Patient safety and medicines3 hours
Clinical Risk Management
Identify, assess and control clinical risk under the Code of Rights, Ngā Paerewa, the HQSC adverse events policy and New Zealand workplace health and safety law.
NZ$139DetailsAdd to cart
Patient safety and medicines
Infection Prevention and Control
Standard and transmission-based precautions, outbreaks, notifiable diseases, blood-borne viruses and antimicrobial stewardship under Ngā Paerewa and New Zealand law
- 3hours (estimated)
- 10sections
- 20final questions
- 80%pass mark
- PDFcertificate
- Online and self-paced, on any device
- Reflective account template
- Knowledge checks in every section
- Instant certificate of completion
What you will learn
- Explain the chain of infection and identify where your everyday practice breaks or leaves open each link.
- Apply the Code of Rights, Ngā Paerewa NZS 8134:2021 section 5 and your responsible authority's standards to infection prevention decisions.
- Perform hand hygiene according to the five moments and select PPE using the hierarchy of controls and a point-of-care risk assessment.
- Apply safe sharps, safe injection, aseptic technique and device review practices, and manage equipment, spills, linen and waste safely.
- Start contact, droplet and airborne precautions on syndromic triggers and communicate infection and MDRO status at transfer and discharge.
- Recognise and respond to a possible outbreak, balancing infection control with residents' rights and whānau involvement.
- Notify notifiable diseases to the medical officer of health on reasonable suspicion and explain Part 3A powers and privacy rules.
- Manage your own immunity, infectious illness and occupational exposures, and describe obligations for practitioners with blood-borne viruses.
- Apply antimicrobial stewardship principles and use surveillance, adverse event review and open disclosure after infection harm.
- Respond to an IPC concern with insight and build an evidence-based remediation plan.
Who this course is for
Doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dental practitioners, paramedics and allied health practitioners registered under the HPCA Act 2003, plus IPC link staff, charge nurses, practice managers and clinical leaders.
Doctors (MCNZ) Nurses (Nursing Council) Midwives (Midwifery Council) Dental professions (Dental Council) Pharmacists (Pharmacy Council) Other HPCA Act professions
After a concern
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a responsible authority inquiry.
Routine CPD
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
About this course
This course teaches health practitioners in New Zealand how to prevent avoidable infection in every setting where they work: hospital wards, aged residential care, general practice, community pharmacy, maternity, dental and allied health clinics, ambulance services and people's homes. It covers the chain of infection, hand hygiene and the five moments, the hierarchy of controls and PPE, sharps and safe injection practice, aseptic technique and device care, equipment, environment and waste, transmission-based precautions, multidrug-resistant organisms and outbreak management.
It is written for doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dental practitioners, paramedics and allied health practitioners registered under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, and for IPC link staff and clinical leaders. It explains section 5 of Ngā Paerewa Health and Disability Services Standard NZS 8134:2021, the national programmes now run by Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora, the duty to notify notifiable diseases under the Health Act 1956, responsible authority standards on blood-borne viruses and infection control, and practitioners' own immunity, health and occupational exposures.
Avoidable infection breaches the right in the Code of Rights to services that minimise potential harm, and infection burden in Aotearoa falls inequitably on Māori and Pacific communities. The course shows how to practise culturally safe IPC with whānau, how to recognise and report outbreaks and notifiable diseases, how antimicrobial stewardship and surveillance work, how infection harm is reviewed and disclosed, and how to show insight and remediation if an IPC concern is raised about you.
