Infection Preventionist I, Full-time, Days

Company Description

At Northwestern Medicine, every patient interaction makes a difference in cultivating a positive workplace. This patient-first approach is what sets us apart as a leader in the healthcare industry. As an integral part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to join our quest for better healthcare, no matter where you work within the Northwestern Medicine system. At Northwestern Medicine, we pride ourselves on providing competitive benefits: from tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to 401(k) matching and lifecycle benefits, we take care of our employees. Ready to join our quest for better?

Job Description

The Infection Preventionist reflects the mission, vision, and values of NM, adheres to the organization's Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines, and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.

The Infection Preventionist identifies and facilitates the implementation of local and system-wide infection prevention practices, process improvements, quality improvements, patient safety initiatives and regulatory standards. This role performs clinical, educational and research responsibilities within the Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Prevention (HEIP) department.  The Infection Preventionist works in collaboration with the Director, Program Manager and the Medical Director of Infection Prevention to reduce the incidence and impact of healthcare associated infections and exposures to ensure the safety and health of all patients and staff.

Responsibilities:

• Acts as a resource for issues related to infection prevention, as well as patient, staff and visitor safety.
• Completes 24/7 on call assignments as scheduled.
• Ensures compliance with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Rules and Regulations, including mandatory reporting requirements.
• Performs surveillance and environment of care rounds on inpatient nursing units, high risk and other patient care areas throughout the campus.
• Provides infection prevention recommendations and ongoing evaluation of construction/renovation projects across the campus to ensure compliance with set standards.
• Performs active surveillance for healthcare-associated infections, communicable diseases and exposure events, presents findings in a timely manner to appropriate key stakeholders.
• Collects and analyzes infection prevention data, prepares and presents reports and facilitates response plans as needed.
• In collaboration with departmental resources, performs investigations on all significant clusters of infections, infectious outbreaks, or singular incidents, presents findings to key stakeholders and advances improvement initiatives.
• Serves on hospital committees and collaborates with others to advance quality improvements related to hospital performance and patient care.
• Other responsibilities as designated in the support of organizational priorities.

AA/EOE.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, Medical Laboratory Sciences, or Public Health
• Appropriate state licensure for RN or certification for Medical Technologist
• 2 years of relevant work experience.
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Preferred:

• Master’s degree
• Certification in Infection Control (CIC) from the Certification Board for Infection Control and Epidemiology (CBIC)
• Infection prevention related experience
• Served in a leadership role within a related professional organization
• Projects, publications or presentations in a related field
• Other healthcare certifications

Additional Information

Northwestern Medicine is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation or any other protected status.