deadlines. Identifies, speaks up, and capitalizes on improvement opportunities across teams; uses influence to guide others and engages stakeholders to achieve appropriate solutions.
• Educates others on infection prevention and control by: responding to hospital and clinical staff and patients inquiries on infection prevention and control and new patient care equipment and escalating inquiries to senior staff; assisting in assessing learning needs of customers and soliciting feedback to meet needs; and assisting in planning and implementing infection prevention and control educational programs and materials for general orientation and clinical departments.
• Provides expertise in epidemiology by: monitoring rates and trends of occupational exposure to infectious disease(s); and participating in reviewing infection prevention and control policies and/or workflows related to occupational health.
• Utilizes epidemiological principles to conduct surveillance by: participating in investigations and interviews and performing chart reviews to gather information as directed; assisting in implementing surveillance programs to monitor infection control problems, disease outbreaks, exposure, epidemics, and pandemics following clear direction; and recording data and preparing documentation of findings from investigations following infection control problems, disease outbreaks, exposure, epidemics, and pandemics.
• Participating in performance improvement initiatives by: collecting data on the effectiveness of infection prevention and control programs to identify areas of improvement; leverages performance improvement tools and methodologies to implement in continuous improvement initiatives; gathering input on and synthesizing customer needs and expectations during the design of processes, products, and/or services; providing and monitoring data to identify issues or blockers to performance improvement initiatives and reporting findings to senior staff; and attending performance improvement committees and teams.
• Engages in ongoing surveillance by: maintaining dashboards and creating regular reports of infection cases in relation to an annual infection prevention and control program plan; assisting in implementing organizational infection prevention and control program(s); documenting and distributing infection prevention and control policies and protocols that are in line with KP and national (e.g., Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], National Healthcare Safety Network [NHSN]) standards; assisting in conducting routine on-site visits to assess clinical space and practices related to infection prevention/control (e.g., patient waiting areas, respiratory etiquette station, cleaning procedures, sterilization); and identifying and monitoring changes to infection prevention and control regulatory and accreditation standards at the local, state, and federal levels.