Public Health Nurse (Outbreak Management)
Everyone is treated with dignity, integrity, equity, and trust at Halton Region. They are dedicated to building a team of skilled staff that reflects the varied population they serve as an equal-opportunity employer. Throughout the hiring process, Halton Region is dedicated to making accommodations for people with disabilities.
Public health staff are expected to uphold courteous, inclusive, and nonjudgmental principles while delivering high-quality programs and services, such as harm reduction, sexual health, and immunization clinic services.
Overview of the Job
In order to prevent and reduce morbidity and mortality in these vulnerable communities in the Halton Region, you will report to the Supervisor, Outbreak Management and work with a multidisciplinary team of professionals who investigate and manage respiratory illness outbreaks in settings like Long Term Care Homes (LTCH), Rest and Retirement Homes (RR), and Congregate Living Settings (CLS) if you are selected.
Duties
- offers LTCH/RR/CLS advice on the criteria for early outbreak detection.
- offers direction and suggestions to LTCH/RR/CLS personnel in order to look into and control respiratory infection outbreaks.
- looks into infectious disease records in order to create a case definition for the particular outbreak.
- When informed of a suspected or confirmed respiratory outbreak, they investigate, confirm, and manage the disease.
- Assign epidemic numbers as needed and offer advice on the testing plan.
- provides kits for collecting specimens and transports them to a lab for diagnosis confirmation.
- Organizes or participates in epidemic meetings with community and facility partners.
- offers advice on epidemic prevention strategies.
- explains how antiviral drugs are used to treat and prevent influenza.
- LTCH/RR/CLS consultations regarding readmissions, transfers, and admissions during outbreaks.
- decides when the epidemics should be deemed over.
- completes all necessary paperwork in an electronic database in accordance with nursing documentation requirements.
- carries out additional tasks as given.
Required Skills
- Proficiency and Credentials
- A bachelor’s degree in nursing from an accredited university that includes training in public health nursing.
- The College of Nurses of Ontario’s most recent certificate of registration.
- at least six months of recent experience controlling respiratory epidemics in retirement communities, long-term care facilities, and communal living environments.
- competency with the integrated public health information system (iPHIS) and recent experience with it.
- Proficiency and recent experience using the Halton Salesforce Outbreak Module for documentation of outbreaks and intakes.
- Recent experience and competence entering data for COVID-19 and other Acute Respiratory Illness cases, queues for investigations, and documenting outbreaks using the Provincial CCMS and/or iPHIS.
- strong familiarity with the rules and regulations pertaining to public health (such as the Health Protection and Promotion Act and the Mandatory Blood Testing Act), as well as the Ontario Public Health Standards and the standards of practice for registered nurses.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and a good ability to communicate both orally and in writing were displayed.
- Proven capacity to work with a variety of community partners and organizations while delivering first-rate customer service.
- strong familiarity with the rules and regulations pertaining to public health (such as the Health Protection and Promotion Act and the Mandatory Blood Testing Act), as well as the Ontario Public Health Standards and the standards of practice for registered nurses.
- a solid understanding of public health abilities and efficient public health practices to identify treatments that enhance citizens’ health.
- Proven familiarity with and understanding of important guiding papers, including Control of Respiratory Infection Outbreaks in Long Term Care Homes
