Ripe for recognition, resolute for readiness: administrative spotlight brightens ICP outlook

Healthcare Purchasing News, August, 2005

She's 49 years old, a registered nurse, who makes a little over $57,000 a year for her role in everything from fighting nosocomial and surgical site infections to bio terrorism preparedness and mandatory reporting of infections--and she goes by the title of Infection Control Coordinator. This is the profile of the average respondent to the 2005 Infection Control Salary Survey from Healthcare Purchasing News.

We weren't surprised to again find that 95 percent of our infection control respondents were female, or that the infection control departments they worked in had less than five employees, and often just one or two. Once again, salaries for the minority group of male infection control practitioners topped women's salaries by a few thousand dollars.

Our 2005 survey showed an average salary for all respondents of $57,375, up nearly 6 percent from last year's reported average of $54,167. Those 29 percent who described their position as IC Coordinator reported average earnings of $56,765 a significant increase over last year's average of $51,321. This year, titles seemed to weigh even less significantly in salary size than in year's past. Earnings ranged from $55,625 for Infection Control Nurses and $59,643 for Infection Control Practitioners.

Regardless of the title they hold, their role in the healthcare facility is ever-expanding and the effects of their efforts far-reaching. And the opportunity for these infection control employees to earn the respect, recognition and compensation they deserve may be right around the corner.

"I think that ICPs [infection control practitioners] in hospitals have been regarded too often as necessary only for regulatory compliance, but who do not get the administrative support and resources that are needed to manage an effective infection prevention program," commented Mary Andrus, BA, R.N., CIC, nurse epidemiologist with the Health Outcomes Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (1) "More recently, I think that hospital administrators are coming to realize that hospital associated infections are a serious problem and that the ICP is a more valued resource than was once thought."

In addition to gaining the attention of administrators, public perceptions are also being focused towards infection control issues that may ultimately mean more visibility for the role that these professionals play in society.

"The public is beginning to realize that infections can be associated with hospitals and they are beginning to show outrage at the possibility. Other issues, such as bioterrorism, SARS, avian influenza and multiple drag resistant organisms have all been in the news and have brought a new level of public awareness of the importance of the prevention of infectious diseases," said Andrus.

When we polled infection control readers to find out what topics they'd like to see more coverage of in HPN, top answers included nosocomial infection eradication, prevention of surgical site infections, bioterrorism preparedness, and mandatory reporting of infections.

Indeed, mandatory reporting of infections that is becoming a reality in states across the country will certainly be an additional driver to highlight the critical influence the IC professional plays on both outcomes and revenues.

"The Consumers Union has promoted legislation in many states which advocates the public reporting of hospital infection rates," said Andrus. "While disclosure of risk-adjusted, appropriate data relating to hospital-associated infections can be an important step toward improving infection control practices in hospitals, it's also important that the legislation uses language that provides for measures that are appropriate. HICPAC, in collaboration with APIC and SHEA, has established a guideline for public reporting that includes recommendations about specific measures that would generate valid comparative data and that would also be fair to hospitals. Infection prevention professionals really need to participate in the process and be an integral part of defining the legislative language."

Experience counts

This year our infection control readers collectively have an additional year of experience under their belts, reporting an average of 11 years of working in infection control. Still, a majority of 31 percent reported their number of years of experience in infection control at between two and five years; 28 percent have 15 years or more of experience in their field. Naturally, those with more than 25 years of experience are earning the highest average salaries at $69,000.

The average number of years that our respondents have worked at their current facility has stayed consistent with previous year's finding at eight. The majority (32 percent) said that they had worked at their particular facility between two and five years, a slight increase over 2004. Consistent with the above findings, those who have worked at their current facility for more than 95 years earned an average salary of $69,167-which was actually a slight drop from last year's figure of $72,500.