Continuous updating of infection prevention and control skills and knowledge is important in to promote sound decision making and policy formulation.
The Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare outlines a range of postgraduate education programs available for clinicians seeking or establishing a career in infection control in Australia.
Education courses and post graduate courses are available from a number of providers including SA Health e learning, the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC), The Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) and a number of universities.
All dates, workshops and seminars are subject to change.
Infection prevention courses are available to all SA Health employees to support the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards. There are currently three infection prevention and control related courses available to staff:
To complete the courses, visit your relevant Local Health Network or agency page:
Reprocessing and Sterilisation half day Update Seminar
Date: 2025 date to be confirmed
Audience: for SA Health and private organisations
Winter Illness Outbreak Preparedness Seminar
Date: Wednesday, 1 May 2024
Audience: for SA Health and private organisations
Infection Prevention and Control Annual Update Seminar
Date: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Audience: for SA Health and private organisations
The University of Adelaide offers a six months full-time or one year part-time online certificate, which provides graduates with the opportunity to build infection prevention and control competencies for senior and specialist positions in infection control. For more information, visit University of Adelaide’s website.
The James Cook University offers a six-months full-time or one year part-time equivalent online course. For more information, visit the James Cook University course website.
The Griffith University offers a one-year part-time online course. For more information, visit the Griffith University course website.
Griffith University also offers an online one to one and a half years full-time or three-year part-time course for Infection Control Professionals. For more information, visit the Griffith University course website.
Charles Darwin University offer an online or on campus (Casuarina, Darwin) six-months full-time or one-year part-time course. For more information, visit the Charles Darwin course website.
The ACSQHC offers an online training package consisting of 10 learning modules on infection prevention and control topics, designed for beginner infection control professionals. Also available are:
For more information, visit the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care website.
The ACIPC Foundations of Infection Prevention and Control course provides a pathway for further learning and is an important resource for those wishing to pursue a career as an infection control professional. The course comprises of 11 modules and is designed for professionals working in the areas of health and allied health care, acute care, rural and remote health, office-based practice, residential aged care, community health and health policy. There is a fee for this course.
For more information, visit the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control website.
The ACIPC Mentoring Program aims to contribute to the future of the Infection Prevention and Control profession by pairing mentees with suitable mentors across all fields in a professional relationship of growth and development. This course is free for ACIPC members.
For more information see the ACIPC Mentoring Program website.
COVID-19 infection control online training is available for health care workers in all settings. It covers the fundamentals of infection prevention and control for COVID-19; see COVID-19 training keep you safe at work and Aged care COVID-19 infection control training.
The NHHI Learning Management System (LMS) hosts a suite of online learning modules on hand hygiene and infection prevention and control. These modules are suitable for healthcare workers, student healthcare workers and for other industries where infection prevention and control is important.
There are three hand hygiene modules:
The ACSQHC NHHI hosts a suite of online eLearning modules, including hand hygiene, providing information on the principles of infection prevention and control in the Australian healthcare setting.
These modules are suitable for healthcare workers, student healthcare workers and other industries where infection prevention and control is important, including residential care facilities and in the community.
The Basics of Infection Prevention and Control module provides a basic orientation and foundation on which to build infection prevention and control knowledge.
The ACSQHC has developed new hand hygiene auditor training pathways for Hand Hygiene Auditors and Hand Hygiene Auditor Educators. For further information, visit the ACSQHC NHHI Auditor training and validation webpage.
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 NHHI has a number of audit tools available to support hand hygiene auditing in acute and non-acute settings.
Facilities not meeting the requirements for national data submission may choose to utilise the SA Health Hand hygiene observation audit tool (PDF 196KB) to estimate overall hand hygiene compliance.
The SA Health Hand hygiene competency tool (PDF) 87KB) has been developed to assess staff competency in carrying out an effective hand hygiene rub or handwash.
Healthcare facilities can track their progress using hand hygiene resources, promotional activities, planning their actions and aiming for improvement and sustainability through:
For further information on education and training, contact SA Health's Infection Control Service.
