| Sumario: | Introduction Supporting and educating new McGrath Breast Care Nurses (MBCNs) can be resource intensive, requiring a combination of administrative, educational and professional support. Each nurse brings different qualifications, skills and experience to a MBCN role thus a digital program that allows nurses to take an onboarding pathway that best meets their needs was required. Objectives To design and build digital onboarding pathways for new MBCNs that accommodate different learning needs through a supported, nurse-directed user experience. To evaluate nurses' learning and experience pre- and post- completion of their onboarding pathway. Methodology A working group of expert MBCNs, educators and educational technologists met regularly over a two-year period to design, develop and test the onboarding pathways. The pathways are a curation of new and existing online learning modules; postgraduate study; conference attendance; practicums; webinars; mentoring sessions and administrative and professional development tasks. Learning will be evaluated through pre- and post- completion of the Cancer Nurse Self-Assessment Tools and a post-pathway evaluation survey will measure nurse experience. Results Two onboarding pathways were developed -- the Associate McGrath Breast Care Nurse Pathway (AMBCNP) and the McGrath Breast Care Nurse Pathway (MBCNP). The AMBCNP is for new MBCNs who are not yet post-graduate qualified and incorporates post-graduate study; close mentoring and prescribed in person and electronic learning over 18 months. Nurses on the MBCNP are already qualified BCNs and engage in a combination of required and optional tasks over 12 months, with flexibility to meet their individual education and support needs. The first new nurses will commence on the onboarding pathways in February 2024. Conclusion It is expected that the onboarding program will lead to efficiencies in the McGrath Foundation Nursing Program and be a positive user-friendly experience for new MBCNs. This onboarding program will also be adapted for other specialist cancer nurses in future.
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