Patient Safety Specialist in Infection Prevention and Control (Infection Prevention Specialist) is a position within the Patient Safety Department and Transformation Division of Billings Clinic. The Infection Preventionist serves as a subject matter expert regarding the surveillance, prevention, and control of healthcare-associated infections. The Patient Safety Specialist in Infection Prevention and Control provides consultative services focused on providing the highest quality and safest care to patients while decreasing risk to the organization. The position reports to theDirector of Patient Safety and Infection Control and assumes responsibility for one or more of the following functions:%%Performs healthcare-associated infection surveillance, prevention, and control activities all aimed at reducing the incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) to patients, employees, students, volunteers, and visitors.%%Assists the Director in implementing the essential components of an infection control program. Essential components include surveillance and measurement, epidemic controls and interventions, policy, procedures, standards including meeting required regulatory and accreditation standards for a comprehensive infection control program, patient health promotion, employee health, environmental controls, public health, and leadership and accountability.%%Scope of work includes acute care hospital, ambulatory clinics, branch clinic locations, ambulatory surgery center, and fully owned and affiliated regional facilities.
Essential Job Functions
• GENERAL
• Assists the Director in the development of organization-wide infection prevention and control policies and procedures.
• Participates in both short and long-term planning for the department.
• Identifies need and sets goals for own growth and development in collaboration with the Director of Infection Control & Patient Safety; meets all mandatory organizational and department requirements.
• Maintains competency in all organizational, departmental, and outside agency environmental, employee or patient safety standards relevant to job performance.
• Interprets, supports, and models behaviors consistent with the mission and philosophy of Billings Clinic.
• INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL PROGRAM / PRACTICE
• Supports patient safety activities and practices through utilizing the knowledge of the infection prevention and control science, process improvement principles, high reliability organizing, behavioral sciences, and quality standards for improving patient care and services.
• Effectively builds and maintains relationships with colleagues from key departments, including environmental services, safety, emergency preparedness, facility services, construction management, pharmacy, nursing, nursing leadership, surgery leadership, sterile processing, quality, medical staff, risk management, linen services, materials management, volunteer services, human resources, organizational development, professional development, operational leaders, executive management, and other stakeholders through positive interaction, problem identification, and resolution.
• Reviews, analyzes, and applies existing regulations, standards, guidelines of applicable professional organizations and governmental agencies. Integrates regulatory requirements and current infection prevention and control practice into organizational standards and practices.
• Reviews, analyzes, and applies pertinent information from current scientific literature and publications. Integrates relevant public health issues into practice.
• Assists in the development of methodologies to fulfill the organization’s strategic initiatives for infection control program management and improvement.
• Educates and assists medical, nursing, and other clinical staff, management, and senior executive leadership, in identifying and capitalizing upon opportunities for improvement and facilitates cross-functional team development, when appropriate.
• Standardizes processes to optimize learning from infection control risk assessments, safety assistance team rounds, infection prevention rounds, and Infection Control Commissioning of newly constructed or renovated areas.
• Assists in the development of infection prevention and control education for new employee orientation, annual training, and in-service programs to departments. Provides education in infection prevention and control principles and practices related to emerging infectious diseases.
• Participates in preparation of the annual Infection Program Risk Assessment and Plan. Selects indicators and designs surveillance based on projected use of data.
• Partners with Pharmacy and assists in meeting antimicrobial stewardship program requirements. Assists in publishing the annual system-wide antibiogram. Works with Infectious Disease Pharmacist in identifying needs for antimicrobial stewardship program and assists with annual goal setting to meet CMS Core Measures.
• SURVEILLANCE, MANAGEMENT OF CRITICAL DATA, INFORMATION, AND REPORTING
• Conducts surveillance activities and outbreak/exposure investigations by using epidemiologic principles.
• Reviews all clinical microbiologic cultures and related diagnostic tests to determine if cases meet surveillance definitions for healthcare-associated infections. Performs analysis of findings and disseminates key findings to providers to improve performance.
• Identifies infectious disease processes. Interprets the relevance of diagnostic and laboratory reports and correlates clinical signs and symptoms with various infectious disease processes. Differentiates between colonization, infection, and contamination. Differentiates between prophylactic, empiric, and therapeutic uses of antimicrobials.
• Investigates incidents of hospital and community-associated infections, and reports to appropriate facility staff, leaders, and public health officials.
