Healthcare Associated Infections Program - Manager

Dharmraj D. Giri (Raj), MPH

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dharmrajgiri/ 979-***-**** adj7nt@r.postjobfree.com EXPERIENCE

Idaho Department of Health & Welfare, Boise, Idaho – Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) Program – Manager March 2020 – Present Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)

• Coordinated with hospitals in infection control activities with the Infection Control Committee, Medical Staff, and hospital employees

• Conducted Infection Control Assessment Response (ICARs) to assess IPC policies for LTCFs, critical access hospitals, ambulatory care, and other healthcare settings to identify gaps and provide performance improvement recommendations in compliance with CDC’s guidance and CMS’s quality standards

• Provided education and training to staff in PPE donning, doffing, and hand hygiene and improved quality of care provided

• Liaised between state Bureau of Facility Standards, QIN/QIO’s, and healthcare facilities regarding quality improvement in infection prevention policies for healthcare facilities

Healthcare Associated Infections Data Surveillance and Epidemiology

• Streamlined the process of ICAR data collection to create a database used to identify IPC practices that may be associated with certain outcomes

• Conducted data analysis using NHSN data and presented the data to HAI advisory committee, Idaho’s LTCF strike team, state epidemiologists and local public health departments to emphasize on the importance of HAI data reporting

• Studied the distribution and determinants of HAIs among the healthcare settings in Idaho to target assistance and control of health problems in this subject area using NHSN data

• Assisted hospitals in the use of NHSN patient safety module and LTCFs in the use of COVID-19 module under LTCF for HAI data surveillance

• Liaised with healthcare facilities, state lab, and the CDC in identifying rare infectious organisms and MDROs in facilities and implement infection control plans for the identified organisms Healthcare Associated Infections Program Activities

• Assured HAI program response and prevention activities to meet priority goals through coordination throughout jurisdiction

• Successfully managed the HAI program including budget planning, implementation, and evaluation of program objectives

• Collaborated with the CDC to create and provide in-person education and training on COVID-19 PPE donning, doffing and hand hygiene to healthcare personnel across Idaho

• Supervised antibiotic resistance/antibiotic stewardship and Project Firstline staff and provided guidance on related activities

• Liaised between agencies including hospitals, physicians, community clinics, infection control practitioners, long-term care facilities, as well as national professional organizations such as the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) or federal partners such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Local APIC chapters for implementation of the program objectives

• Supervised support staff and facilitate statewide HAI activities to develop program materials and communication plans, evaluate educational materials, and implement educational initiatives Houston Methodist, Houston, Texas - Epidemiology Intern June 2019 – Aug 2019

• Designed new survey questionnaire to assess outreach and impact of workshops conducted

• Established and managed relational datasets from survey data collected over 2 years workshops conducted at Houston Methodist

• Improved quality of survey questionnaire improving data collection methods providing valuable insight into curriculum content

• Conducted analysis of pre- and post-surveys collected during workshops for physicians and medical students improving outreach

• Provided insight into outreach and success of the coursework helping improve the existing epidemiology curriculum

• Recommended 11 subject quality improvement recommendations for data collection and data cleaning methods Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas - Teaching Assistant Aug 2018 – Aug 2019

• Taught Biology using audio visual aids to assist in understanding laboratory experiments and corresponding theoretical concepts

• Assured laboratory safety was thoroughly followed by assessing student’s compliance to laboratory safety measures and policies

• Presented concise and summarized laboratory experiment into aim, observation, theoretical concept, and conclusion using AV aids

• Conducted exams and quizzes to evaluate student’s understanding of experiments and related concepts Jay-Anand Hospital & I.C.C.U, Thane, India – ER Physician Jan 2014 – Mar 2015 Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)

• Implemented “Use BiPAP unless intubation is a must” policy in hospital reducing ventilator associated pneumonias (VAPs) by 52%

• Ensured high standards of care to patients by implementing infection prevention policies in hospital improving hospital stay

• Improved existing policies on hospital acquired infections (HAI) by creating survey to evaluate urinary catheterization process

• Improved quality of hospital stays and reduced UITs related to urinary catheters by 48% in admitted ICU patients

