COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Infection Control Practices in Healthcare Settings course. This program will equip you with the essential principles, procedures, and professional responsibilities required to prevent and control infection across healthcare environments. You will explore how infections occur, how transmission can be interrupted, and how healthcare workers can protect themselves, their colleagues, and their patients from infection risks. This course also examines organisational policies, clinical techniques, environmental controls, and risk-management practices that support safe and effective healthcare delivery.

This course begins by examining the principles of infection control and the chain of infection, followed by an exploration of the body’s defence mechanisms and the strategies used to control healthcare-associated infections. You will explore how infectious agents are controlled or eliminated, how transmission is prevented, and how reservoirs of infection within healthcare environments are managed. This section also introduces basic infection control practices, the technique for handwashing, the technique for applying alcohol-based hand rub, and the factors that influence hand-hygiene practices. You will explore the risk factors for poor hand-hygiene adherence, the self-reported barriers to compliance, the technique for open gloving, and the steps involved in gowning and closed gloving. This section also covers droplet, airborne, and contact precautions, the infection-control requirements for immunocompromised patients, and the causes behind the rise in nosocomial infections.

The next learning area focuses on standard and additional infection control procedures. You will explore the standard precautions used to prevent infection spread, the standard infection control procedures applied in everyday clinical practice, and when healthcare workers should wash their hands. This section examines the different methods of handwashing, what is commonly missed during the handwashing process, and the steps required for effective hand hygiene. You will also explore aseptic practices and the measures used to achieve asepsis, safe disposal of sharps, the handling of laboratory specimens, and the management of blood and body-substance spills, including how to use a spills kit. This section further examines the handling of non-hazardous spills, the infection control policies and procedures that guide practice, and the safe handling and disposal of potentially infectious materials.

A further part of the program explores waste management and additional precautions. You will learn what waste is, the categories of healthcare waste, and how to handle pathology specimens safely. This section also explains what medical waste is, what cytotoxic waste involves, and how additional precautionary procedures prevent transmission in high-risk clinical areas. You will explore how to apply additional precautions, how to identify and report infection risks, how infection can happen in clinical settings, and the ways the chain of infection can be broken. This section also outlines the types of infection risks, how people become infected, and the nature, sites, and causes of nosocomial infections.

The final learning area focuses on environmental controls and operational safety. You will explore safe food-handling practices, including the steps to follow when preparing or serving food, and how to handle soiled linen safely to prevent cross-contamination. This section also examines environmental controls designed to limit pathogen spread, how to identify other potential sources of infection, and how to apply risk assessment and risk-management practices to maintain a safe clinical environment for patients and staff.

By the end of this course you will be able to apply infection prevention and control principles, use correct clinical techniques, follow standard and additional precautions, manage clinical and environmental hazards safely, interrupt transmission pathways, and contribute to a healthcare setting that consistently protects patients and workers from infection risks.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

·       The principles of infection control

·       The chain of infection

·       The body’s defence mechanisms

·       The strategies to control health and social care associated infection

·       The control or elimination of the infectious agent

·       The control of transmission

·       The reservoir control

·       The basic infection control

·       The technique for hand washing

·       The technique for applying alcohol-based hand rub

·       The factors influencing hand-hygiene practices

·       The risk factors to poor adherence to hand-hygiene practices

·       The self-reported factors for poor adherence with hand hygiene

·       The technique for open gloving

·       The technique for gowning and closed gloving

·       The droplet, airborne and contact precautions

·       The immunocompromised patients

·       The causes of an increase in nosocomial infections

·       The standard precautions to prevent the spread of infection

·       The standard infection control procedures

·       When should health and social care workers wash their hands?

·       The methods of hand washing

·       What is commonly missed in hand washing?

·       The steps for washing hands

·       The aseptic practices and the measures followed to achieve asepsis

·       The disposal of sharps

·       The laboratory specimens

·       The blood and body substance spills

·       How to use a spills kit?

·       The non-hazardous spills

·       The infection control policies and procedures

·       The safe handling and disposal of potentially infectious materials

·       What is waste? And what are the categories of waste?

·       How to handle pathology specimens?

·       What is medical waste?

·       What is cytotoxic waste?

·       The additional infection control procedures

·       How to apply additional precautions to prevent transmission of infection?

·       How to identify and report risks of infection?

·       How infection can happen?

·       The ways to break the chain of infection

·       The types of infection risks

·       How people are infected?

·       The nosocomial infections and the sites and causes of nosocomial infections

·       Food handling and the steps to follow when preparing or serving food

·       How to handle soiled linen?

·       The environmental controls

·       How to identify other sources of infection?

·       Risk assessment and management

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 3-4 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.