Senior Nurse Consultant, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)

OPEN COMPETITION RESERVED FOR RSSS PERSONNEL, HEALTH QUÉBEC, FOR AN INDETERMINATE PERIOD.

Health Québec - Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal - Universitaire is seeking candidates for the position of Senior Nurse Consultant, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). Our institution comprises over thirty sites, with an operating budget of $1,058,580,354 for main and ancillary activities.

The Senior Nurse Consultant, Infection Prevention and Control, will work in a context of major change and great complexity following the merger and integration of several establishments with multiple locations, missions, and professions.

In addition to this transformation, the incumbent must balance a vast and complex legal framework, as well as performance and transparency obligations. This situation requires candidates who have demonstrated a very high sense of responsibility and accountability, management courage, high-level skills in change management and continuous quality improvement, performance, efficiency, and effectiveness, as well as a strong budgetary rigor.

Summary of Role and Responsibilities

Under the authority of the Clinical-Administrative Coordinator, the Senior Nurse Consultant, Infection Prevention and Control, exercises leadership in an organizational transformation and continuous improvement context, in line with ministerial guidelines and expected outcomes. The incumbent is tasked with assisting the Clinical-Administrative Coordinator to the Director of Nursing in monitoring and controlling infections within the organization. The incumbent is responsible for cross-organizational files, sector-specific files, and regional files, according to the priorities of the Nursing Department. The sectors covered by this position may include, for example, public and/or private CHSLDs, elderly residences, rehabilitation centers, intermediate care resources, or others.

In a perspective of continuous quality improvement of customer services, the incumbent will have, among other challenges, the task of harmonizing the different interfaces of care practices within the CIUSSS, whether through common training, the development of new care procedures or protocols. The incumbent's management practices are integrated into the analysis and deployment of different action plans resulting from the recommendations of ministerial visits, professional orders, the coroner, the Ombudsman, and the Citizen's Protector. The incumbent also acts as a role model in the promotion of excellence in nursing, implements clinical and scientific change projects (evidence-based data) and disseminates new nursing thought currents in the field.

More specifically, the Senior Nurse Consultant, Infection Prevention and Control, assumes the following responsibilities:

• Exercises leadership and advisory functions with care teams, the IPC team, managers, users/residents, and visitors/caregivers;
• Collaborates in the elaboration and revision of the IPC program based on the epidemiological situation, the needs of users/residents, the evolution of knowledge, and the organizational quality improvement objectives;
• Collaborates with the Chief of Service and the Senior Nurse Consultant Acute Care IPC to ensure harmonization of practices according to provincial IPC recommendations and evidence-based data;
• Analyzes with the IPC team the elements observed in the different care sectors that may influence the implementation or revision of the program and action plan;
• Recommends and ensures the implementation of prevention and protection measures in the presence of transmissible infectious diseases present or anticipated and in case of outbreaks (e.g., C. difficile, ERV, SARM);
• Develops, revises, and adapts IPC policies, protocols, and procedures;
• Determines the strategies to be retained for the implementation of policies, protocols, and procedures, plans their execution, and determines the evaluation modalities according to the situation and/or environment;
• Ensures and supports the implementation by staff of IPC protocols and procedures;
• Standardizes and establishes surveillance parameters (definitions, targeted populations, numerator, denominator, etc.);
• Detects and analyzes any real or anticipated threat to the health of users/residents, staff, and visitors (public health surveillance);
• Advises and collaborates with various instances, such as Montreal Public Health;
• Formulates recommendations based on the interpretation of results according to the program's orientations and priorities;
• Acts as an expert on the IPC team, the Clinical Table in IPC, and other committees related to IPC, including the risk management committee;
• Acts as a consultant to professionals and managers of different sectors for the establishment and maintenance of standards, guidelines, procedures, and protocols related to IPC;
• Actively participates in the continuing education of IPC team members and shares any useful reference or new knowledge in the practice domain (scientific article, new publication, notable conference highlights, etc.);
• Collaborates in the training of specialized clinical nurses in IPC in connection with universities (supervision of internships, practical training).