Ms Rebecca McNamara1
1Monash Health, Australia
Biography:
Rebecca is a Senior Infection Prevention CNC and Site-Lead at Monash Health, holding a Master of Advanced Clinical Nursing and postgraduate qualifications in Infection Prevention (IP) and Emergency Nursing. With broad IP experience, spanning 8 years, she is passionate about innovative education and championing the visibility of IP across healthcare.
Abstract:
Problem Identified
Rapid expansion of the Infection Prevention (IP) Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) workforce at Victoria’s largest health service exposed significant onboarding gaps. Orientation processes were inconsistent and largely unstructured, leaving new staff overwhelmed by the complexity of the role. Anecdotally, staff reported being pulled in multiple directions and introduced to numerous topics simultaneously, often misaligned with their stage of knowledge and learning. This contributed to cognitive overload, reduced confidence, and delayed progression to independent practice.
Rectification of the Problem
The onboarding approach was redesigned to prioritise structure, pacing, and learner readiness. A structured program was implemented, with learning sequenced over 8–12 weeks, progressing from foundational concepts to more complex responsibilities. Each week had clearly defined objectives to support consolidation and reduce unnecessary task-switching.
Preceptors were central to the model, ensuring learning aligned with developmental stage and preventing premature exposure to complex tasks. Protected learning time was embedded alongside structured clinical exposure to strengthen knowledge and its application.
Continuous feedback informed ongoing refinement. Enhancements included early introduction to formal clinical area assessments, outbreak management education, and improved sequencing of activities. High-risk tasks, such as occupational exposure management, were introduced later, supported by earlier foundations in vaccination processes and pathology review.
Results
Pre- and post-orientation data demonstrated improved confidence, reduced overwhelm, increased focus, and earlier transition to independent practice and quality improvement activities.
Conclusions
A structured, staged approach supports safe and effective workforce capability development.
Lessons Learnt
Limiting concurrent topics, protecting learning time, staging complexity, and embedding strong preceptor support are critical to successful onboarding.