Infection control is a discipline within healthcare that is focused on preventing either healthcare-associated or nosocomial infection.

What Is Infection Control Nursing?

Because of this distinction, infection control nursing is more of a practical sub-discipline of epidemiology rather than an academic one. Healthcare professionals working in infection control can come from various educational streams, with nurses being just one of them. Infection control nursing plays a central role in both preventing as well as controlling infectious diseases as nursing programs will teach students. Contributions to infection control nursing can start as early as those students who are still learning their profession in nursing schools to full-fledged nurses who have years of experience.

What Should I Expect Working As An Infection Control Nurse?

Nurses who want to go into infection control nursing have to have a solid background in nursing education. The area of study for those who want to go into infection control nursing occupations is prevention and control of infections. While all basic nursing programs do offer some degree of training or coursework that relates to infection control and prevention, nurses who want to specialize in this field can take and complete specific certification courses that are available in online nursing programs or at a traditional LPN program or a traditional RN program. These certification courses are usually available only to nurses who are already pursuing a graduate degree in any number of nursing specialties.

What Are The Educational Requirements For Infection Control Nursing?

Getting certification in infection nursing control is not especially necessary to work in this nursing career, but it is nonetheless quite desirable. One way that a nurse can get certified in infection control is to go to the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology (CBIC) and take their standard examination. This standard examination is available to infection control nurses who already have one or two years of experience in this nursing profession specialty. If a nurse passes this standard examination, he or she gets to attach the credential CIC after his or her name.

Gaining clinical experience is also a prerequisite of becoming a successful infection control nurse. It is important to note that an infection control nurse operates in an independent manner, as online LPN programs and online RN programs will teach students. For this reason, it is necessary for professionals working in infection control nursing to have a sound foundation with regards to critical thinking skills, organizational skills, clinical knowledge and clinical skills. To amass this level of clinical experience, an infection control nurse has the possibility to work in a wide array of settings like hospitals, long-term care facilities, acute care facilities, ambulatory care centers, and even home health agencies.

Within the area of specialty called infection control nursing, there are also numerous subspecialties that a practicing nurse can choose from. A nurse who works in infection control nursing can even specialize in more than one area for his or her subspecialty. For example, an infection control nurse can specialize in an area like controlling and preventing infections specifically in hospital settings, in long-term care facilities, in ambulatory care practices and even in the general community at large. The area of subspecialty can even be for more broad applications, such as infection control nursing for bioterrorism, for multi-drug resistant organisms, and for general public safety.

What Is The Job Outlook For Infection Control Nursing?

Infection control nurses take measures to prevent the transmission of infectious microorganisms from one patient to another; this has become a major factor in the type of care that these nurses administer and concern themselves with. Infection control nurses achieve this by way of standard precautions in their work environment and medical asepsis in their practice. Medical asepsis is defined as a technique that nurses rely on to lower and control the threat that pathogenic microorganisms spread. One example of a medical asepsis technique can be something as simple as just washing one’s hands, whether that is the nurse or the patient. Standard precautions are defined as universal precaution techniques and also body substance isolation techniques that are meant to offer protection against the spread of microorganisms that are infectious or blood borne. Techniques are applied to individuals across the board, regardless of their actual medical diagnosis.

What Is The Average Salary For An Infection Control Nurse?

The amount of money that a nurse who works in infection control can make in an average year is quite high, and this has to do with the fact that infection control nursing is a specialized form of nursing. The expected, average salary for a typical infection control nurse is just under $75,000. Because the $75,000 figure is an average, infection control nurses can expect to make a little more or a little less depending on a few factors that relate to considerations like the type of degree the nurse holds, the number of years of experience that the nurse has, any certifications the nurse has earned, and even the geographical location of the place where he or she works. Depending on these aforementioned factors, an infection control nurse can make as little as $60,000, and as much as $90,000.

Infection control nursing is a specialty in the nursing profession that exposes nurses to many subspecialties of disease and illness prevention and containment. Since this nursing specialty can only be performed properly after attaining the necessary qualifications, a strong nursing education is a requirement for a nurse to work in the infection control area. Nurses in this specialty have to already hold at least a satisfactory starting degree, such as an Associate’s Degree or a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, and from there, they can attain higher ranks within the infection control nursing profession. One way of achieving this is by obtaining certification within the nursing infection control profession, which ambitious nurses can accomplish by taking a standard examination that is offered by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology or the CBIC. The amount of compensation that a nurse who works in infection control can get per year is quite generous, and this has a lot to do with the fact that this is a specialized area of nursing. It is one of the better paying positions within nursing.

To learn more about infection control nursing, check these links.

• Infection Control Nursing
• Infection Control Home Care
• CBIC Website
• Infection Control Nursing Duties
• Infection Control Measures
• Manual on Infection Control
• What is Infection Control?
• Purpose of Infection Control