Director of Infection Control and Employee Health

Responsibilities

Promote health and safety in the workplace.

Maintain compliance with JCAHO, OSHA, CDC, and ADHH.

Design, develop, and deliver new initiatives, policies and procedures related to health education/promotion and accident/disease prevention.

Direct and administer day to day employee health services.

Administer pre-employment physical assessments, and drug screens.

Direct and administer Hepatitis B, and Annual Influenza Vaccination Programs.

Direct and administer Tuberculosis Screening Program.

Deliver health and safety in-services/training.

Coordinate and manage health surveillance.  Screen healthcare workers for communicable disease and monitor for exposure to illness or hazardous chemicals.

Provide first aid, and act as liaison between MFH and work-injury providers.

Coordinate and maintain work-related injury and treatment records.

Coordinate Workers’ Compensation, and OSHA reporting.

Prepare and present employee health and safety information to EOC, IC, and QAPI Committees.  Communicate health and safety concerns to appropriate managers.

Actively participate in Environment of Care Committees and MFH safety related initiatives.  Assist with hazard prevention and abatement interventions.

Maintain documentation as required by accreditation and regulatory agencies.

Perform other duties as assigned by program administrators and approved by the COO of MFH.

Develop and initiate Infection Control Policies and Procedures.

Develop, and coordinate organization wide communicable disease surveillance, prevention, and control activities.

Develop measures for identifying, investigating, and reporting healthcare associated infections.  Follow CDC’s definitions of communicable diseases.

Maintain a log of infectious or communicable disease.

Develop a method for calculating healthcare associated infection rates.

Gather, report infection related data, and coordinate infection control activities for both the IC and EOC Committees.

Design, implement, and coordinate strategies to combat healthcare associated infections.

Assess and identify patients and healthcare workers at risk.

Facilitate ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of prevention and/or control activities and interventions; hand washing, use of PPE, use of transmission-based precautions, sanitary food preparation, housekeeping, disinfection techniques, and hazardous waste disposal.

Actively participate in department and organization quality improvement activities.  Membership in both MBH and MCH QAPI Committees. 

Monitor for IC policy and procedure compliance.

Provide infection control / blood borne pathogen training to new employees, and refresher annually to current employees.  Provide IC education to staff, patients, and visitors.

Coordinate and report to necessary public health authorities.

Qualifications

Registered Nurse with 2-3 years occupational health and infection control experience.

Familiar with JCAHO and related government regulatory agency standards and guidelines.

Management experience and certification in occupational health preferred.

Additional direction and evaluations by other continuum Program Directors may occur as needed.

Must be physically capable to receive verbal and written directions. Must be physically capable of sitting and standing for several hours at a time.

Must have good auditory, visual and olfactory ability. Ability to use hands and fingers to handle or feel objects, tools or controls.

Must be able to maintain effective audio, visual discrimination and perception needed for making observations, communicating with others, reading and writing, and operating office equipment and other treatment equipment.

Must be able to use a telephone to communicate verbally and a computer to communicate through written means, to review information and enter/retrieve data, to see and read characters on a computer screen, chart or other treatment items.

Must be willing and able to work with all patients of Methodist Family Health.

Flu shot is mandatory and required for all positions (subject only to qualified exemptions).

Job descriptions are not intended, nor should be construed, to be all-inclusive lists of all responsibilities, skills, efforts or working conditions associated with a job. While this job description is intended to be an accurate reflection of the job requirements, management reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties from particular jobs and to assign other duties as necessary.

Level One - Full Access:  Ongoing regular access to PHI of all forms while the employee is on duty and performing within the scope of his or her job as defined by the employee's job description, and Policy and Procedure.  "Such access must be for cause, consistent with job responsibilities and related to patients, claims, audits, reviews and other legitimate business purposes." (e.g. Physicians, nurses and other clinicians)