Yes, but what IS it?

So what DO I do?  My job is essentially a healthcare quality job.  I make sure we provide good, safe care to our patients.  My focus is on the health and safety of patients, staff, and visitors as it relates to infections.  I try to ensure nobody gets sick as a result of our workplace, and if they do, it is with the least amount of harm. No patient should get an infection related to their visit to our facility; First, and most importantly, because it is our duty as healthcare providers to provide the very safest care possible.  And a very distant second reason is because we are pushed to provide quality care by those who pay our bills.  Money.

Infection Control is the practice of reducing risks related to infection.   It’s process improvement: Find a problem, or potential problem, read the literature, use current best practices, apply common sense, and find solutions or improvements to the problem.  If you know where infections come from, you know where to put your efforts to prevent them. And there are a lot of sources of infections. So the ICP is focused on all of them, including:

• The patients—some people come with infections.  How do we keep it from spreading to others?
• The staff—some staff come with infections, or contract them while working
• The visitors—see above
• Equipment—equipment, if not cleaned correctly, can spread infection.  You’ve heard about the duodenoscopes, right?
• Procedures—certain invasive procedures, like surgeries or catheterizations can result in infections
• The building—everything from the ventilation system to the ceiling tiles and the plumbing can be a source
• The environment—local air quality, water quality, wildlife, etc

You need to know about all of it!   The Certification Board in Infection Control is the organization that certifies infection control professionals.  They publish what the content of the certification exam is—that is essentially all the things you need to know about (at a minimum) to function in this job.  And you don't need to pass the exam to work in the field.  In fact, they recommend you spend a couple of years working before taking the exam.  You can learn most of it from books, but you really solidify your knowledge on the job.