Infection Prevention & Control (IPC)

Develop practical healthcare knowledge with an infection prevention and control course covering precautions, HAIs, environmental controls, surveillance and IPC governance.

  • 4.5 (50 reviews)
  • 85 students
  • 7 hours
Course Type: Interactive
Course Language: English
Course Region: United States (US)
Course Preview Image Intermediate
  • Trust badge
  • Trust badge

Get this this CPD‑Accredited programme now. Be secure with a SSL-secured payment backed up by a 14‑day money‑back guarantee.

Overview

Healthcare-associated infections, occupational exposure, contaminated equipment, ineffective cleaning, inappropriate patient placement and weak surveillance can cause avoidable harm to patients, healthcare workers and organisations. This infection prevention and control course online develops the knowledge needed to recognise transmission risks, apply established precautions and understand how effective IPC systems support patient safety, quality care and workforce protection. The World Health Organization describes IPC as a practical, evidence-based approach to preventing avoidable infections affecting patients and health workers. 

Learners explore the chain of infection, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, respiratory controls, injection safety, transmission-based precautions and the prevention of major healthcare-associated infections. The course also covers environmental cleaning, medical device reprocessing, healthcare waste, WASH infrastructure, surveillance, documentation, antimicrobial resistance and IPC governance. Global principles are considered alongside selected United States frameworks, including CDC guidance, NHSN surveillance, CMS requirements, OSHA standards and Joint Commission expectations.

What Is Infection Prevention and Control Training?

Infection prevention and control training teaches healthcare personnel and supporting teams how infections spread and how organised precautions can interrupt transmission. It combines clinical, environmental, occupational and organisational controls to protect patients, staff, visitors and the wider healthcare environment.

Effective IPC is not limited to handwashing or PPE. It includes risk assessment, safe procedures, patient placement, respiratory hygiene, environmental decontamination, equipment reprocessing, surveillance, reporting, staff education and programme governance. WHO’s core components provide a foundation for building effective IPC programmes at national and healthcare-facility levels, while CDC guidance distinguishes between Standard Precautions for all patient care and additional Transmission-Based Precautions for suspected or confirmed infection risks. 

Who Should Take Infection Prevention and Control Training?

This course is suitable for:

  • Nurses, nursing assistants and clinical support workers who need to understand precautions, exposure prevention and healthcare-associated infection risks.

  • Doctors, allied health professionals and healthcare students seeking structured IPC knowledge for clinical environments.

  • Infection prevention team members and aspiring infection preventionists who require a broad introduction to surveillance, governance and prevention systems.

  • Healthcare managers, supervisors and clinical governance personnel responsible for policies, staff compliance, patient safety or quality improvement.

  • Care workers and support staff strengthening their infection-control knowledge alongside broader Care Certificate training.

  • Environmental services, cleaning, laundry and waste-management teams responsible for healthcare hygiene and contamination control.

  • Sterile processing, decontamination and medical-device personnel who need awareness of cleaning, disinfection, sterilisation and reprocessing principles.

  • Occupational health, compliance and safety professionals responsible for sharps exposure, worker protection, documentation or regulatory alignment.

What Does an Infection Prevention and Control Course Cover?

This IPC course covers the scientific principles of infection transmission and the practical controls used to interrupt the chain of infection. Learners examine Standard Precautions, hand hygiene compliance, PPE selection, respiratory hygiene, safe injections, sharps management and occupational exposure prevention.

The course then progresses to contact, droplet and airborne precautions; high-risk organisms; central-line, urinary-catheter and surgical-site infection prevention; isolation and cohorting; environmental hygiene; device reprocessing; WASH; surveillance; NHSN reporting; programme governance and legal responsibilities. CDC guidance identifies Standard Precautions as the baseline for all patient care and recommends implementing Transmission-Based Precautions promptly when clinical presentation suggests a transmissible infection.

Why Is Infection Prevention and Control Critical to Healthcare Quality?

Poor infection prevention practices can expose patients and healthcare workers to preventable transmission, disrupt services, increase treatment requirements and undermine confidence in an organisation’s quality systems. Strong IPC programmes therefore combine practical controls with leadership, surveillance, documentation, education and continual improvement.

Patient and workforce harm: Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions help reduce exposure through contact, droplets, airborne particles, blood, body fluids, contaminated equipment and environmental surfaces. Sharps injuries may also expose workers to bloodborne pathogens, which is why OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard establishes exposure-control requirements for covered United States workplaces.

Operational and financial impact: Healthcare-associated infections can result in additional care, prolonged treatment, staff absence, bed pressures, investigations and corrective action. In the United States, CMS Conditions of Participation include health and safety requirements for participating hospitals, while the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program links aspects of Medicare payment to hospital performance on specified conditions. 

