What are the responsibilities and job description for the RN, Infection Preventionist, Infection Control, Full Time, Day Shift position at Adventist Health?
Central to all that California has to offer, Adventist Health Bakersfield has been providing an extraordinary team of world-class physicians, top-notch medical technology, caring professionals and award-winning quality since 1910. We are comprised of a 254-bed acute care hospital and 20 primary and specialty care medical offices. As one of America's fastest growing cities, Bakersfield offers affordable housing on the West Coast, beautiful weather, high-quality education and it is just a few hours away from Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, the Central California Coast and Southern California's great sports, theaters, concerts and amusement parks.
Job Summary:
Performs surveillance, analysis, interpretation and reporting of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) and infection prevention education. Writes and updates infection prevention policies and procedures to insure compliance with regulatory standards of The Joint Commission (TJC) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Centers for Medicaid/Medicare Services (CMS,) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other nationally organized agencies recommendations and requirements. Is proficient in hospital epidemiology principles and is responsible for the surveillance, analysis, interpretation and reporting of hospital acquired infections.
Job Requirements:
Education and Work Experience:
- Bachelor's Degree or equivalent (some certifications will require Bachelor's): Required
- Master's Degree: Preferred
- Two years' experience in acute care setting.: Required
Licenses/Certifications:
- Registered Nurse (RN) licensure in the state of practice: Required
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) or Basic Life Support (BLS OR HS-BLS OR RQIBLS) certification: Preferred
- Infection Control Certification: Required within three years of hire
- Public Health Nursing Credential: Preferred
- Certified Infection Control (CIC): Required
Essential Functions:
- Conducts ongoing surveillance investigation and follow up of infections through review of admission diagnoses, microbiology culture results, isolation orders, patient records, consultation requests, post-discharge surveillance, and autopsy findings. Conducts environmental rounds in all inpatient and outpatient care areas. Analyzes trends and risk factors, and designs and evaluates prevention and control strategies. Participates in investigation and reporting of unusual hospital infection outbreaks.
- Compiles and interprets surveillance reports for committees and specialty areas on a regular basis. Collects data in support of epidemiological studies. Determines the source of problems and makes recommendations for correction and improvement.
- Assists in the organization of regularly scheduled infection control-related meetings and dissemination of recommendations hospital-wide. Participates in quality/performance improvement activities by assessing, monitoring, and measuring nosocomial infections and evaluating outcomes on a continuous basis.
- Plans, organizes, develops and implements new employee orientation and educational programs for employees (including administrative and ancillary services) to convey specialized knowledge and skills of awareness of existence of infections. Includes techniques for avoidance and preventive measures to ensure an infection-free environment for hospital employees, patients and visitors.
- Performs other job-related duties as assigned.
Organizational Requirements:
Adventist Health is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our associates and patients. Therefore, we require that all associates receive all required vaccinations, including, but not limited to, measles, mumps, flu (based on the seasonal availability of the flu vaccine typically during October-March each year), COVID-19 vaccine (required in CA, HI and OR) etc., as a condition of employment, and annually thereafter. Medical and religious exemptions may apply.