• Maintained a database of information collected from the charts and lab reports to identify potential hospital acquired infections Emergency Medicine Physician

• Administered and delivered prompt evaluation and treatment to 20,000 patients/year with life-threatening conditions

• Conducted examinations and investigations to diagnose cases and provide treatments accordingly

• Managed patient charts with latest treatments and finds from daily rounds of the ICU and hospital wards Dr. D.D.Giri’s Clinic, Mumbai, India - General Physician Sept 2014 – Aug 2017

• Conducted routine examinations, consulted, prescribed medication to provide optimum health care to 16,000 patients/year

• Created an extensive 5-page questionnaire to elicit complete physical and mental symptoms creating a constitutional profile

• Analyzed pattern of causality in communicable as well as non-communicable diseases by gender, race, region

• Collected and managed patient records and data using electronic records management (ERM) systems

• Installed alcoholic hand sanitizers in waiting room to prevent spread of communicable diseases improving quality of healthcare RESEARCH

Assessment of Association Between Auto-immune Disorders and Mental Health

• Developed a hypothesis about relation between auto-immune disorders and mental health

• Downloaded data from NHANES website, extracted and converted data into usable formats using SAS

• Merged and appended demographic data, mental health data, autoimmune disease data, and lab investigation data

• Compiled dataset from extracted data and created a dataset with 100 variables and 8500 observations using SAS

• Conducted multivariate logistic regression by creating a statistical model with and without the variables for mental health

• Compared the influence of mental health variables on outcome of autoimmune disorders using both the models

• Found depression to be strongly associated with auto-immune disorders and presented poster on same Comparison of Access to Healthcare Facilities Between Two Counties in Colorado State for Emergency Conditions

• Collected geospatial data on healthcare facilities in two counties of Colorado

• Divided facilities into primary, secondary, tertiary care based on services provided by healthcare facilities

• Conducted spatial analysis using Arc GIS on BRFSS data for cardiovascular emergencies

• Analyzed mortality rate for cardiovascular emergencies in both counties and compared number of tertiary care facilities in both

• Compared proximity of tertiary care facilities in areas with high mortality rate to the same with other counties

• Made a presentation on the final findings and suggested prioritizing urban planning based on healthcare access Calculating the Odds of Survival of Patients admitted to the ICU with different conditions

• Conducted multivariate logistic regression of categorical data using STATA collected from an Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

• Created a statistical model to predict the odds of survival in patients admitted to ICU with various emergency conditions

• Coma had a statistically significant high probability submitted and submitted 5-page report on same. Data Management of MEPS Dataset for Assessment of Association Between Use of Clinical Services by Population with Limitations

• Assessed association between use of clinical services by population with functional and/or cognitive limitations using MEPS dataset

• Managed 147,000 observations and 1,990 variables from MEPS dataset using STATA and MS Excel SKILLS

Technical Skills: Arc GIS - ArcMap 10.6.1 SAS STATA R Microsoft Excel Epi Info 7.2 Epi Info 7.0 Microsoft Office Research Skills: Study Design Statistical Modelling Data Collection Data Cleaning Data Management Data Analysis Epidemiological Research Data Visualization Scientific Writing Statistical Programming Surveillance Epidemiology Certification: CITI Public Health Research Certified, Certificate No. 30302687 EDUCATION

Texas A&M University, School of Public Health, College Station, Texas Aug 2017 – 2019 Master of Public Health in Epidemiology

Courses: Epidemiology 1 Epidemiology 2 Biostatistics 1 Biostatistics 2 Geographic Information System (GIS) Categorical Data Analysis Data Management with STATA using MEPS dataset Cancer Epidemiology Infectious diseases Epidemiology Field Epidemiology Other Courses: APIC education series EPI 101 APIC education series EPI 102 CDC TRAIN Nursing home infection preventionist training Y.M.T Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, Affiliated with Maharashtra University of Health Science, India Sept 2013 Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery (B.H.M.S) Dissertation “Scope of Homoeopathy in Acute Tonsillitis” Dr. Vaishali Virkar M.D (HOM.) Sept 2013 – Aug 2014

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