Antimicrobial resistance: Effective IPC reduces infection transmission and can reduce the need for antimicrobial treatment. WHO identifies infection prevention, sanitation and hygiene as important parts of the response to antimicrobial resistance. 

Inspection and governance concerns: Weak documentation, inconsistent precautions, inadequate environmental controls and poorly defined accountability may create gaps during internal audits, accreditation reviews or regulatory inspections. Joint Commission IPC requirements emphasise organised infection-prevention activities, evidence-based practices and alignment with applicable law and recognised guidance. 

By completing this online IPC course, learners can build stronger risk awareness, interpret infection-control responsibilities more confidently and contribute to safer, more consistent healthcare practices. Employers can also use the course to support staff development, refresher training and wider patient-safety objectives alongside facility procedures and role-specific competency assessment.

What you'll learn

By completing this course, learners will be able to:

  • Define infection prevention and control and explain its role in healthcare safety.
  • Describe the chain of infection and major routes of pathogen transmission.
  • Differentiate Standard Precautions from contact, droplet and airborne precautions.
  • Identify appropriate hand hygiene, PPE and respiratory-control principles.
  • Explain safe injection, sharps and occupational exposure-prevention requirements.
  • Recognise risks associated with MRSA, C. difficile, MDROs and antimicrobial resistance.
  • Outline prevention principles for central-line, urinary-catheter and surgical-site infections.
  • Assess basic patient-placement, isolation and cohorting considerations.
  • Distinguish cleaning, disinfection, sterilization and medical-device reprocessing activities.
  • Explain safe approaches to healthcare waste, linen, spill and environmental management.
  • Interpret the purpose of IPC surveillance, NHSN reporting and HAI data.
  • Evaluate how leadership, documentation, ethics and regulatory expectations support an effective IPC programme.

Certification

Certification

After completing the course, learners will receive a Certificate of Completion from Global Safety Academy.

The certificate demonstrates that the learner has completed structured training covering infection transmission, precautions, healthcare-associated infection prevention, environmental controls, surveillance and IPC responsibilities. It can support professional-development records and employer training documentation, but it does not provide a clinical licence, government approval, professional status or exemption from mandatory practical training.

Certification

Course Curriculum

6 lessons

•

7 hours total length

6 lessons

•

7 hours total length

Module 01 – Foundations of Infection Prevention & Control

5 lessons
  • Define IPC and explain its purpose.
  • Describe the chain of infection and identify interruption points.
  • Recognize common transmission routes in healthcare.
  • Understand who is most vulnerable to infection.
  • Connect IPC to global principles and WHO Core Components.

Module 02 – Applying Standard Precautions in Everyday Care

5 lessons
  • Apply hand hygiene theory and compliance strategies.
  • Correctly select and use PPE.
  • Practice respiratory hygiene and source control.
  • Follow safe injection and sharps management protocols.
  • Prevent occupational exposures.

Module 03 – Transmission-Based Precautions and High-Risk Pathogens

6 lessons
  • Recognize when and why to use transmission-based precautions.
  • Differentiate between contact, droplet, and airborne precautions.
  • Identify environmental and surface-mediated transmission risks.
  • Describe control strategies for MRSA, C. difficile, and MDROs.
  • Understand antimicrobial resistance and the role of stewardship.
  • Appreciate the importance of team communication and workflow.

Module 04 – Preventing Device- and Procedure-Related Infections

4 lessons
  • Apply evidence-based strategies to prevent CLABSI (Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection), CAUTI (Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection), and SSI (Surgical Site Infection).
  • Use daily device review and documentation practices to ensure timely removal and proper management of medical devices.
  • Implement effective patient placement, isolation, and cohorting to minimize the risk of infection transmission.
  • Recognize the importance of teamwork and communication in infection prevention systems to foster a culture of safety.

Module 05 – Environmental and Facility Controls for Safer Care

5 lessons
  • Apply environmental cleaning and disinfection protocols
  • Understand medical device reprocessing and sterilization
  • Manage healthcare waste, linen, and spills safely
  • Recognize the importance of WASH infrastructure and facility hygiene
  • Identify and solve common facility-level IPC challenges

Module 06 – IPC Governance, Surveillance, and Legal Responsibilities

5 lessons
  • Understand the structure and responsibilities of IPC programs and infection preventionists.
  • Recognize the importance of surveillance, NHSN reporting, and data interpretation.
  • Identify key US regulatory requirements for IPC, including those from the CDC, CMS, OSHA, and the Joint Commission.
  • Apply ethical principles, documentation best practices, and lessons learned from legal cases.
  • Connect individual actions to organizational accountability and patient safety.

