Hai Outbreak Infection Preventionist

PLEASE DO NOT APPLY ON THIS SITE. YOU MUST APPLY AT https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/georgiadph

Pay Grade: O

Directs a district wide system of Public Health Nursing orientation, training, and education across all programs. Revises district nursing goals, policies, protocol and procedures. Develops and implements new processes and policy as needed. Oversees the effective management of service delivery. Directs subordinate supervisors and staff. Manages large numbers of agency staff or have large scope of responsibility within agency.

Job Responsibilities:

The Acute Disease Epidemiology Section (ADES) of the Georgia Department of Public Health (GDPH) is seeking an HAI Outbreak IP to conduct outbreak response for the Healthcare Associated Infections/Antimicrobial Resistance (HAI/AR) team. The ADES carries out a number of activities to identify, prevent, and mitigate certain communicable and/or notifiable infectious diseases. ADES staff work closely with Georgia healthcare providers and associations, the Georgia Public Health Laboratory, and epidemiologists in our 18 health districts. ADES houses several infectious disease specific surveillance teams. The HAI/AR team works with infections reported from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) and from select antimicrobial resistant organisms.
The HAI Outbreak IP will be responsible for leading HAI/AR outbreak response (including responding to reports of serious infection control breaches). In coordination with the HAI/AR Program, the HAI Outbreak IP will provide oversight and subject matter expertise to coordinate prevention and response activities in various healthcare settings in their region (North, Metro, Central or South Georgia). These positions are responsible for strengthening infection prevention and control capacity in their assigned jurisdictions.
Tasks include:

• Provide timely infection prevention and control consultation.
• Collaborate with regional prevention IP counterpart for responses.
• Document and compile findings from on-site visits and summarize them in a report and/or tracking system, with key findings and recommendations provided to the participating healthcare facility and other key stakeholders, including the HAI/AR Program.
• Conducts specialized training in infection control and prevention activities to mitigate identified gaps, both at individual facilities and collectively.
• Conduct onsite response-based visits to investigate suspected outbreaks or infection control breaches, including: an initial consultation with healthcare facilities to identify sources and mitigate transmission.
• Develops and communicates response targets and goals to regional district staff and other stakeholders.
• Recommend or develop new infection control tools to improve practices.
• Leads district wide program of HAI/AR and infection control by assigned districts.
• Responds to reported infection control breaches, outbreaks, and multi-drug resistant screening results for Georgia healthcare facilities.
• Collaborates with Prevention/NHSN IP in their region to work with high-risk facilities, including recommending screening for multi-drug resistant organisms and responding to results of positive patients/residents.
• Applies reports from the HAI/AR analytics team to develop prioritized responses in their region.
• Conduct follow-up site assessments to ensure that the healthcare facility has implemented mitigation recommendations based on report findings.
• Other duties as assigned
• Perform onsite outbreak response-based infection prevention and control assessments, including a review of healthcare facilities infection prevention plans, direct observation of infection control practices using a standardized tool (e.g., ICAR), and surveillance capacity.
• Serve as a liaison within their region to address infection control needs in a variety of settings.

PLEASE DO NOT APPLY ON THIS SITE. YOU MUST APPLY AT https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/georgiadph