• Initiates epidemiologic investigations when unusual organisms or clusters of infections are observed in the incidence of healthcare-associated infections. Summarizes findings, reports findings to healthcare personnel, leadership for corrective action. Conducts outbreak investigations when indicated and assists in designing and promoting interventions targeted at the reduction of increases observed in healthcare-associated infections.
• Maintains accurate record of healthcare-associated infections (HAI), communicable disease reportable conditions within patient safety software systems (e.g., National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).
• Assures accuracy of healthcare-associated infection event data entry into program software and meets deadlines for public reporting.
• Prepares regular reports appropriate to the audience.
• Provides routine and custom reports to nursing, medical staff, oversight committees, operational leaders, executive leaders, and governing board.
• Assists Director in preparing an annual Infection Prevention Program report.
• POLICIES, PROCEDURE, AND STANDARDS
• Develops and revises system-wide infection control policies and procedures, and guidelines. Reviews and assists with evaluation of various departmental policies, procedures, and guidelines as they relate to infection prevention and control.
• Demonstrates understanding of regulatory and advisory guidelines through application.
• Reviews, analyzes, and implements regulations, standards, or guidelines of applicable governmental agencies, accreditation bodies, and professional organizations.
• Conducts activities to maintain continuous preparedness for periodic and annual accreditation surveys.
• Provides feedback to regulatory, advisory, and accrediting agencies regarding opportunities for improvement in standards and regulations.
• PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING THE TRANSMISSION OF INFECTIOUS AGENTS
• Assesses infection risks of design, construction, and renovation that impact patient care settings. Participates in the construction and renovation infection control risk assessment process. Conducts construction project safety rounds and participates in construction planning and safety meetings.
• Provides recommendations regarding new construction design, renovation, and assures compliance with national and professional standards to reduce the risk of infection.
• Performs surveillance and environment of care rounds. Discusses and monitors infection prevention practices with staff members and intervenes when needed to assure appropriate infection prevention practices are meeting standards.
• Evaluates and approves cleaning and disinfectant products for the organization.
• Collaborates on the evaluation and monitoring of environmental cleaning and disinfection practices and technologies.
• Identifies and evaluates critical steps of cleaning, high-level disinfection, and sterilization practices. Assures processes are maintained through practice audits and safety assistance team rounds.
• PUBLIC HEALTH
• Serves as the public health liaison and reports communicable disease conditions to the local and state health departments as required by law.
• Maintains log of all reportable conditions within department and assures timely reporting of clusters or trends identified through routine surveillance methods.
• Serves on Yellowstone County’s Health and Medical Advisory Group and collaborates in planning community / facility responses to biologic threats and disasters.
• Collaborates with public health officials in identifying trends in communicable diseases, planning, and mitigation to address emerging communicable diseases and epidemics.
• Collaborates with community healthcare organizations and other regional infection preventionists and leaders.
• EMPLOYEE HEALTH
• Collaborates with Employee Health and assist with the development of policies and procedures related to occupational risk to infectious disease.
• Work with Employee Health personnel in assessing risk of occupational exposure to infectious diseases.
• Collaborates with Employee Health regarding counseling, follow-up and work restriction recommendations related to communicable disease and exposures.
• Serve as subject matter experts related to infectious disease processes and assist in maintaining current employee health communicable disease handbook.
• RISK MANAGEMENT
• Cooperates and collaborates regularly with Risk Management for both risk prevention measures and clinical event investigation.
• Provides support to Risk Management for resolution of serious customer complaints and issues related to the quality of patient care and services and imminent safety/risk situations including mandatory reporting to FDA for serious patient/employee injury or death resulting from a medical device.
• Exhibits effort and follow through in resolving customer problems and needs in a timely manner or keeps customers informed of status and issues.
• HIGH RELIABILITY ORGANIZING
• Demonstrates understanding of high reliability organizing (HRO) principles through use of Universal Skills and behaviors that promote patient and employee safety.
• Utilizes HRO Universal Skills in daily work.

Minimum Qualifications

Education
• Bachelor's Degree in Nursing, public health, epidemiology, clinical laboratory science, medical technology, or other health related field.

Experience
• Five (5) years of clinical experience, three years in a hospital setting preferred. Experience in communicable disease surveillance, formal leadership, or leading cross-functional teams, is preferred.

Certifications and Licenses
• Board Certified in Infection Control and Epidemiology (CIC©) Preferred or must obtain within 3 years of hire.

Or an equivalent combination of education and experience relating to the above tasks, knowledge, skills and abilities will be considered. Employees that require a licensed or certification must be properly licensed/certified and the licensure/certification must be in good standing.