Assistant Director of Nursing (ADON)/Infection Preventionist

Job Summary: The ADON at Greenwood Connections is responsible for ensuring the safety and well-being of our residents by developing and implementing effective infection prevention and control protocols. You will also be responsible for monitoring and assessing the quality of care provided to residents, educating current and future staff including certifications for roles in providing quality of care to residents, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing quality assurance initiatives. You may also be responsible for providing care to residents as a licensed nurse. You may also be responsible for staff scheduling and staff concerns as needed.

Required Qualifications:

• Active RN license in the state of Minnesota, with two years minimum experience in LTC as either an LPN or RN.
• Certification in Infection Control.
• Extensive knowledge of infection prevention and control practices, regulations, and guidelines in accordance with CDC, CMS, and MDH.
• Extensive knowledge of quality assurance, performance improvement methodologies, regulatory requirements, data analysis, critical thinking skills, and the ability to interpret and present complex information in a clear and concise manner.
• Extensive knowledge of current standards of practice and the rules, regulations, and laws related to the long-term care industry. Extensive knowledge in electronic health record systems. Ability to teach this knowledge to others.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills to collaborate with interdisciplinary teams, residents, families, and external agencies.
• Must be able to lift, push, pull, and move residents when providing care. Must be able to stand for long periods of time and be able to perform the physical tasks such as bending, stooping, and reaching. Must be able to walk through the community to connect with staff, residents, and families as well as be able to work from a desk setting for long periods of time.

Essential Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, monitor, and maintain ongoing the infection prevention and control program including policies, procedures, and protocols in accordance with current evidenced-based guidelines to prevent, recognize, and control the onset and spread of infections to provide a safe, sanitary, and comfortable environment.
• Develop, implement, monitor, and maintain the facility’s antibiotic stewardship program. This includes community collaboration with rounding provider care and local clinics and hospital collaboration.
• Conduct regular infection risk assessments, surveillance activities and compliance audits, outbreak investigations, document findings and recommend appropriate interventions.
• Provide leadership and guidance to the nursing staff, ensuring a positive work environment conducive to professional growth and development along with resident safety.
• Educate staff on infection prevention and control measures, certified nursing assistant courses, trained medication assistance courses, annual staff training requirements, all ongoing regulatory education requirements, orientation programs, and all other identified facility educational needs through assessments and observations.
• Participates in the completion of the facility assessment at least annually for identifying and prioritizing the knowledge and skills required among staff to meet resident’s needs.
• Works closely with facility administrator, director of nursing, and other leaders in developing additional training that addresses all regulatory requirements or any identified needs in education through assessments. Tracks attendance and completion of training to ensure that all required training is being received by all personnel in a timely manner.
• Directly observes, analyzes, and reports on resident care activities through audits and resident interviews, looking for noncompliance, education needs, and process updates, bringing all information to QAPI meetings for discussion and analysis.
• Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to develop and implement quality improvement plans, focusing on resident safety, satisfaction, and outcomes.
• Maintains all training records, reports, instructional materials, and certifications related to each educational program.
• Provides opportunities for staff to obtain continuing education credits for maintaining certifications/licensures. Maintains all documentation related to continuing education provided.
• Oversee the Nursing Assistant programs and Trained Medication Programs as necessary.
• Coordinate and participate in regulatory compliance surveys and audits, preparing necessary documentation and ensuring readiness.
• Be knowledgeable in current policies and procedures to educate other staff and to analysis for updates as needed. Reports noncompliance with policies, procedures, regulations, or breaches in confidentiality to appropriate personnel. Reports any retaliation or discrimination to HR or compliance officer.
• Be able to apply the community’s accident, disaster, fire safety, elopement, and emergency procedures for protection of the residents. Develops and maintains education and drills for mock codes.
• Reports any allegations of abuse, neglect, misappropriation of property, exploitation, or mistreatment of residents to supervisor and/or administrator. Protects residents from abuse and cooperates with all investigations.

Additional Assigned Tasks

• Follows appropriate safety and hygiene measures at all times to protect residents and themselves. Follows dress code including wearing scrub pants and scrub tops/facility shirts/plain shirts except for when attending in-service training or providing direct class training, where casual dress is acceptable. Low-heeled, slip resistant, closed toe and heel, and must be clean and good repair.
• Maintains confidentiality of protected health information, including verbal, written, and electronic communications. Follows personal cell phone use policy, no personal cell phone use in any resident care areas and limited use in non-resident care areas.
• As a condition of employment, completes all assigned training and skills competency. Remains current on new developments by attending professional institutions, reading professional journals, attending professional seminars, or reading new laws, rules, and regulations.
• Assists with admission, discharge, assessments, or care of residents as needed. Works on a rotation with other RNs as the Nurse in Charge on weekends. Perform administrative duties as assigned. Serves on, participates in, and attends facility, departmental, or committee meetings as required or appointed.
• Be present for morning stand-up meeting each morning, except in situations where adjustments need to be made due to teaching purposes. Ability to work beyond normal working hours and on weekends/holidays when needed or scheduled within the rotation of needs for the facility.
• Assists with and re-enforces staff correction, action plans, and counseling as directed by leadership.
• Any other duties as asked by leadership within appropriate timeline and notice.

Please note: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. The employee may perform other related duties as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of Greenwood Connections.