Day in the life of
Infection Control Practitioner – Erica Susky
I am an Infection Control Practitioner for the Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) department. I have been working in the role of Infection Control Practitioner in a rehab and acute care hospital in Toronto, Canada, for 10 years.
Initially, I round on my assigned units to see who is on additional precautions to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. I remove those patients where it is safe to remove additional precautions. During morning rounds, I attend unit safety huddles to discuss any changes to infection control practices, which occurred frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff also raise questions and safety concerns regarding IPAC issues.
I collect data regarding hospital acquired infections and report it to the units in order to assist in quality improvement to reduce hospital acquired infections (MRSA, MDRO, COVID-19, C. difficile, surgical site infections, central line associated blood stream infections). When outbreaks occur, I help to manage them along with Public Health. I assist in training new staff members in IPAC practices (additional precautions for infectious diseases and screening, and appropriate use of PPE).
There are many other roles I may play as IPAC plays a role in every aspect of the hospital. With the pandemic, there is a greater demand to train and hire new IPAC professionals; for this reason, I am also teaching about microbiology and infections for an online course that will assist in training new IPAC professionals all across Canada.
Pros
Good pay and security. The job is very interesting and satisfying; I will never get bored. The role merges science and clinical knowledge perfectly and draws from the experience of many backgrounds (nursing, scientists, epidemiologists, public health professionals).
Cons
It is a smaller department with regular on call shifts. With a small department it is hard to find replacements for a vacation or if you are ill (often the work piles up and is waiting for you on your return and those covering for you during your time off work extra). The level of interest and responsibility (exhibited especially during the COVID-19 pandemic), means you can find things rather stressful and may hard it hard to check out and unplug when not at work.
