Eight or 12 hour shifts

smilingbig · Jun 16, 2015

I've been working in IC/IP for about 5 years and only for 2 different facilities. Both of my facilities are quite different, and the position of IP/IC nurse has permitted me quite a bit of flexibility as far as schedule goes. For the most part, I haven't worked weekends for the past 5 years. There was only one time that I offered to come in one Saturday to meet with a family to do some education about a CRE infection in a family member. As far as 8 or 12 hours shifts, in both of my positions I (along with others in my department) was given the liberty to work 40 hours however we wanted. For the most part we had some early risers that preferred to come in 6-3, and then we had those that preferred to sleep in so they worked 10-7. Our boss was very easy going and allowed us to flex our hours as long as one of us was in the office between the hours of 8-5. She even permitted working from home a few hours on days when we were not going into the office due to personal appointments.

Right now I work for a 50 bed Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital (IRF). We have an inpatient therapy gym on each floor with 25 patient beds. We also have a therapy pool and outpatient gym on our ground floor. These things offer different infection control/prevention opportunities/risks than a typical inpatient acute facility. I conduct daily (sometimes more) rounding to do hand hygiene/PPE observations, and conduct surveillance for any infection control concerns. I review all cultures on all patients daily and order isolation if it has not already been done. I will also meet with patients/family to do education on any organisms and also discuss the importance of hand hygiene. I conduct daily surveillance on all invasive lines (foleys/CVCs-we don't have vents at this time) to make sure that the nurse is documenting the continued necessity (or that it is being removed or to be discussed with the provider) and that the physician also documents the medical necessity. I am the co-chair for our Infection Control Committee (ICC) so I prepare all the data/charts/presentations for that. I also review any policies that may need amending and write proposed changes for them to present to the ICC meeting. I present at general hospital orientation the IC/IP information. I participate in EOC rounds and several committees representing and driving the IP/IC components. I am also the Employee Health Nurse & Workers' Compensation Champion. So I manage that as well, reviewing all new hires immunizations, drawing blood for titer checks, conducting fit testing, reporting any injuries, reviewing and managing any WC claims. As far as my hours go, I work whenever really. My boss is very flexible, but I prefer to come in early to get the night shift nurses if I need to do any training/immunization with them. I also flex my hours if it is needed to adjust for the census.

It's actually quite a bit, but that is it (in a nutshell) for where I am currently working. See the link below when I posted about where I used to work. I would still be working there had I not needed to relocate for my spouse's employment. I love IP/IC worldâ€¦ and can't imagine ever leaving this kind of nursing. Good luck to you!!

https://allnurses.com/infectious-disease-nursing/becoming-an-infectious-775679.html#post6937961

sourapril · Jun 17, 2015

What kind of education/experience do you need to do your job? I do communicable disease control for my county health department, also employee health and immunization. I don't deal with hospital acquired infection in my position. I was wondering if my skills/experience can be used in a hospital ICN position.

