Background:
Increasing the COVID-19 testing workforce is critical to managing current testing demand, workforce sustainability as well as planning, preparedness and capacity to respond to future outbreaks.

Registered nurses and medical personnel have been the mainstay of the COVID-19 swabbing workforce, with health care assistants often providing administrative support at testing sites. Alternative health workforces can be trained to undertake COVID-19 swabbing towards sustainable staffing for testing sites, reducing the current over-reliance on registered nurses.

Careerforce has developed an information and education module for COVID-19 testing. This module is one element of the training process – the other two are the practical training and a practical assessment to be carried out by the employer.

Target Audience:
This module was developed for the Kaiāwhina health workforce with prior experience in Public Health. This module can also be used for the healthcare workers with higher levels of qualification or experience such as allied health professionals. Ultimately it is up to your employer’s discretion to select the most appropriate health workforce.

Kaiāwhina is the term used to describe non-registered roles in the health sector. This may include healthcare assistants, support workers, community health workers or Whanau support workers. Kaiāwhina add value to the workforce by performing their roles well, being flexible and providing support to the health  sector and registered health professionals. (Workforce in Action, 2020)

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