Foundations of IPC

Individual bookings

Use the following button to book individual students into the Foundations of IPC course. If you pay by credit card when booking, the student will be allocated to the next available course.

Group staff Bookings for FIPC

Use the following button to book four or more staff into the Foundations of IPC course. 

Foundations of IPC poster

Overview

The ACIPC Foundations of Infection Prevention and Control (Foundations of IPC) course provides a valuable pathway for further learning and is an important resource for those wishing to pursue a career as an infection control professional.

With 11 self-paced modules, this course allows participants to apply knowledge to their own practice. Foundations is a key component to achieving the ACIPC Primary Credential (CICP-P). The program has been designed to accommodate busy work schedules, with a series of self-directed learning units supported by a structured online curriculum. Topics include: environmental hygiene, outbreak management, employee health, surveillance, epidemiology and microbiology. This course reflects recent evidence, guidelines and standards.

Overall learning objectives

• Comprehensively understand the role of the infection prevention and control practitioner and apply this learning in their setting.
• Understand the application of clinical indicators to their practice and apply this knowledge through audit and surveillance activities.
• Develop and design an infection prevention and control program and a site-specific infection management plan relevant to their setting using a clinical governance framework.
• Understand the rationale for and apply standard and transmission-based precautions in their setting.
• Evaluate, review and develop site-specific tools and strategies to aid compliance with evidence-based infection control practice, policies, and guidelines.
• Critique and apply site-appropriate strategies to support clinician-driven change in organisational behaviour.
• Initiate and communicate effectively within the interdisciplinary team in the management of infection prevention and control.

Cost

• $1520 for ACIPC Members
• $1820 for non-members

Course length

The course study is designed to be completed in approximately 80-90 hours. We expect students to allocate 6-8 hours of study per module including answering key questions and completing the quizzes. Students who have not studied in a long time or where infection prevention and control is a new concept may take longer to complete each module and the assessments. The expected 80-90 hours of study includes preparing, drafting and submitting the final 3000-word assignment.
The course text book Microbiology and Infection Control for Health Professionals (Lee and Bishop 2015) is available to students as an e book for the duration of the course.

Academic integrity

As part of the Foundations of IPC course, students will be required to complete a short module, Academic Integrity Explained. This will take about 30 minutes to complete. The AIE lesson is the first activity in the FIPC course.

Completion date

Each course is spread over approximately 24 weeks and a course deadline is advised. After this date, a student who has not completed the course work and submitted the final assignment will be deemed to have not passed the course.

Course assessment

The assessments include several online key questions (100-200-word discussion points), 11 quizzes and a 3,000-word written assignment.

Posting to all key questions contributes 20% to your final grade. The quizzes provide up to 20%, e.g. if you score 100% on all 11 quizzes, you will receive 20% towards your final grade. For the third assessment, the final assignment, which contributes 60% to the course total, you require a minimum of 50% to pass the course overall.

Accelerated delivery

Due to the impact of COVID, the College has taken the decision to make all course material available from the first week of the course. This will allow the course to be completed before the designated course deadline for some students. The capacity to complete the course early will depend on an individual student’s prior IPC knowledge and experience, their recent academic and assignment writing experience, and the support provided by their employer.

Students and their employers should consider the course level (AQF8), the student’s IPC and academic experience, and the employer’s capacity to support a student, for example with paid study leave, when considering if a student will be able to complete the course before the designated deadline.

CPD hours

Students may be able to apply for CPD points through their relevant body. The CPD points are not issued by the ACIPC. As noted above, we expect the study time required as approximately 80-90 hours. Each individual student will need to consider the hours they claim when submitting their application to their relevant body.

Course facilitator

Each course has a facilitator that will be able to assist you with questions regarding the course material, provide direction and updates, and will review a draft of your assignment and provide feedback. You will use the question and answer forum in Moodle to engage with your facilitator and other students. Whilst we encourage students to use the Moodle platform, we understand that sometimes a student will need to contact their facilitator directly and contact details will be provided.

Target audience

This course is designed for professionals working in the areas of health and allied health care, acute care, rural and remote health, residential aged care, community health and health policy. This course will also benefit professionals who work in environments that require infection prevention and control strategies to be implemented such as veterinary practice.

Foundations of Infection Prevention and Control modules

1. Introductory concepts in infection prevention and control: microbiology, immunology and epidemiology
2. Exploring the concepts and science of HAI prevention: hand hygiene, standard and transmission-based precautions
3. Surveillance and audit: concepts and application
4. Cleaning, decontamination and sterilisation: environmental hygiene & management of reusable devices
5. Outbreak management: communicable disease notifications
6. Multi-resistant organisms: antimicrobial stewardship
7. Aseptic technique and invasive devices: management and evaluation
8. International and Australian oversight of infection prevention and control strategies: clinical governance – responding to standards and guidance
9. Theories of leadership and motivation: professional issues
10. Employee health: vaccination, sharps safety, pregnancy. Blood and body fluid exposure response and management
11. Practice specific settings: aged Care, haemodialysis, invasive procedure settings, the built environment.

