Miss Kathleena Condon1, Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman2,5, Mr Matthew Mason3,5, Miss Vanessa Sparke4,5
1School of Public Health, Griffith University, Southport, Australia
2School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University, Southport, Australia
3School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, University of the Sunshine Coast , Sippy Downs, Australia
4College of Healthcare Sciences, James Cook University, Smithfield, Australia
5Collaborative for the Advancement of Infection Prevention and Control, , Australia
Introduction: The current global pandemic has highlighted the importance of, and crucial role public health professionals play in responding to, mitigating and controlling public health emergencies. Foundational knowledge and skills in applying infection prevention and control (IPC) practices, are key for public health professionals and are vital tools in the prevention and control of communicable diseases. This research article aims to describe and analyse the current IPC curricula within Public Health degrees across Australian and New Zealand Universities and identify foundational IPC knowledge deficits.
Methods: An in-depth audit of public health and related programs across tertiary education institutions within Australia and New Zealand was conducted to comprehensively illustrate the current inclusion of IPC core and elective courses and identify areas of IPC content deficit.
Results: Australian (n=32) and New Zealand (n=9) universities were audited, consisting of 217 public health/public health related degrees within Australia and 45 within New Zealand. Within Australia 41% of public health degrees and 49% in New Zealand did not offer any IPC content as core or elective subjects.
Conclusion: Public health tertiary education in Australia and New Zealand is lacking in equipping and imbedding IPC skills and knowledge in public health graduates. This highlights the need for a framework guiding mandatory IPC content within Australian and New Zealand public health programs. This report is the first of its kind to conduct such an audit and highlights existing educational deficits, provides the foundation for future research and framework for implementing mandatory inclusion of IPC content.
Biography: Kathleena Condon completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in clinical sciences and then undertook a Master of Public Health focussing on Infection Prevention and Control and the tertiary education and preparation of Public Health professionals. She has also completed a Graduate Diploma of Clinical Physiology and is passionate about clinical education, patient safety and wellbeing and improving both patient and clinician outcomes.