Providing health care face to face during COVID-19
How to protect yourself and your patients
Health care workers and carers should take infection prevention and control
precautions when caring for patients face to face.
If you are a health care worker or aged care worker, you should complete a
30-minute online training module. This
will help you understand the signs and symptoms of COVID-19, and how to keep everyone safe.
To protect yourself and those in your care, especially those at risk of severe
disease:

practise and encourage good hand hygiene — wash hands before and after putting on PPE or contact with the patient
assess the patient’s risk of COVID-19 before face-to-face contact occurs, and then use PPE as appropriate for the risk and setting
provide your patient with a surgical mask to wear if he or she is in quarantine from being exposed to COVID-19, or has respiratory symptoms 
follow physical distancing guidance, maintaining a distance of 1.5 metres from the patient where possible
regularly clean the environment and equipment

Immediately let your employer know if you:

think you came into contact with someone who has COVID-19 without using appropriate PPE
have symptoms of a respiratory illness, even if they are mild

In these circumstances, seek medical assessment and advice about COVID-19
testing. Stop providing care face to face until you have been cleared to
return to work. Read about when you can and can’t work.
Paramedics and ambulance first responders
Paramedics and ambulance first responders who are assessing and treating
patients in isolation or quarantine should:

take contact and droplet precautions for routine care of patients
take contact and airborne precautions when performing aerosol generating procedures, including intubation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
notify the receiving hospital
put vehicle ventilation in both compartments on non-recirculated mode during transport
use rear exhaust fan, if there is one, to draw air away from the cab, toward the back end of the vehicle
be aware of specific guidelines relating to your jurisdiction

Read more information for paramedics and ambulance first responders about
treating COVID-19 patients.
Life-threatening situations
When providing clinical care in life-threatening situations, such as CPR, to a
patient with suspected COVID-19, protect yourself by:

using appropriate PPE for the procedures, ensuring careful donning and doffing
performing good hand hygiene
immediately notifying your employer if you didn’t use appropriate PPE or you think a breach in PPE has occurred

Online training
A 30-minute online module — COVID-19 infection control
training — is
available for care workers across all health care settings.
This training is hosted on an external site, provided by our COVID-19 training
partner Aspen Medical.
Register now
Publications and fact sheets
See our resources for health professionals on providing health care during
COVID-19.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) resources for health professionals, including aged
care providers, pathology providers and health care
managers
A collection of resources for health professionals, including aged care
providers, pathology providers and health care managers, about coronavirus
(COVID-19).
Webinars
Stay up to date with our webinars on the coronavirus (COVID-19) response for
the health and aged care sector.