Employment Type:

Part time

Shift:

Description:

General Summary:

Participates in the development, implementation, maintenance, and enhancement of the surveillance, prevention and control of infection (SPCI) program for the Health System. Major goals of the program, which the IPCS supports, include:

Surveillance for health care-associated infections (HAIs) as a basis for identifying
Significant risks, analysis of this data, and develop appropriate response to improve performance.
Integration of infection prevention in the System’s patient safety & performance improvement programs,
Risk assessment and mitigation of cross transmission of microorganisms,
Application of epidemiologic principles to reduce and prevent health care-associated infections (HAIs),
Implementation of infection prevention & control processes – including the environment of care,
Education and collaboration with organizational leadership, care providers, and support personnel on their roles and responsibilities for infection prevention,
Liaison with community partners external to the System
Planning and preparedness for response to emerging diseases and infectious disease emergencies

Principle functions of SPCI Program are:

Protect the patient;
Protect healthcare personnel*, visitors, volunteers and others in the healthcare environment;
Accomplish the previous two goals in a cost-effective manner, whenever possible.

Qualifications:

Education: Baccalaureate degree in Nursing, medical technology, or other health science; Master of Public Health or other health related field.
Licensure: For BSN, requires current Registered Nurse license for State of MI
Other credentials: Eligible for or hold Certification in Infection Control & Epidemiology (CIC) preferred.
Work Experience: Two or more years' experience in healthcare facility, ideally with some of this in infection prevention & control.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

Utilize computer-based software, electronic information systems, potential error reporting systems, etc., to assist with identification of HAIs or identify other possible safety problems.
Design, collect, analyze, manage and report findings from surveillance to appropriate personnel and departments to lower frequency and ultimately prevent HAIs. The scope of this activity should encompass all facilities and health services to include but not limited to ambulatory care, employed physician practices, and Home Care & Hospice.
Apply findings from surveillance to assess effectiveness of the SPCI & Patient Safety Programs and measure the impact of infection prevention and related performance improvement initiatives.
Investigate, report and respond to increasing frequency, clusters, sentinel events, or outbreaks of HAI(s) and other communicable diseases.

Education, Training & Consultation for Healthcare Personnel, Patients & Visitors:

Develops and conducts education programs and other information including but not limited to printed and electronic involving prevention of infection.
Specific education includes but is not limited to orientation to infection prevention & control, aseptic technique, standard & transmission-based precautions, immunization, sharps injury prevention, hand hygiene, and equipment and environmental cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization.
Apply critical thinking skills, risk assessment, and scientific evidence to enhance infection prevention and patient care practices.

Performance Improvement, Communications, & Representation:

Develops, reviews, evaluates, implements and revises System policies, procedures, and work practices that are consistent with scientific evidence and/or guidelines – as applicable- and which are based on risk assessment for the System and overall goals of the SPCI program.
Assures integration and collaboration of infection prevention with the System’s overall patient safety / performance improvement program.
Provide consultation and or education for healthcare personnel on potential and identified infection control problems.
Distribute findings from surveillance and other activities, policies/procedures, guidelines, etc and make recommendations to appropriate individuals, committees, departments, and units
Provide consultation to organizational leadership, risk management, other committees, and department leadership on issues relating to infection prevention and control vi) Serve on committees, collaborative quality improvement practice teams, etc., such as Patient Safety Leadership, Practice Councils, and System Safety to facilitate communication and integration of infection prevention and control practices.
Advises System on acquisition, safe and effective use of patient care products and equipment.
Participates in notification and response to product recalls, public health advisories, and other issues related to diseases or possible infection control problems in the community served.

Regulatory, Accreditation, Licensing, and Public Health Support Functions:

Facilitates reports of communicable diseases and other conditions to public health agencies and serves as a liaison to public health on behalf of the System.
Serves as liaison and support activities of external organizations such as local and state public health, and regional and local emergency preparedness agencies.
Support adherence by personnel and facilities with regulatory, licensure and accreditation requirements involving infection prevention and control.
Serve and support Disaster preparedness planning and response involving infectious disease emergencies and participate in activation of the Healthcare Incident Command system (HICS) as needed.
Participate in hazard vulnerability analysis and response plans for potential emergencies.
Participate in proactive infection control risk assessment and provide infection control risk mitigation recommendations involving the environment of care (EOC) to include planning, design, renovation and new construction of facilities and areas plus response to problems impacting the safety of the EOC for patients, personnel and visitors.

Employee Health:

Collaborate with Employee Health Services on pre-employment assessment, immunization practices, work restrictions.
Provide consultation to EHS and personnel involving possible and known exposure to infectious diseases and post-exposure management.
Support identification, evaluation, and acquisition of sharps injury prevention equipment.
Assist with analysis of trends on occupational exposure incidents and support strategies to improve personnel safety.

Reporting Relationship & Supervision:

This position reports to the Administrative Director, IPC. Supervision is provided by the Medical Director of IPCS.

Trinity Health's Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Trinity Health employs about 133,000 colleagues at dozens of hospitals and hundreds of health centers in 22 states. Because we serve diverse populations, our colleagues are trained to recognize the cultural beliefs, values, traditions, language preferences, and health practices of the communities that we serve and to apply that knowledge to produce positive health outcomes. We also recognize that each of us has a different way of thinking and perceiving our world and that these differences often lead to innovative solutions.

Trinity Health's dedication to diversity includes a unified workforce (through training and education, recruitment, retention and development), commitment and accountability, communication, community partnerships, and supplier diversity.

Quality, Risk Management​​​​​​​& Compliance

Quality, Risk
Management
& Compliance