LDPM 82 - A 90 Day Success Story: Insights from a New Infection Prevention Director with Multicenter Oversight

Background: The transition into leadership is often a career goal for staff-level infection preventionist (IP). However, the first 90 days in a new leadership role can be the most difficult for a number of reasons including a rapid expansion of responsibilities and scope of work, a lack of hand-off by former leadership, and an absence of adequate training. This abstract describes the first 90 days of a new IP director with multicenter oversight and the steps that were taken for successful transition.

Methods: Following initial onboarding, a 16-week standardize organizational orientation plan was initiated that was used to ensure foundational orientation activities occurred with enough flexibility for day-to-day responsibilities to occur. In addition to scripted orientation activities, other critical activities occurred including: relationship building and level setting with hospital leadership team, program evaluation to determine outcome & process measures and IP scope of work, and facilitation of GAP analyses of critical hospital processes to understand current state. 30, 60, and 90-day check-ins with senior leadership were used to ensure that orientation expectations were met and to evaluate the well-being of the new IP leader.

Results: Results of the 90-day orientation process were generally subjective based upon the IP leader’s perspective. Objective, subjective, and constructive feedback was provided at all three touch points from senior leadership.

Conclusions: The first 90 days of a leadership role can make or break a novel leader’s successful transition into the role. Without defined foundational objectives and critical program activities, new leaders may feel overwhelmed and unsupported. As the world continues to grapple with a critical staffing shortage it is more important than ever to support future healthcare leaders.