I've been working in IC/IP for about 5 years and only for 2 different facilities. Both of my facilities are quite different, and the position of IP/IC nurse has permitted me quite a bit of flexibility as far as schedule goes. For the most part, I haven't worked weekends for the past 5 years. There was only one time that I offered to come in one Saturday to meet with a family to do some education about a CRE infection in a family member. As far as 8 or 12 hours shifts, in both of my positions I (along with others in my department) was given the liberty to work 40 hours however we wanted. For the most part we had some early risers that preferred to come in 6-3, and then we had those that preferred to sleep in so they worked 10-7. Our boss was very easy going and allowed us to flex our hours as long as one of us was in the office between the hours of 8-5. She even permitted working from home a few hours on days when we were not going into the office due to personal appointments.
Right now I work for a 50 bed Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital (IRF). We have an inpatient therapy gym on each floor with 25 patient beds. We also have a therapy pool and outpatient gym on our ground floor. These things offer different infection control/prevention opportunities/risks than a typical inpatient acute facility. I conduct daily (sometimes more) rounding to do hand hygiene/PPE observations, and conduct surveillance for any infection control concerns. I review all cultures on all patients daily and order isolation if it has not already been done. I will also meet with patients/family to do education on any organisms and also discuss the importance of hand hygiene. I conduct daily surveillance on all invasive lines (foleys/CVCs-we don't have vents at this time) to make sure that the nurse is documenting the continued necessity (or that it is being removed or to be discussed with the provider) and that the physician also documents the medical necessity. I am the co-chair for our Infection Control Committee (ICC) so I prepare all the data/charts/presentations for that. I also review any policies that may need amending and write proposed changes for them to present to the ICC meeting. I present at general hospital orientation the IC/IP information. I participate in EOC rounds and several committees representing and driving the IP/IC components. I am also the Employee Health Nurse & Workers' Compensation Champion. So I manage that as well, reviewing all new hires immunizations, drawing blood for titer checks, conducting fit testing, reporting any injuries, reviewing and managing any WC claims. As far as my hours go, I work whenever really. My boss is very flexible, but I prefer to come in early to get the night shift nurses if I need to do any training/immunization with them. I also flex my hours if it is needed to adjust for the census.
It's actually quite a bit, but that is it (in a nutshell) for where I am currently working. See the link below when I posted about where I used to work. I would still be working there had I not needed to relocate for my spouse's employment. I love IP/IC worldâ€¦ and can't imagine ever leaving this kind of nursing. Good luck to you!!
https://allnurses.com/infectious-disease-nursing/becoming-an-infectious-775679.html#post6937961

LaJollalove · Jun 19, 2015

Thanks so much for sharing your experience!

iprn · Jun 21, 2015

At my previous acute care facility, I was hourly - 8 hours/day, 40 hours, anything over was considered overtime. At my current acute care facility, I'm salaried - the expectation is a 40 hour week, 8 hour/day but I'm putting in probably 45-50 hour week depending on my workload. My start-end time is pretty flexible as long as there is coverage in the office during weekday office hours. I pretty much keep a 8-5 schedule M-F. I've also interviewed at a facility that does 4-10 (4 shifts per week/ 10 hours a day) but I think that's more rare. The only times where I've ever worked weekends/holidays was because I wanted to flex a day off in the week or something big was happening in the hospital (outbreak, Ebola, etc...).

Here's a good review of what I do: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/hai/Documents/5Role_of_IP_RevisedFinal5.11.15.pdf

Tough to describe a typical day because it is always changing depending on what situations arise. We're huge problem solvers and a consultative/educational resource at the facility on all things infection control-related.

I think the skill set of working as a county communicable disease nurse is very transferable to the work of a hospital IP. You don't need to be a RN to do the job, but the license helps because you are working with so many health care professionals. At the hospital, we are considered the "public health" of the hospital since we do surveillance for the entire facility in order to track trends/identify infections and collaborate with the responsible department to formulate action plans to tackle issues that arise. IMO though, the hospital environment is pretty stressful since we are held accountable for a lot of things but not really enough hands to do it all.

smilingbig · Jun 23, 2015

What kind of education/experience do you need to do your job? I do communicable disease control for my county health department, also employee health and immunization. I don't deal with hospital acquired infection in my position. I was wondering if my skills/experience can be used in a hospital ICN position.

My acute nursing experience that I had prior to leaving the â€˜bed-side' included cardiovascular/telemetry/step-down. But that was only about 1 1/2 -2 years. I then started working for the health district running their tuberculosis program. Having knowledge about TB really helped me land my first official Infection Preventionist job because I was responsible for the Medical ICU/ CVICU and several medicine units. So don't discount the knowledge that you bring to the table. Having an understanding of how any health departments works (the beast that it can be;)), how to investigate outbreaks/exposures in the community, having a thorough understanding of the community demographics will really be beneficial for you (it was for me). Your understanding of employee health/immunization standards will actually come in handier than you may thinkâ€¦ everything that you do seems to qualify you to sit for the CBIC exam. Have you looked into that?

Eligibility Requirements | CBIC: Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.

If you are able to become certified, you will definitely be more marketable, regardless of your experience in the hospital environment. You have the educational foundation to apply infection control/prevention standards anywhere you would work. While I didn't have all the hospital IC/IP experience when I started there, the others that I worked with were eager to learn from me and I from them. The health department was really a great start for me.