How Can Infection Prevention Leaders Improve Staff Retention? Lessons From a Successful APIC 2026 Workforce Initiative

Retaining skilled infection preventionists (IPs) has become a growing challenge for health care organizations nationwide. High turnover can disrupt patient safety initiatives, increase workloads for remaining team members, and create gaps in institutional knowledge.

At the Association for Professionals in Infection Prevention and Epidemiology Annual Conference and Exposition (APIC 2026) held from June 15 to 17, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee, Morgan Anderson, MPH, CIC, shared how a structured retention program helped her team improve engagement and reduce turnover among infection prevention staff.

Anderson, manager of hospital quality and infection prevention and control at Overlake Medical Center and Clinics in Bellevue, Washington, presented a poster titled "Rooted in Retention: Cultivating IP Workforce Resilience," which explored the impact of retention meetings designed to better understand employee needs and career goals.

The initiative was born out of a troubling trend.

"We had 3 IPs turnover in about a 10-month span, and those IPs had a 17-month average tenure combined," Anderson said.

The departures created significant challenges for the department.

"With all these IPs leaving, we had delays in patient safety initiatives, increased workload of the other IPs who were here, and really an overall decrease in efficiency of our team," she explained.

Recognizing the need for a proactive approach, Anderson and her team developed a structured retention meeting process. Every 6 months, infection preventionists participated in a 1-hour discussion focused on 3 key areas: "rocks," "balloons," and "seedlings."

The "rocks" category explored frustrations and barriers staff were experiencing. "Balloons" focused on the aspects of work employees enjoyed and wanted to do more often. The "seedlings" section centered on professional aspirations and future growth opportunities.

Most importantly, Anderson said the conversations addressed a critical question: "What would make staying here at Overlake the best decision for you and your career?"

The discussions generated actionable insights. Following each round of meetings, Anderson compiled action items and tracked progress. "We had 29 action items developed after the 1-cycle retention meeting, so a year's worth," she said.

The findings revealed that professional growth was one of the strongest drivers of employee engagement and retention. "Fifty-two percent of those were related to the seeds bucket, so that professional desires bucket," Anderson said. "And 48% were related to professional development."

That professional development extended beyond internal opportunities. "It wasn't just professional development in our hospital, but outside as well, so wanting to learn new skills, wanting to break into new roles in the APIC board, things like that," she explained.

The retention meetings produced measurable results. Since implementing the program, the organization has experienced only 1 IP departure, which Anderson noted was unrelated to workplace concerns.

Equally important was the feedback received from participants.

"One hundred percent of IPs who did the retention meetings gave feedback that they felt more committed to the organization, they felt valued, they felt seen and heard," Anderson said. Participants also reported that the meetings strengthened their engagement and desire to remain with the organization.

For Anderson, one of the most important lessons learned was the value of structured, intentional conversations. "The key lessons really are proactive engagement discussions with your staff, and having a really structured template," she said.

To keep the discussions relevant, Anderson uses artificial intelligence to refresh the questions. "I use AI to change these questions every 6 months, so that the conversation still [feels] fresh while tackling the same topics," she explained.

Ultimately, Anderson believes retention efforts succeed when leaders focus on their staff’s needs. "Really leaning into building trust and supporting your staff, knowing that you're there to support them and what they find they need for their career," she said.

As health care organizations continue to grapple with workforce shortages and burnout, the Overlake experience offers a reminder that retaining talent may begin with something simple: asking employees what they need to thrive and then acting on their responses.

Reflecting on her first in-person APIC conference, Anderson said one message from the opening keynote resonated deeply with her work. "What I really took away was that warmth is a strength," she said. "Maybe we need to lead with a bit more warmth and help pass that along."