PROGRAM MANAGER, DICON

Job Summary

Serve as an Infection Prevention Consultant for community hospitals in the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network (DICON) in the ongoing development of their infection prevention programs. As of November 1, there are 60 community hospitals in three states (NC, SC, and VA) in the DICON network, and each DICON Infection Preventionist will have 8-10 community hospitals assigned to them.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as an Infection Prevention Consultant for the DICON Team making on-site or virtual remote visits as needed and working with local hospital infection preventionist (IP) on a regular basis. Attend Infection Prevention/Control Committee, Departmental or Administrative meetings at DICON community hospitals as needed. The expectation for this position is to visit DICON member hospitals assigned to this position at least 1x/month either in-person or virtual remote visit and attend Infection Control Committee meetings as required. DICON consultants will typically have between eight to ten community hospitals assigned to each of them.
• Evaluate and assess existing infection prevention programs at community hospitals assigned to this position by preparing an infection prevention risk assessment using regulatory and/or accrediting standards as a guide, and provide recommendations for development and strengthening of infection control policies.
• Provide on-site or virtual remote consultation on a monthly basis for each DICON community assigned to this position. Tasks include:

• Review the surveillance activities (definitions, data collection and presentation) performed by the hospital IP and validate data
• Answer questions by the hospital IP in connection with DICON database management (data entry, report functions)
• Review DICON benchmarking reports with hospital IP and other staff such as CMO, CNO and Director of Infection Control. As requested, present data to infection control committee and answer questions regarding graph interpretations
• Assist hospital IP with the use of G-charting and T-charting to analyze data
• Attend Infection Control Committee meetings when requested to answer questions or provide surveillance data
• Serve as hospital IP on a temporary basis when the local IP is on leave or additional IP support is needed at hospital

• Assist hospital IP, CMO, and CNO with preparation for accreditation and/or other regulatory agency surveys. . Assistance includes review of Infection Control plan, risk assessment, policies/procedures, and conducting tracer interviews to insure compliance. Participate in hospital environmental/construction rounds by rounding with the team and reviewing the data gathered or presented.
• Assist hospital IP and other staff with cluster and outbreak investigations. Be available 24/7 for questions during the investigation.
• Assist with mandatory reporting for state and CMS requirements to CDC NHSN. Help prepare reports of data from the DICON database to send to NHSN.
• Review and assist with web-based educational training available on the DICON web site such as CVC insertion, CVC care and maintenance, hand hygiene, safe injection practices, and prevention of surgical site infections.
• Provide advice and guidance in implementing DICON prevention initiatives such as CAUTI, C. difficile, colorectal surgery and spinal procedures
• Summarize and/or present an overview of new guidelines and/or practice standards (CDC, IHI, TJC, CMS, etc.)
• Review the data included in the DICON Infection Preventionist Manual with local hospital infection preventionist (IP). Assist in updating manual when needed.
• Review infection-control related incident reports and advise as to appropriate treatment, corrective action, and /or possible future preventative measures (as-needed). Involve DICON physicians as appropriate
• Provide evaluations and recommendations for improving the cost-effectiveness of the infection prevention programs.
• Assist with the development and implementation of a continuing education program for health care professionals involved in the delivery of infection prevention services.
• Assist in the development of a surveillance program that is epidemiologically sound.
• Provide input and support for the Annual DICON Educational Symposium to include coordinating and presenting topics of interest to hospital IP.
• Coordinate the installation and interfacing of the DICON databases (initially for new DICON hospitals). Train applicable personnel to utilize databases (ongoing for existing DICON hospitals). Assist with the maintenance and updating of the databases (ongoing).
• Coordinate and implement special studies and research projects when requested by DICON physicians.
• Assist with orientation of new Infection Preventionist at local hospital when requested.