Oral Presentation (30 mins) 41st Institute of Hospitality in HealthCare National Conference

All about Allergens: Development, uptake and updates to the National Allergy Council’s best practice food allergen management training and resources for healthcare.   (21415)

Ingrid Roche 1 2 3 , Merryn Netting 1 2 3 , Emma Murray 4 , Vicki McWilliam 3 5 6 , Sally Voukelatos 7 , Jillian Head 1 , Sandra Vale 1 8
  1. National Allergy Council , Sydney, New South Wales , Australia
  2. University of Adelaide , Adelaide , South Australia
  3. Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology & Allergy , Sydney , New South Wales
  4. Edith Cowan University , Perth , Western Australia, Australia
  5. Murdoch Children's Research Institute , Melbourne , Victoria
  6. Royal Children's Hospital , Melbourne , Victoria
  7. Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia , Sydney , New South Wales
  8. University of Western Australia , Perth , Western Australia, Australia

Since 2017, the National Allergy Council worked with key stakeholders to develop free online, best practice food allergen management training courses and resources for the food service sector. Of over 180,000 enrolments, 130,000 people have completed the courses since their release.

All about Allergens for Hospitals was released in September 2020 with > 28,700 enrolments over the four different versions of the course to May 2024.  Of those who enrol, the completion rate varies, with 55% of enrolments completing the kitchen managers course, 75% completion rate for kitchen staff course enrolments, 75% for the ward managers /nurse course and 62% completion rate for the ward staff course.  All about Allergens for Residential Care was released in August 2022 with 3,250 enrolments to May 2024, and a course completion rate of 77%. Of those who complete the courses, 98% pass the final assessment.

The courses have ongoing evaluation built in via a user satisfaction survey once the online training is completed. Over 85% of participants completing the healthcare courses indicated that the course met their needs extremely well or very well. While around 65% participants indicated that the course was ‘very easy’ or ‘extremely easy’ to understand, 30% of users indicated the course was only ‘somewhat easy’ and 5% of users indicated the course was ‘not easy’ to understand. Satisfaction scores were high for course content, but lower for course length and the assessment format.

In light of these results and participant feedback on specific aspects, the 2024 versions of the hospital and residential care All about Allergens courses have been updated to include the following features, with the aim of increasing completion rates by improving the user experience. 

  • Plain English language
  • Improved format with less text per screen, simplified language, removal of repetition and increased use of images
  • Condensing the hospital courses from 4 courses into 2 courses with an optional unit for management and downloadable guide for implementing food allergen risk management in hospitals
  • Additional animations and infographics
  • Update of resources on the All about Allergens resource hub
  • Availability of courses in SCORM format for organisations to host on their internal learning management system. This feature requires a licensing agreement with the National Allergy Council but enables organisations to easily track that staff have completed the training.

Ongoing evaluation during 2025-2026 will continue, with participants required to complete evaluation in the updated courses prior to receiving their certificate of completion. Formal evaluation will also be undertaken, which will allow the National Allergy Council to make further improvements in the courses and resources, particularly for users from culturally diverse backgrounds.