Requirements

No formal infection-control qualification or professional experience is required. The course begins with foundational concepts before progressing to intermediate topics such as healthcare-associated infection systems, NHSN surveillance and IPC governance.

Learners working in healthcare, care, cleaning, decontamination, quality, safety or compliance roles may find the content particularly relevant. A reliable internet connection and suitable device are required.

Learners should have:

  • An interest in applying the learning in a workplace or professional setting
  • An interest in infection prevention and its practical responsibilities
  • A device with internet access
  • Desktop or laptop access recommended for the best learning experience

Why Choose Us

Global Safety Academy provides structured online training designed to connect professional knowledge with real workplace responsibilities. This infection prevention and control course moves beyond basic hygiene awareness by covering transmission science, healthcare-associated infections, environmental controls, surveillance, governance and selected regulatory frameworks.

The self-paced format allows healthcare professionals, support staff and organisational teams to study flexibly from different locations and devices. Clear explanations, applied scenarios, assessment preparation and certificate-based completion help learners document their professional development.

Learners choose Global Safety Academy because the training is:

  • Clear, structured, and easy to follow
  • Suitable for busy professionals and teams
  • Focused on real workplace and professional challenges
  • Built around practical application rather than abstract theory
  • Written in accessible Global English
  • Designed for international learners and organisations
  • Supported by certificate-based completion

Career Opportunities

This course can support professionals working in or moving towards roles such as:

  • Infection prevention and control assistant
  • Infection prevention programme coordinator
  • Healthcare quality-improvement officer
  • Patient-safety coordinator
  • Clinical governance assistant
  • Occupational health coordinator
  • Healthcare compliance or audit assistant
  • Environmental services supervisor
  • Sterile processing or decontamination team member
  • Nursing or care professional with IPC responsibilities

The course can support professional development by strengthening knowledge of infection risks, precautions, healthcare-associated infections, surveillance and governance. It may also help learners prepare for additional workplace responsibilities, but it does not guarantee employment or independently qualify someone for a regulated clinical or specialist IPC role.

Share This Course

Frequently Asked Questions

Infection prevention and control is an evidence-based approach to reducing avoidable infection risks in healthcare and related settings. It includes precautions, hygiene, environmental controls, equipment reprocessing, surveillance, staff education and organisational systems designed to interrupt transmission. 

The course is suitable for healthcare professionals, care personnel, support teams, supervisors, environmental services staff and people moving towards IPC-related responsibilities. It is particularly relevant where work involves patient contact, contaminated equipment, body fluids, clinical environments, cleaning, waste, surveillance or healthcare governance.

Training requirements depend on the learner’s role, employer, healthcare setting and jurisdiction. Healthcare organisations commonly need role-appropriate IPC education to support their policies and legal or regulatory duties, but this course does not determine whether a particular learner has met a local mandatory-training requirement.

The course covers infection transmission, Standard Precautions, PPE, hand hygiene, respiratory controls, sharps safety, transmission-based precautions, HAIs, environmental hygiene, medical-device reprocessing, WASH, surveillance and governance. It also introduces NHSN reporting and selected CDC, CMS, OSHA and Joint Commission requirements.

The estimated completion time is approximately eight hours. Actual study time will vary according to the learner’s prior knowledge, reading pace and time spent reviewing the modules and assessments.

This is an intermediate-level course. It begins with essential IPC concepts but progresses into healthcare-associated infection systems, surveillance, regulatory responsibilities, data interpretation and programme governance.

No formal prior experience is required. Basic familiarity with healthcare environments may be helpful, but the course explains the foundational concepts before progressing to more technical IPC responsibilities.

Yes. After completing the course, learners receive a Certificate of Completion from Global Safety Academy. The certificate demonstrates completion of structured IPC learning but is not a professional licence, clinical credential or specialist infection-prevention certification.

No. Online learning can develop knowledge and awareness, but it cannot independently verify every practical skill. Employers may still need to assess hand hygiene technique, PPE donning and removal, device procedures, cleaning methods, sharps practices and other role-specific competencies through supervised workplace assessment.

No. The course combines global IPC principles with selected United States frameworks. WHO principles provide the global foundation, while the curriculum also introduces CDC guidance, NHSN surveillance, CMS requirements, OSHA worker-protection standards and Joint Commission expectations. Learners must still follow the rules applying in their own jurisdiction and workplace.

Student Reviews

4.5

50 reviews

5 star
85%
4 star
12%
3 star
2%
2 star
1%
1 star
1%