REQ #224

Roles & Responsibilities

The Infection Prevention Supervisor supports the Office of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) with a focus on prevention and response for COVID-19 and select multi-drug resistant organisms for the Arizona Department of Health Services. This position provides expertise regarding infection prevention practices, outbreak management, preparation, and response efforts for highly pathogenic infections and surveillance of HAIs in healthcare settings.

The IP assists in formulating recommendations in association with healthcare facility administrators, IPs, epidemiologists, state associations, local health jurisdictions, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Supervises a team of IPs on their day to day work and tracks activities to ensure alignment with grant objectives and milestones
• Creates/updates standard operating procedures and protocols for activities related to infection prevention and control
• Participates in strategic planning; develops and implements ideas to promote infection prevention and control efforts throughout the state
• Conduct on-site (travel involved) and teleconference infection prevention and control program assessments in healthcare and congregate care settings; including long-term care facilities, assisted living, memory care and other facilities as directed
• Complete summary reports of facility assessments with facility recommendations and disseminate within 2 weeks of assessment. A mitigation tool should be provided with the findings report when necessary.
• Follow-up with facilities after assessments to ensure recommendations are implemented
• Provide education to licensing surveyors on infection prevention and control and how to best identify needs at facilities
• Conduct infection prevention trainings on a variety of infection prevention topics including personal protective equipment, hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, infection control precautions and surveillance methods in a variety of educational formats (e.g. oral presentations, recorded videos, webinars, quick guides, templates).
• Provide consultation, in conjunction with the local/tribal health department, for outbreak investigations, especially those associated with healthcare facilities.
• Interview healthcare facilities about risk factors associated with outbreak or exposure situations to ensure community practices are safe and meet guidelines.
• Provide infection prevention subject matter expertise in drafting, reviewing and editing, technical reports. Infection control guidelines and quality educational materials on a diverse spectrum of infection prevention topics, from risk assessment to transmission-based precautions.
• Provide consultation to local health jurisdictions and provide them with resources and trainings to build capacity for quality site assessments and how to build infection prevention and control expertise
• Educate and train internal staff about appropriate precautions to prevent and control COVID-19 and other diseases
• Evaluate research and evidence-based practices and incorporate appropriate findings into routine practice
• Serve as the subject matter expert for general infection prevention and control practices
• Willingness to travel within Arizona, as needed
• Other duties as assigned

Skills Required

• Ability to plan, implement and evaluate infection control practices, policies and procedures.
• Ability to perform on-site assessments in healthcare and congregate facilities.
• Strong technical skills including word processing, spreadsheet development and management, and database management, with an emphasis on proficiency in Google Suite.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with experience reviewing and editing documents and interviewing.
• Ability to organize and prioritize tasks efficiently.
• Ability to work independently and use strong judgment based on existing knowledge.

Experience Required

At least 5 years’ experience as an IP in acute care infection prevention with at least 2 years in a supervisory role.

Experience Preferred

• Broad knowledge of Infection Prevention in congregate care settings with previous experience in hospital-based IPC programs to reduce HAIs in targeted settings (dialysis, long-term care, outpatient, long-term acute care hospitals and acute care) preferred.
• Experience with National Healthcare Safety Network preferred (i.e., reporting, enrollment, data analysis).

Education Required

1. Master’s degree in nursing, public health, epidemiology, clinical laboratory science, medical technology or related field.
2. Certified in Infection Control (CIC®) by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (CBIC) required.