Retaining your infection preventionist: Top 10 factors that lead to retention in the US.

Background: There is a growing sense of importance surrounding the retention of health care workers, including infection preventionists (IP). Due to the highly specialized nature of the IP, organizations should focus efforts on retention tactics. The goal was to identify factors associated with IP retention.

Methods: A survey of IPs evaluated the impact of specific retention factors. Respondents were divided into 2 groups: tenured IPs who have stayed in the same role or same facility for > 5years and transitional IPs who have left one IP job for another IP job in the last 3years. Univariate and multivariate analyses were constructed to determine factors associated with retention.

Results: Over 400 IPs (tenured: n = 300; transitional: n = 121) completed the survey. Organizational (ie, career advancement in infection prevention, professional association support, recognition promotion of the department's efforts, executive staff commitment), leadership (ie, transparency of IP team with executive leadership, advocacy for team with senior leadership, support for growth in infection prevention, disengagement from work) and job factors (ie, flexible schedule, reasonable workload expectations) were the top 10 factors associated with retention.

Conclusions: Retention among IPs is caused by many factors, which prompt further study and personalized solutions tailored to specific IP populations.