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Core course for every profession

Teamwork and Collaboration in Healthcare: Handover, Escalation and Safe Interprofessional Practice

Handover, Escalation and Working Safely Across Professions

  • 2 CPD hoursEstimated learning time
  • 15-question assessmentPass mark 80%
  • Online, self-pacedStart any time
  • CertificateFor your CPD records

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About this course

When care goes wrong, the cause is rarely that someone did not know enough. More often a concern was not escalated, a result fell between two clinicians, a medicine change did not reach the GP, or a junior colleague saw the problem and did not feel able to say so. These are teamwork failures, and the codes of conduct and the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards treat them as professional and safety issues.

This course gives you practical tools for the moments when teamwork matters most: delegating safely, writing referrals that work, structured handover with ISBAR, escalating deterioration, speaking up across a hierarchy with graded assertiveness and CUS, receiving a challenge well, and resolving clinical disagreement around the patient's goals.

Each section includes scripts you can use on your next shift, checklists for delegation, referral and discharge, and reflection prompts that help you record learning against your CPD plan. It is written for every registered profession and every setting, from hospital wards and operating theatres to private clinics, community pharmacy, paramedicine, aged care and remote health services, with Australian scenarios and references to the shared Code of conduct, Good medical practice, the Nursing and Midwifery Board's codes and the NSQHS Standards.

Who this course is for

  • Registered health practitioners in any of the 16 regulated professions
  • Nurses, midwives, doctors and allied health practitioners working in hospital teams
  • Practitioners in private practice who share care with GPs, specialists and other providers
  • Paramedics and emergency clinicians managing high-pressure handovers
  • Team leaders, educators and supervisors who shape team culture
  • Practitioners wanting reflective, practical CPD on communication between clinicians

What you’ll learn

  • Hand over with structure

    Use ISBAR or your local tool, involve patients and families, and confirm when responsibility has been accepted.

  • Escalate and speak up

    Follow escalation criteria, use graded assertiveness, and escalate further when a concern is not acted on.

  • Share care safely

    Distinguish delegation, referral and handover, and close the loop on tasks and results.

  • Strengthen team culture

    Respond well to challenges, resolve disagreement constructively, and build briefings, huddles and debriefs into routine.

Learning objectives

  • Explain how the codes of conduct describe teamwork, respect for colleagues and personal accountability.
  • Distinguish delegation, referral and handover and apply safeguards for each.
  • Write referrals that state a clear question, relevant information, urgency and expectations.
  • Use a structured handover tool such as ISBAR and involve patients and families in handover.
  • Escalate clinical deterioration according to agreed criteria, including family-initiated escalation.
  • Speak up across a hierarchy using graded assertiveness, CUS and the two-challenge rule, and receive challenges well.
  • Resolve clinical disagreement constructively and work effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues and interpreters.
  • Use briefings, huddles, debriefs and team learning to improve safety.

Scenarios covered

Practice situations you reason through, step by step, in the course.

  • The red-zone observation

    A student sees a deteriorating patient; the supervisor says to wait. How to escalate without waiting for permission.

  • The discharge dose error

    A medicine change lost between hospital, GP and pharmacy, and the steps that would have prevented it.

  • Challenging a consultant

    Using graded assertiveness and the two-challenge rule when an allergy concern is dismissed.

  • The assistant without stop criteria

    Making delegation safe in a busy private physiotherapy practice.

  • Aged care disagreement

    A pharmacist and GP disagree about an antipsychotic; resolving it through a case conference.

  • The paramedic handover in a busy resus bay

    Why a brief hands-off pause and one designated listener prevent duplicated medicines and lost information when the receiving team is already treating the patient.

  • Remote shared care

    Keeping a visiting specialist, remote nurse and Aboriginal Health Practitioner aligned after a medicine change.

Course contents

6 sections, 25 lessons, then the final assessment.

