Does your administration know all the duties and responsibilities you perform? As part of defining your role and knowing when to “stay in your lane,” make sure you are getting credit for all that you do. Doing so will bolster your case if you must say “no” to additional duties.
“Put everything you do in your IP plan,” said Rachael Snyders, MPH, BSN, RN, CIC, lead infection prevention consultant at BJC HealthCare in St. Louis. “There are going to be things that you do that are not infection prevention-related. That may not be technically in an IP lane, but if you’re doing it, put it in your plan so you get credit for it.”
Snyders and colleagues described their program recently in Minneapolis at the annual conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). Citing APIC as the source, they listed the following tasks as some of the typical duties many IPs perform as part of their infection control programs:
- collection and analysis of data;
- evaluation of products and procedures;
- development and review of policies and procedures;
- consultation on infection risk assessment, prevention, and control strategies;
- education of healthcare workers on interventions to reduce infection risks;
- education of patients and families;
- implementation of changes managed by various regulatory and accrediting agencies;
- application of epidemiological principles to improve patient outcomes;
- antimicrobial management and stewardship;
- participation in research projects;
- maintaining high-quality services in a cost-efficient manner.
