Hand hygiene auditor training pathway

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) National Hand Hygiene Initiative (NHHI) is due to release a national auditor training framework for general and gold standard auditors by the end of March 2023.  Refer to the NHHI Manual for further information.

Hand hygiene auditors are selected, trained, validated and supported according to requirements as per the NHHI and 5 Moments of Hand Hygiene to ensure consistent data collection and reporting. 

The following information provides exemplar guidance relating to general auditor training. Before completing this training, approval and support is to be provided by your Local Health Network (LHN) Hand Hygiene (HH) Program Coordinator.  Contact details for the LHN HH Program Coordinators are provided on the hand hygiene in the healthcare environment webpage.

General auditor (GA) NHHI training

The following resources provide education and training links for general auditor (GA) training.  Once this initial training is completed, the GA needs to complete a practical audit session with a Gold Standard Auditor (GSA) to become validated.

Step 1: Pre-requisite education (accessible via the NHHI Learning Management System) 

  1. Click on the NHHI hand hygiene auditor pre-workshop online learning module
  2. Complete the NHHI hand hygiene online learning module (for the nurse, doctor or allied health professional) as applicable
  3. Provide the pre-requisite certificate to the Gold Standard Auditor (GSA) within your facility. 

Step 2: General auditor learning package

  1. View the NHHI 5 Moments of hand hygiene presentation
  2. View the Hand hygiene self-educational videos 1 to 34
  3. Complete the Hand hygiene written quiz (PDF 441KB)
  4. View the How to audit presentation:
    Note: the videos within the following presentations are not linked and need to be accessed via the NHHI YouTube website:    
  5. View the Hand hygiene DVD No.1 quiz (PDF 265KB)  
  6. Complete the Hand hygiene DVD quiz No.1 worksheet (PDF 265KB) and provide to your facility's GSA for marking.

Step 3: Practical component and completion

A practical audit session with a Gold Standard auditor (GSA) is required to become validated as a GA.  The GSA will then be able to add the GA to the NHHI database and provide further advice and guidance.

Further information

For further information on hand hygiene auditor education and training, contact the SA Health Infection Control Service or (08) 7425 7161.