Background: Recent focus of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care on the role of Infection Control Practitioners, the need to “Build Clinician Capacity” HAI program highlights the need to align the goals & behaviours of clinicians with Infection Control & increase the profile of Infection Control Practitioners (ICP) across healthcare. Whilst the Mater Private Hospital Link Nurse program was operational, time constraints on staffing levels resulted in inconsistent attendance & poor representation from many units. Meetings became reactive, repetitive, with little ability to implement meaningful change. Committed, enthusiastic Link nurses became frustrated, craving opportunities to develop skills in this area. Resourcing was an issue, with the facility being unable to backfill ICP’s in a fulltime capacity, due to staff within the organisation having little knowledge or experience in managing Infection Control. A gap analysis revealed that no succession planning was in place across Mater Health Services regarding Infection Control.

Method: Mater Private Executive supported the development of a dedicated team of clinicians, called the IP Task Force. Lead by the ICP these senior nurses represented medical, haematology, intensive care & procedural services. Project planning & incident mapping resulted in development of ten initiatives to be implemented across Mater Private Hospital. The initiatives were reviewed & prioritised, focused on minimising risk of HAI, improving compliance to multi resistant organism management after hours & reducing Infection Control incidences.

Results: An additional 80 hours of Infection Control support supplied in the last quarter of 2008, investment provided members with learning opportunities, increasing their understanding of Infection Prevention & practices. Two members will further this knowledge by completing the Princess Alexander Infection Control course in 2009. At the time of submission, two projects had been implemented by the IP Task force, three further project plans in development, for implementation in 2009. Projects were developed & monitored at ward level, allowing for faster distribution of information to staff & feedback has indicated that initiatives are better aligned with the unit dynamics. In relation to succession planning & growth of IP task force members, one task force member has been released to assist in the flu vaccination program 2009, another member being appointed to Clinical nurse role in Infection control (0.5FTE), this assisted in backfilling an ICP role across two sites in early 2009. This has also provided an opportunity for an additional member to consolidate learning by acting in a Clinical Nurse role.

Conclusion: Providing an additional pathway for Link Nurses to become more involved in Infection Control & Prevention at an operational level has taken the Mater Private Link Nursing program to a new level. The IP Task force members are a valued & respected resource, not only for backfilling or appointment to Infection Control roles, but to colleagues within their own units, improving the profile of Infection Control at the coal face. The program has become an acknowledgement of the commitment & passion these staff members have for improving patient safety.