A national task analysis of infection control practitioners, 1982. Part One: methodology and demography.

A task analysis survey was conducted in 1982 by the Certification Board of Infection Control ( CBIC ) to determine the tasks performed by ICPs and the knowledge and abilities needed to perform these tasks. Data were obtained from 473 (78.8%) respondents to a nationwide mail survey of 600 ICPs . The respondents represent a randomized, stratified sample of ICPs in various types of U.S. acute care hospitals ranging in size from fewer than 50 beds to more than 500 beds. The results of the survey were used, in part, to develop the Infection Control Certification Examination, offered for the first time on November 19, 1983. According to the survey results, the modal or typical ICP is a white woman between the ages of 31 and 50 years using the title of infection control nurse. She has been employed full time for 2 to 10 years in infection control practice in a Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH)--accredited community acute care hospital having 301 to 500 beds. She is working at the supervisory level, is on the nursing department payroll, votes as a member of the hospital's infection control committee, and received her last degree or diploma more than 15 years ago.