Medication safety training and development

SA Health is committed to improving the safety and quality of medicines use to promote optimal patient outcomes through enhanced medicines management.

The Medicines and Technology Programs Branch has developed a suite of interactive online courses to support health professionals undertaking medicines management and to raise awareness of key medication safety and quality considerations and resources. The courses are aligned with the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard – Standard 4: Medication Safety.

The courses are being released to staff across SA Health. Access codes can be found on the Medicines and Technology Programs intranet page. To access this page you will need to be logged in to SA Health computer, however once the course is unlocked you can access the course from anywhere.

The courses are made up of short lessons which can be done at your own pace and don’t have to be completed in one session. You need to pass the assessment to complete the course and contribute to your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points.

SA Health medication safety eLearning

The medication safety e-learning modules can be accessed from your local learning management system or from e-Learning for health.

You will need to register on the site using an email address (it does not need to be your SA Health email address) and a password you can easily remember.

To unlock the courses, you will need to click on ‘unlock course’ and enter an access code available from the Safety and Quality eLearning courses intranet page.

Introduction to High Risk Medicines

Introduction to High Risk Medicines is designed to equip staff with the knowledge and strategies to prevent errors with high risk medicines. It complies with the SA Health High Risk Medicines Management Policy Directive (PDF 493KB) and High Risk Medicines Management Policy Guideline (PDF 629KB) and is intended for all staff involved in medicines management. The learning module is free and takes about 30 minutes to complete.

High Risk Medicines: Insulin

High Risk Medicines: Insulin is designed to equip staff with knowledge of common errors with insulin and strategies to assist in their prevention. It will improve patient safety by promoting safe prescribing, dispensing and administration of insulin. The learning module is free and takes about 1 hour to complete. It does not have to be completed in one sitting.

High Risk Medicines: Anticoagulants

High Risk Medicines: Anticoagulants is designed to equip staff with knowledge of common errors with anticoagulants and strategies to assist in their prevention. The learning module is free and takes about one hour to complete. It does not have to be completed in one sitting.

High Risk Medicines: Clozapine

High Risk Medicines: Clozapine is designed for all health professionals involved in the safe management of clozapine, a high risk medicine used in the treatment of schizophrenia. This course is free and will take about 1.5 hours to complete. You do not have to complete the course in one sitting as your progress will be saved if you exit the course.

Labelling for Safety – National Recommendations for user-applied labelling of injectable medicines, fluids and lines

Labelling for Safety is intended for clinical staff involved in direct patient care; in particular, for staff involved in the preparation and administration of injectable medicines in a clinical or ward area through an interactive and informative approach it:

  • outlines the risks of inadequate labelling of injectable medicines, fluids and lines
  • provides minimum requirements for user-applied labelling of injectable medicines
  • promotes safe use of injectable medicines.

The course is free and will take about 45 minutes to complete.

Other online courses

Online training courses are available on the following topics:

Medication charts

National standard medication charts course

Duration: 3 hours (5 modules)
Learning methods: On screen reading, interactivity, and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals and students involved in medication management
Provider: NPS MedicineWise

Quality use of medicines

Quality Use of Medicines for health professional students
Duration: 2.5 hours
Learning methods: lecture, presentation, case studies and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: NPS MedicineWise

The medicine wise practitioner
Duration
: 1 hour per case study
Learning methods: Interactive case studies and an assessment
Audience: Health professionals with prescribing rights
Provider: NPS MedicineWise

Continuity of care

Clinical handover
Duration
: 1 hour
Learning methods: On screen reading, interactivity, video scenarios and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: SA Health

Continuity in medication management

Getting it right! Taking a Best Possible Medication History
Duration
: 20 minutes
Learning methods: Training video
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care

Medication safety

Medication safety
Duration
: 7 modules x 30 minutes and 2 case studies x 20 minutes
Learning methods: On screen reading, interactivity and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: NPS MedicineWise

Labelling for safety
Duration
: 1 hour
Learning methods: On screen reading, interactivity and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: SA Health

Introduction to High Risk Medicines
Duration
: 30 minutes
Learning methods: On screen reading, interactivity and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: SA Health

High Risk Medicines: Anticoagulants
Duration
: 1 hour
Learning methods: On screen reading, interactivity and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: SA Health

High Risk Medicines: Insulin
Duration
: 1 hour
Learning methods: On screen reading, interactivity and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: SA Health

High Risk Medicines: Clozapine
Duration
: 1.5 hours
Learning methods: On screen reading, interactivity and an assessment
Audience: All health professionals
Provider: SA Health