Certification in Infection Control (CIC) Examination

Scarlette Wings · May 24, 2013

Unless I have mis-read the criteria for taking the exam, I believe that 6 months of experience in the position is a requirement.

AWanderingMinstral · May 25, 2013

Unless I have mis-read the criteria for taking the exam I believe that 6 months of experience in the position is a requirement.[/quote']
Well, unless there are CIC "police," I'm not sure how they can enforce that. This is really a case of a catch-22: how do you get experience if no one is willing to take a chance? I'm going to stick to my plan and, as Tim Gunn would say, MAKE IT WORK!

smilingbig · May 26, 2013

I would suggest looking into the eligibility requirements for the certification exam: 2013 Eligibility Requirements | CBIC, Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.

There is no set amount of time that defines the experience needed to take their test, but they stress that their test is geared towards the IP that has had at least 2 years of experience. As for the "some people [who] say YOU CAN'T TAKE THE EXAM" the only people saying you can't are the governing board for certification in infection control. That's kind of important. When you go to register for the exam there is a form that is to be filled out by your employer/supervisor called an "Attestation Statement." This is where your employer or supervisor agrees that as being part of the infection prevention/control program, infection control and prevention are part of your primary duties/responsibilities for which you are held accountable. They agree that you actively participate in investigation/surveillance of outbreaks/infections and that you collect, analyze, & interpret infection control outcome data (in addition to some other infection control program activities).

If you are in an interview for a position in infection control/prevention and say that you don't have the hands-on, real life experience but you are certified, anyone familiar with the CBIC's requirements would either ask you about the discrepancy or not even offer you an interview in the first place.

I think your decision to actively participate in you facility's ICC is great. You may also want to look into working for a health department in epidemiology to get some experience. I know many ICPs that got their start that way. Another thing to consider is researching growing hospitals. If hospitals plan to add a new wing/building that will increase the number of beds, they will (more than likely) be adding ICPs to their team. We will be building a new day surgery center in a few years and it will have a capacity of about 300 beds (I think) and we will add at least 1 and as many as 3 new IPs to our team (depending on the average census). Most facilities will utilize 100:1 ratio of beds to ICP.

Good luck!

AWanderingMinstral · May 27, 2013

I would suggest looking into the eligibility requirements for the certification exam: 2013 Eligibility Requirements | CBIC, Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
There is no set amount of time that defines the experience needed to take their test, but they stress that their test is geared towards the IP that has had at least 2 years of experience. As for the "some people [who] say YOU CAN'T TAKE THE EXAM" the only people saying you can't are the governing board for certification in infection control. That's kind of important. When you go to register for the exam there is a form that is to be filled out by your employer/supervisor called an "Attestation Statement." This is where your employer or supervisor agrees that as being part of the infection prevention/control program, infection control and prevention are part of your primary duties/responsibilities for which you are held accountable. They agree that you actively participate in investigation/surveillance of outbreaks/infections and that you collect, analyze, & interpret infection control outcome data (in addition to some other infection control program activities).
If you are in an interview for a position in infection control/prevention and say that you don't have the hands-on, real life experience but you are certified, anyone familiar with the CBIC's requirements would either ask you about the discrepancy or not even offer you an interview in the first place.
I think your decision to actively participate in you facility's ICC is great. You may also want to look into working for a health department in epidemiology to get some experience. I know many ICPs that got their start that way. Another thing to consider is researching growing hospitals. If hospitals plan to add a new wing/building that will increase the number of beds, they will (more than likely) be adding ICPs to their team. We will be building a new day surgery center in a few years and it will have a capacity of about 300 beds (I think) and we will add at least 1 and as many as 3 new IPs to our team (depending on the average census). Most facilities will utilize 100:1 ratio of beds to ICP.
Good luck!

Thank you, smilingbig! I just feel trapped in bedside nursing. This is really a double-edged sword. My education - RN, BSN, MPH - HAS landed me interviews with large academic medical centers, but I never get offered a position. I'm assuming that they look at my resume and realize that I neither have prior formal experience as an ICP nor appropriate certification. It's VERY frustrating. I'd work in a health department, but I have way too much student loan debt (and no, no one is willing to help me defray those). Further suggestions?!

smilingbig · May 28, 2013

I understand why you can feel trapped. I didn't go into nursing to work in infection control/epidemiology, but now, I can't imagine working anywhere else! I imagine it would be frustrating to want something and feel that you have done all you can to prepare for it and yet, still, it seems just out of reach. My first exposure to this kind of nursing, was running our health department's Tuberculosis Program. I worked closely with the large academic medical facility in my county because we had many cases that would come through our port to be hospitalized there and the hospital also included a separate hospital that housed acute inmates that were part of the criminal justice program. Neeless-to-say we became very familiar with each other. Working in TB was very rewarding, but as you can imagine at any county position, the financial compensation required many sacrifices to be made. But because of the other benefits for my growing family, it was certainly worth it for us. Perhaps you could work weekends to supplement a HD income so that you could gain experience but still meet your financial obligations? Or, have you called the academic facility to see if they would consider adding an unpaid internship position that would allow you to work side by side getting some hands-on experience but still being able to work your regular job to make ends meet?

