advice for becoming an infectious control nurse

I have worked in infection control for 20 years now, but not in a hospital but in prison. It depends on what area of infection control that you want. I just started a new job with the states and I am now the Infection control/HIV Coordinator and so far I am loving it.
You can visit sites such as CDC and your state health websites for information and some inservice training not to mention free CEU's and also check out medscape for info.

Hi to you all,
I currently work in a two hospital 400 bed acute care facilities as an Infection Control Coordinator. I have been in this role for a little over 3 years and absolutely love what I am doing. Prior to that I worked as an orthopedic nurse for about 20 years. There was an opening and I thought I would give it a try and never looked back since. These jobs do get pretty scarce, so if there is an opportunity to "shadow" an ICP, I would give it a chance. If looking for guidance on policy, procedure and latest guidelines, we use the CDC as well as APIC website. The APIC website has a wonderful listserve with very responsive members to any question or guidance you might need. There are many levels of education and licensure in this field, I happen to be an LPN and needed to run our program for about 5 months while searching for another ICP to head up the department. That meant 2 hospitals, surprise JCAHO inspection, Infection Control Committee meeting to set up and review all the surveillance data, as well as reports on current construction taking place..thankfully all went well! Most of the ICP's are either RN's or Medical Technologist's. That's not to say that there are not opportunities out there if you don't fall in those categories. It is a wonderful field, ever changing, challenging and I learn every day, in fact, it has encouraged me to go back to school to work on my Bachelor's. Never a dull moment on the job! Best of luck.