Course details
- Learning time
- Approximately 3 hours (estimated learning time including knowledge checks, reflection and assessment)
- Standards covered
- Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights (Rights 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8); Ngā Paerewa Health and Disability Services Standard NZS 8134:2021 section 5 (Infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship); Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001; Health Act 1956 (ss 74, 74AA, Part 3A) and Health (Infectious and Notifiable Diseases) Regulations 2016; HPCA Act 2003 ss 45–51; Health and Safety at Work Act 2015; Health Information Privacy Code 2020; NZS 8171:2005; AS 5369:2023; NZS 4304:2002; Dental Council Blood borne viruses and Infection prevention and control practice standards; Podiatrists Board IPC Practice Standard; Health NZ national IPC guidance; National adverse events policy 2023
- Format
- Self-paced, gated lessons with knowledge checks, case studies and reflection
- Assessment
- 20 scenario-based questions, 80% to pass (16 of 20)
- Outcome
- Certificate of completion and a written reflection for your CPD record
- Alignment
- Mapped to the Code of Rights, Ngā Paerewa section 5, Health NZ national IPC guidance and the IPC-related standards of the Medical, Nursing, Midwifery, Dental, Pharmacy and Podiatrists authorities
Course curriculum
10 sections · 25 lessons · 3 hours (estimated) · 20-question final assessment
-
1Infection prevention and control in Aotearoa: the duty and the framework3 lessons
- Why infection prevention and control is a professional duty
- The legal and standards framework in New Zealand
- National programmes and who does what
-
2Ngā Paerewa section 5 and the systems behind safe practice3 lessons
- Inside section 5: infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship
- Te Tiriti, equity and culturally safe infection prevention
- Your part in the system: policies, training and the IPC lead
-
3Standard precautions in everyday practice4 lessons
- Hand hygiene and the five moments
- Personal protective equipment and the hierarchy of controls
- Sharps, safe injection practice and aseptic technique
- The environment, equipment, linen and waste
-
4Transmission-based precautions, resistant organisms and outbreaks3 lessons
- Contact, droplet and airborne precautions
- Multidrug-resistant organisms: screening, placement and alerts
- Outbreaks in hospitals, aged residential care and the community
-
5Notifiable diseases and public health law3 lessons
- The duty to notify under the Health Act 1956
- Part 3A powers, contact tracing and privacy
- Notification and exclusion in practice across professions
-
6Practitioner health, blood-borne viruses and occupational exposure3 lessons
- Your immunity and coming to work unwell
- Blood-borne viruses and exposure-prone procedures
- Needlestick, splash and other occupational exposures
-
7Antimicrobial stewardship, surveillance and learning from infection harm3 lessons
- Antimicrobial stewardship: every prescription and every dispensing
- Surveillance, audit and treating infections as adverse events
- When an IPC concern is raised about you
-
8Conclusion and key points1 lesson
- Conclusion and key points
-
9References and further reading1 lesson
- References and further reading
-
10Your reflective account1 lesson
- Your reflective account
Assessment and certificate
Final assessment
20scenario-based questions
- Pass mark 80%: 16 correct out of 20
- Knowledge checks in each section as you go
- Tests whether you can apply the standards, not recall a page
- Not passed yet? Review the sections and retake it
Certificate of completion
A certificate of completion for your learning portfolio.
- Your name, the course title and the estimated learning time (record the time you actually spend)
- Completion date and a unique certificate ID that can be verified
- Ready to download as a PDF as soon as you complete the course
Fitness To Practice
Certificate of Completion
This certifies that
Your Name
has successfully completed
Infection Prevention and Control
3hours (estimated)
Continuing professional development record — New Zealand
Your reflective account
The course includes a structured reflective account template: guided prompts to record what you learned, how you will apply it and how the change will show in your practice. It gives you written evidence of insight after a concern, and a ready record for your CPD portfolio.
Write it in your own words and leave out anything that could identify a patient, a colleague or a case. If you have an open complaint or case, talk to your adviser before reflecting on it in writing.
Questions about this course
Is the infection control course only for hospital staff?
No. It is written for wards, rest homes and hospital-level aged care, GP practices, pharmacies, maternity units, dental and allied health clinics, ambulance crews and home-based care, with examples for each, so practitioners in small or mobile settings can apply it directly.
Does the course cover notifying infectious diseases?
Yes. It explains notifying the medical officer of health when you reasonably suspect a notifiable disease, without waiting for laboratory confirmation, the Part 3A public health powers, and the privacy rules that apply when you share information about a person's infection.
What does it say about practitioners with blood-borne viruses?
It covers managing your own immunity, infectious illness and occupational exposures, and the obligations for practitioners living with a blood-borne virus, including your authority's standards and when specialist advice or notification is needed. Personal health decisions should be made with your own doctor and specialist advice.
How does the course link IPC to Ngā Paerewa?
It works through section 5 of Ngā Paerewa NZS 8134:2021 and the systems behind safe practice, then the Code of Rights and your responsible authority's standards, so you understand both what your organisation must have in place and what you personally must do.
Will the IPC course satisfy my employer's mandatory infection control training?
Not necessarily. Employers set their own mandatory modules, and this course is not approved by any responsible authority or employer. It is a 3-hour CPD course with a 20-question test, certificate and reflective account for NZ$139 that you can record where relevant to your PDP.
How this course was built
Official sources only
Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: the HPCA Act 2003, the responsible authorities' standards and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights. Anything we cannot confirm is left out.
Original, edition by edition
Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.
Reviewed when rules change
When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.
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