In my previous career in the corporate world, I would often have job candidates that weren't offered a position with us call to find out what it was that they could have done/completed to make them more competitive or actually have landed them the job. It wouldn't hurt to call and ask. I would recommend to keep applying & interviewing for any and all IP positions you can find. Make follow up calls for those interviews that were not successful and that may give you some feed back.

Let me preface this suggestion by stating that I'm just trying to be constructive with my suggestions for you and I mean no offense. Within the last year we hired a new IP. As part of a large academic medical facility, our team consists of about 12-15 different people. We now have 6 IPs and several lab personnel and our director & hospital epidemiologist. For our interview process we had all the IPs (5 at the time) & whomever from the lab that could make the interview present to do our part of the interview. Our director and MD conducted their part separately. We interviewed 6 different people 4 of which had masters degrees in several different areas and others with their BSN (some with certifications in other areas). One thing that we noticed during our interviews was that 3 of the nurses that completed their graduate level education came across as arrogant and all but stated they knew more than we did. Whether that was their intent or not, it was clear to all of us. From your statement above ("the reality is that I have more textbook experience than many actual ICPs"), I would say that is consistent with what we had experienced in the interviews that we conducted. I am certainly not attempting to minimize your educational accomplishments in any way. But the fact of the matter is this... Infection Control/Prevention or Hospital Epidemiology Departments are teams that do a lot of working together. When there is an outbreak or an organism in house that requires us all to be on high alert, we all chip in to help each other. This is where our hands-on, real-life experiences become more important that textbook knowledge. Yes, the basics of controlling an infection/outbreak can be taught from a book. But the dynamic environment of any hospital, especially ours with our atypical clientele, requires someone willing and able to take instruction from someone more experienced if necessary and act quickly. With over 60 years of infection control/prevention experience amongst the 5 IPs (and at that point I had only 1 year of experience) you can imagine it was odd to have someone with no actual infection control/prevention experience present themselves as ready to work, yet not ready to learn. Like I stated above... I'm not assuming that is how your interviews went, just something to consider. We ended up offering the job to someone who was eager to learn and interested in becoming part of our team.

Lastly, when I worked at the HD we had a CDC intern (paid) that was working in our county but reporting to a regional CDC office. She was getting experience with them as part of a career change. I don't know all the details because she was assigned to a department that wasn't part of TB (my area). But that may be something to look into. I work with our CDC quarantine center from time to time & I know they have offices everywhere. (I had seen that you would be willing to relocate.) Also, there are job offers that come through the different professional infection control/prevention organizations that I belong to. So you may want to research the different professional organizations for epidemiology or IC/P in your state or a state you may want to move to.

Keep your chin up and keep at it... you'll get there eventually!! All the best!

dogwalker · May 31, 2013

For wandering minstrel, try checking out indeed dot com it is the best job search engine out there and you can find several potential positions for infection control nurse. Many facilities will hire without the CIC-those are the spots you must hunt for in your search. I took the CIC today after working in this field for three years and three months. I have been an RN for over 30 years. The test was not easy, but I did pass it and am quite relieved. I bought the APIC study guide and read it from cover to cover about 4 times, doing all the practice problems. Smilingbig I really like what you have to offer on this board. I need to check in more often.

lovesroses · Jul 2, 2013

I talked with the IC dept at the large teaching hospital I work at and was told "absolute min. of BSN plus 2+ years in ICU, OR, or ED experience" before they would think of hiring me there. Good luck in your career goal!

advanced practice · Jul 2, 2013

I appreciate the comments here. I have been researching avidly for a while. I am caught in the catch-22 as well here in Las Vegas. I cannot get a job in ICP until I can take the CIC but I cannot take the CIC without a job in ICP. I know that they now do not state time restrictions but if they limit the fact that ICP must be in active job to be eligible negates that removal of the time restriction.

I am wondering if this is a restraint of trade issue in some way. How to get the experience to get the job to get to sit for certification without the experience to learn enough to take the exam to get the job. All jobs here are always posted as "must have CIC"

Interesting that they have not created an entry level to allow for the novice ICP and then the advanced ICP certification. Any ideas?