Pathways after completing Foundations

The Foundations of IPC course is designed at AQF8 level to ensure that graduates are given a pathway to achieving ACIPC credentialling and may consider further post-graduate study.

Further information regarding applying for Primary Credentialling can be found here – Primary Credentialling

Primary Credentialling Roadmap

Recognised prior learning (RPL) for completing Foundations

Each University applies recognition of prior learning (RPL) and credit to their programs in slightly different ways. When enrolling in a university postgraduate graduate certificate or diploma, FIPC graduates may apply for credit for completing the Foundations of IPC. The College will provide a certificate of completion and academic transcript, which can be used as evidence for your University application and these documents will include the learning objectives, assessments and hours of learning.

Registered Training Organisation (RTO)

ACIPC is not a Registered Training Organisation (RTO). ACIPC is a member-based organisation for professionals working in IPC. The Foundations of IPC (FIPC) is a professional development course designed at AQF8 level to ensure that graduates are given a pathway to achieving ACIPC credentialling and may consider further post-graduate study. The Foundations of IPC course provides a valuable pathway for further learning and is an important resource for those wishing to pursue a career as an infection control professional.

Aged Care Infection Prevention and Control Leads

The Department of Health and Aged Care sets the requirements for the IPC Leads in residential aged care homes and determines the IPC specialist courses suitable for the IPC Lead role. The following training courses meet the requirements of the department:

• Foundations of Infection Prevention and Control for Aged Care Staff 
• Graduate Certificate in Infection Prevention and Control, Griffith University
• Master in Infection Prevention and Control, Griffith University
• Graduate Certificate of Infection Control, James Cook University
• Graduate Certificate in Nursing Science (Infection Control Nursing), University of Adelaide.

For more information visit the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website:

https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/infection-prevention-and-control-leads

Terms and conditions

Please read ACIPC’s standard terms and conditions – www.acipc.org.au/terms. It is each student’s responsibility to ensure they have read and understood the terms and conditions before enrolling for ACIPC’s Foundations of Infection Prevention and Control course.

FAQs

Q. What do I need to complete the course?
A. You will need a reliable computer and internet connection to access the online material and to write your assignment. You will also need a good internet connection to enable you to access the online material. Some computers internal speakers aren’t great quality, so some plug-in speakers or a set of headphones might assist in listening to lectures. This is often an inexpensive item.

Q. Do I need to purchase any textbooks?
A. No, you are not required to purchase any textbooks. However, for those that work as an Infection Control Professional you may find the recommended text very beneficial to your daily practice. All the materials that you need are found online. This includes online notes, readings, articles, lectures and activities

Q. I haven’t studied for a long time; will the College help me learn?
A. The College will provide guidelines, instructions and feedback to help you learn the skills required. However, we won’t be teaching you how to write essays or how to use the internet. We also include some resources for academic assignment writing.

Q. Can I go on holiday or can I take leave during my study?
A. As an adult learner, it is your responsibility to keep up to date with weekly activities and assessment deadlines. The course facilitator or administration will not chase you if you do not complete activities or assessment. As the material is available online and designed as self-directed modules you can set your own pace. This generally means that students who regularly complete modules and the assessments during the course, can factor in short breaks during the course.

Q. What if I get sick or feel overwhelmed with study?
A. If you become unwell or feel overwhelmed during assessment time you can contact the education manager to apply for an extension by emailing education@acipic.org.au. The education manager will make reasonable adjustments to assessment deadlines. However, in some situations this will not be possible if the request is outside of the course timeframe.

Q. Who will be able to support me with course material?
A. Your course facilitator will be able to assist you with questions regarding the course material. The office team cannot assist you with course material. Use the Question and Answer Forum within the Communication section in Moodle to communicate with your facilitator. Other students within the course will be able to see your question and the facilitator’s answer. Your facilitator will have posted their email address within your course. Whilst we encourage students to use the Q&A function, we understand that sometimes students will need to contact a facilitator directly.

Q. Can my staff get recognised prior learning?
A. Prior learning will potentially reduce the time required for a student to complete the course. A student with prior learning in other higher-level courses and IPC specific courses could move through the whole course quicker and complete the final assessment essay. It would not mean they could skip certain modules though, so there isn’t recognition of prior learning (RPL). The course needs to be completed as a whole.

Q. How do I support my staff/students?
A. It is critical employers engage directly with their employees/students over the duration of the Foundations of IPC course. The Aged Care IPC Clinical Lead students will need support from their employers to undertake the study in an accelerated format, including paid study leave as required. The support required by individual students will vary given the broad range of staff undertaking the course. We recommend once students have accessed the course and begin working on the modules employers talk with individual students to assess their personal requirements. The course is delivered and assessed at an AQF8 level. Each course has a facilitator and students who will facilitate the students’ learning and will engage with that person on course content, material and assessment. As the course is self-paced, different students will progress through individual modules at different speeds.

Questions

If you have any questions, please email learning@acipc.org.au for more information.