Over one million people have completed the Australian Government’s Infection Control Training Module: How to protect yourself and the people you are caring for from infection with COVID-19.
This training is part of the Government’s health response to COVID-19, to support our key people working in the health and aged care sector in this crucial training.
Since 15 March, over one million people in Australia have completed this course so they have the knowledge and skills to better deal with COVID-19 infection prevention and control.
The Infection Control Training Module and other COVID-19 modules for Aged Care and Indigenous Health are being widely used across the country.
This includes people working in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, aged care, disability, hospitals, pharmacies and dental practices as well as people allied to the care sector such as cleaners and cooks.
The training module covers the fundamentals of infection prevention and control for COVID-19 including:
- COVID-19 – what is it?
- Signs and symptoms
- Keeping safe – protecting yourself and others
- Myth busting
The COVID-19 health emergency is a global crisis and this is why the Government has made the training module available internationally.
In addition to the more than one million completions in Australia, more than 120 countries have enrolled in the course with the highest enrolments in India, the Philippines, Bangladesh and New Zealand.
The module takes approximately 30 minutes, with a questionnaire at the end, and a certificate of completion is available online.
Free COVID-19 Aged Care and Indigenous Health Modules are also available online at the resources website and the training website.
In a major boost for primary health care, the Australian Government is further strengthening telehealth arrangements as recommended by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and other medical experts.
Under stage seven of telehealth reforms announced earlier last week, Medicare-subsidised telehealth services, introduced as a key part of the COVID-19 response, will now promote patients receiving continuous care from a patient’s regular GP or medical practice.
Telehealth has been enthusiastically accepted by doctors and patents alike and the government is engaged with the medical community in planning a long-term future for telehealth. The governments hopes and intends for telehealth to be a positive legacy of this crisis.
Further, Australia’s first treatment option for people severely ill with COVID-19 has received provisional approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
The TGA approval has granted the drug provisional approval for use in adults and adolescent patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms who have been hospitalised.
Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, welcomed the approval, and said it would be available to Australians who were severely unwell, requiring oxygen or high-level support to breathe, and in hospital care.