Infection Control in Aged CareCOURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to the Infection Control in Aged Care course. This program will equip you with the essential knowledge, preventive strategies, and workplace practices required to protect residents, staff, and visitors from infection risks in aged care environments. You will explore how infections arise, how they spread, and how rigorous infection control measures reduce illness, complications, and outbreaks. This course also explains the

COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Infection Control in Aged Care course. This program will equip you with the essential knowledge, preventive strategies, and workplace practices required to protect residents, staff, and visitors from infection risks in aged care environments. You will explore how infections arise, how they spread, and how rigorous infection control measures reduce illness, complications, and outbreaks. This course also explains the organisational responsibilities, staff procedures, and resident-centred care practices that support a safe and healthy aged care facility.

This course begins by examining what is meant by infection control and the strategies that form an overall infection control approach in residential aged care settings. You will explore the role of infection control education, the aims and objectives of infection control programs, and what facility management must do to maintain effective infection control. This section also explains the key principles of infection control, the source, transmission, and spread of infection, and the elements involved in the transmission of infectious agents. You will explore examples of infection reservoirs within facilities, the ways disease-producing micro-organisms exit a reservoir, and the means by which pathogens are transmitted.

This section also examines how micro-organisms enter susceptible people, the routes of transmission, and the concepts of exogenous infection and endogenous infection. You will learn how cross infection can occur from one resident or staff member to others, how airborne transmission can be prevented, and the common organisms involved in self-infection along with their usual body sites. This section concludes with the principles of infection prevention, how infections are commonly acquired in residential aged care facilities, when standard precautions must be used, and key infection control concerns such as MRSA and VRE, including how enterococcal bacteria are spread person-to-person.

The next learning area focuses on infection control procedures and practices in aged care centres. You will explore staff-centred procedures that form the foundation of safe work practices, including the requirements for routine and clinical handwashing and the correct use of protective clothing. This section also examines equipment-oriented procedures, including how to safely handle equipment, how to dispose of sharps, and the procedures for collecting clinical specimens. You will also explore how to manage spills of biological material using approved cleaning and disinfection processes that reduce risk and prevent wider contamination.

A further part of the program examines resident-centred procedures and infection prevention within direct care activities. You will learn the infection control procedures for enteral feeding, including maintaining cleanliness of equipment and protecting residents from contamination. This section also explains the correct care of gastrostomy tubes, infection prevention principles associated with indwelling urinary catheters, and the procedures required for safe and hygienic condom drainage. These topics highlight the importance of maintaining sterile or aseptic technique, recognising signs of infection, and following organisational protocols for resident care.

By the end of this course you will be able to understand how infections occur and spread in aged care facilities, apply infection control principles and standard precautions, follow staff-centred and equipment-based procedures correctly, support residents through safe clinical care practices, and contribute to a facility-wide culture of infection prevention that protects vulnerable individuals and maintains a safe care environment.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

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

• What is meant by infection control?
• The strategies of an overall infection control approach
• Infection control education
• Infection control aims and objectives
• What should facility management do to maintain effective infection control?
• The principles of infection control
• The source, transmission, and spread of infection
• The elements in the transmission of infection
• Examples of reservoirs of infection in a facility
• The exit of the disease-producing micro-organisms from the reservoir
• The means of transmitting disease-producing microorganisms
• The micro-organism’s entry into susceptible people
• The route of transmission
• The exogenous infection
• How cross infection from a resident or member of staff to others can occur?
• How to stop infection being transferred by the airborne route?
• The endogenous infection
• The common organisms of self-infection, and their usual body sites
• The principles of infection prevention
• How infection is usually acquired in residential facilities?
• When standard precautions should be used?
• Multiple-resistant (or methicillin-resistant) Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE)
• How enterococcal bacteria are most commonly spread from person-to-person?
• The infection control procedures and practices in aged care centres
• The staff-centred procedures
• The procedures for routine and clinical hand-washing
• The protective clothing of staff
• The equipment-oriented procedures
• The procedures that should be observed when disposing sharps
• The procedures that should be followed when collecting specimens
• How to manage spills of biological material?
• The resident-centred procedures
• The procedures for enteral feeding
• Care of the gastrostomy tube
• Indwelling urinary catheters
• The condom drainage procedures

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 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”.