Infection Prevention RN inteveiw!!!!

[EarlineCox]

HI everyone! I just joined, but have read on here many times about different topics. My first ever post though! It looks like I will be having an interview in the next week or so for a Infection Prevention RN position at a hospital system I currently work at. I have been in the float pool for the last 9 years. I finished my BSN in 2013, have been an ADN RN since 2001. I recently hurt my shoulder, and am waiting for a roator cuff surgery. Because of the injury I have been looking at other opportunities in our facility and put out my application recently and just heard back from the hiring manager today! So anyone out there working in this position? What's it like? Do you enjoy it? It's definately a different way to be a nurse than direct patient care.... I am kind of excited, but nervous. I haven't inteviewed in 9 years! So wish me luck and any words of advice would be much appreciated!!!!!

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Hi, i moved your thread to our Infectious Disease Nursing forum for best chance of member advice.

It's not as active as other forums, so may take 1-2 days for member response.

The FAQ section at top of page has some good info.

This article: Medscape Internal Medicine ID Update 2014: New Threats, Old Antibiotics sheds some light on infections and antibiotic resistence that you might mention you read to update info in Infection control issues.

Good Luck!

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Hello, and Welcome to Allnurses! You have joined a site which offers something for everyone in the nursing field. Enjoy!

I'm happy that you have the opportunity to treat your body a little more gently and hopefully become the Infection Prevention Nurse for your hospital. I don't have a lot of advice to give you as far as the interview process goes; just dress conservatively like you would for any job interview, have your resume up to date.....in other words, prepare as you would if you were interviewing for a position outside your organization. I hope some other nurses will come along to welcome you and give you some better advice; in the meantime, best wishes for your interview, and please keep us posted. :)

[iprn]

Hi! I currently work as an Infection Preventionist (IP) at an acute care hospital and can help answer some of your questions. The world of Infection Prevention is diverse and ever-changing. 3 things that really make an IP successful is being a great communicator (you work with a lot of different people in different fields), a great educator (every moment is a teaching opportunity when you are consulting with staff on infection prevention issues) and being a great problem solver (no 2 day is the same and people will come to you with different problems, some not even related to Infection Prevention). I would really play up those attributes in your interview - providing examples from your current nursing experience.

Think about all the opportunities you've had on the floor as a nurse and how it relates to infection prevention. Are you a part of any performance improvement teams on issues related to IP? Such as CLABSI, CAUTI, C.diff, Hand hygiene, etc...? That would really help your interview because it shows that you've expressed interest in helping improve those processes for your facility.

Look up APIC and whether there is a local chapter in your area. APIC is our professional organization and provides great education & networking opportunities. It's impossible to know everything in infection prevention, so it is important to know your resources and if you don't have an answer, knowing where to find it. Mentioning that you plan on joining APIC (which I hope you do!) may help during your interview.

Also, it helps to be great with computers (there's a lot of data/reporting requirements we are responsible for) and to have great attention to detail. We are responsible for surveillance house-wide and we abide by case definitions set by NHSN/CDC to identify hospital associated infections.

I work at a pretty resource challenged hospital so some days, it can get really frustrating. Everyone is constantly swamped so you really have to advocate on behalf of infection prevention to get things done. Overall though, I really love my job because you get the opportunity to impact an entire population. I really enjoy looking at processes and working with others to make things more efficient and safer for our patients.

Best of luck on your interview and hopefully this was helpful. Feel free to ask more questions!