For those both compassionate and incredibly brave at heart, there are some job openings in West Africa. Though in retreat in some areas, Ebola continues finding victims in other areas. The government is enlisting infection preventionists.
A FEW GOOD RECRUITS
The CDC is recruiting “motivated candidates with health, industrial hygiene, and program administration backgrounds to equip health systems in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia to stop the spread of Ebola in healthcare facilities, a major route of transmission,” the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology reports.
“Anybody with an infection prevention background — probably mostly nurses from U.S. hospitals — would definitely be a candidate for the kind of work that our team is recruiting for,” says Ryan Fagan, MD, MPHTM, a medical epidemiologist in the CDC’s division of healthcare quality promotion.
The CDC notes that international experience is preferred and the training is provided. Positions are based in Atlanta, with up to 50% West Africa travel. Duration depends on Ebola response duration.
“We’ll be reviewing applications and descriptions for infection prevention backgrounds and experience,” Fagan tells says.
“Our team is focusing on the training of healthcare workers countrywide in each of the three affected countries. Our team is focusing on developing training courses to share with the ministry of health in each country.”
The CDC has been doing this type of training for months during the response, but is looking for people to take on jobs long term.
“[This would] not be just doing the initial training, but also follow-up at facilities [with] technical support as they continue to build these programs.”
Though it doesn’t sound as if IPs would be involved in direct patient care or contact, an ongoing epidemic of a deadly disease in Third World countries is not exactly a stable environment.
For more information, including application links and compensation information, contact
[email protected].