  1. Section 1: Teamwork as a Professional and Safety Obligation4 lessons
    • 1.1 Why Teamwork Is in Your Code of Conduct
    • 1.2 How Team Failures Harm Patients
    • 1.3 Teams Beyond the Hospital: Primary Care, Virtual and Remote Teams
    • 1.4 What Makes Teams Work
  2. Section 2: Delegation, Referral and Shared Care4 lessons
    • 2.1 Delegation, Referral and Handover: Knowing the Difference
    • 2.2 Delegating Safely to Students, Assistants and Support Workers
    • 2.3 Referrals That Work
    • 2.4 Shared Care and Coordinating Across Services
  3. Section 3: Clinical Handover and Transitions of Care5 lessons
    • 3.1 Handover in the NSQHS Standards
    • 3.2 Structured Handover Tools
    • 3.3 Involving Patients and Families in Handover
    • 3.4 High-Pressure Handover: Paramedicine, Emergency and Theatre
    • 3.5 Discharge, Transfer and Inter-Service Transitions
  4. Section 4: Escalation and Speaking Up4 lessons
    • 4.1 Recognising and Escalating Deterioration
    • 4.2 Speaking Up Across a Hierarchy
    • 4.3 When a Concern Is Not Acted On
    • 4.4 Receiving a Challenge Well
  5. Section 5: Interprofessional Collaboration and Managing Disagreement4 lessons
    • 5.1 Professional Cultures and Shared Goals
    • 5.2 Resolving Disagreement About Care
    • 5.3 Working With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers, Interpreters and the Wider Team
    • 5.4 Respect and Civility as Safety Practices
  6. Section 6: Building Team Habits That Keep Patients Safe4 lessons
    • 6.1 Briefings, Huddles and Debriefs
    • 6.2 Learning Together From Incidents and Simulation
    • 6.3 Leading and Following Well
    • 6.4 Your Personal Teamwork Plan
  7. Final assessment and written reflection15 questions

Assessment and certificate

  1. Work through the course

    Study each section at your own pace, including the case illustrations and apply-it questions.

  2. Pass the assessment

    15 scenario-based questions. You need 12 correct (80%) to pass.

  3. Write your reflection

    A short written reflection on how the learning applies to your own practice.

  4. Download your certificate

    Shows your name, the course, the date and 2 CPD hours. Anyone can check it on our verification page.

What you keep for your CPD records

  • A certificate of completion recording approximately 2 CPD hours of learning
  • A written reflective account on handover, escalation and speaking up
  • A personal teamwork plan to add to your CPD record
  • Quick-reference tools: ISBAR, CUS and graded assertiveness phrases, discharge checklist

How certificates and CPD records workVerify a certificate

Primary sources

The course is built on these official documents. Check them for the current version.

Questions about this course

Does Ahpra or a National Board accredit this course?

No. This course is not accredited by Ahpra, not approved by any National Board and not endorsed by any professional body. It is independent education. Under your Board's CPD registration standard, you choose activities relevant to your practice and record the actual time you spend against your CPD plan.

How many CPD hours is the course?

It is designed for approximately 2 hours of learning, including reflection and the assessment. Record the time you actually spend.

Is this course only for hospital staff?

No. It covers hospital handover and escalation, but also delegation in private practice, referrals between community practitioners, shared care across services and team routines that work in small clinics.

What is ISBAR?

ISBAR stands for Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation or Request. It is one of several structured tools that health services use to make handover and escalation clear and complete. The course shows how to use it and how the receiver should respond.

Does the course cover bullying and harassment?

It covers civility and respect as safety practices and how to respond to disrespectful behaviour in teams. A separate course in this series covers bullying, harassment and respectful workplaces in depth.

Is the course relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners?

Yes. It is written for every registered profession, and it includes content on working in interprofessional teams with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners and on culturally safe collaboration.

Does the course cover the NSQHS Standards?

Yes, in practical terms. It explains what the Communicating for Safety Standard expects of clinical handover and what the Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration Standard expects of escalation, including patient and family escalation. It also notes that the Commission has been developing a third edition of the Standards, so you should check which version applies to your service.

I work in a small private practice. Is teamwork really relevant to me?

Very much so. Practitioners in private practice share care with GPs, specialists, pharmacists and other providers, delegate to assistants and staff, and depend on referrals and results being followed up. The course includes scenarios from private physiotherapy, general practice, community pharmacy and aged care, and shows how to make communication with practitioners outside your practice reliable.

Can I use this course for a Board condition?

If you have a condition, undertaking or caution, confirm with Ahpra or your Board, and with your lawyer or indemnity insurer, whether a particular course is acceptable before you enrol.

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