Continuing Education

What's coming up – Professional Development

Spirometry courses

This course is designed for allied health, nursing and medical clinicians who are new to performing spirometry or wish to update their knowledge and skills. It has been designed by certified Respiratory Physiologists in accordance with current international standards and guidelines. This course will help develop skills, knowledge and particular competencies for performing and interpreting spirometry.

For those new to spirometry, please select the Spirometry Foundation Course. This includes self-paced online learning, a two-day practical workshop, and post workshop competency assessment.

For those that have previously completed the Foundation Course, please enrol into the Spirometry Update Course. This includes self-paced online learning, a one-day practical workshop, and post workshop competency assessment.

Note that a subsidy applies for Te Whatu Ora employees and Canterbury Community Spirometry Approved Providers.

Find out more about these courses (PDF)

Certification of competency will be granted after successful completion of a portfolio showing evidence of good quality spirometry in the workplace. Spirometry testing certification will be awarded for three years.

Courses are capped at 12 participants. The minimum number of participants for the course to go ahead is 8. Registrations open 3 months prior to the workshop dates. Registrations should be received no later than 2 weeks prior to the workshop date. Late registrations will be considered where appropriate.

Spirometry Foundation Course

Cost (includes GST):

• $550 – Te Whatu Ora employees
• $1,050 – All others

Register for Spirometry Foundation Course

Spirometry Update Course

Cost (includes GST):

• $400 – Te Whatu Ora employees
• $650 – All others

Register for Spirometry Update Course

Oral and Intravenous Vitamin C Use in Health Care

Over the last few decades there has been increased interest and renewed research into the role of vitamin C in acute and chronic conditions such as infection and cancer. Novel mechanisms of action have recently been discovered – dispelling many of the myths and misconceptions. Understanding the new evidence-based research in these fields will benefit health care providers in their patient care.

This course is designed as an introduction and overview for those new to oral and intravenous vitamin C use in health care, as well as for those already using the vitamin in their clinical practice who wish to know more about its mechanisms of action in different conditions.

This course is registered for continuing professional development ( CPD ) and continuing medical education ( CME ) credits with a number of professional organisations (Royal NZ College of GPs, College of Nurses Aotearoa NZ, Pharmaceutical Society of NZ, College of Intensive Care Medicine ANZ ).

Find out more about this course (PDF)

Course convener: Professor Anitra Carr

Format: Online self-paced course (six modules)

Cost: $65 (including GST)

Register for Oral and Intravenous Vitamin C Use in Health Care

Italian Renaissance and Baroque Painters: Their Art and Christianity

A one-week intensive course taught by Professor Heidi Hornik, Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Baylor University in the United States. Professor Hornik is globally renowned for her expertise in Renaissance and Western Art. She was recently named Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year at Baylor University for her excellence in teaching, research, and service.

Venue: University of Otago, Dunedin Campus
Dates: Monday, 6 July–Friday, 10 July 2026
Cost: $300 (including GST)

Register for the 2026 Italian Renaissance and Baroque Painters: Their Art and Christianity

Palliative Care Online Modules

These 10-week CME-endorsed advanced online modules are open to primary and secondary providers of palliative care able to prescribe medication (including doctors, pharmacists and nurse practitioners) or those who work as clinical nurse specialists in palliative care settings.

The online material for these modules should be completed in two hours per week, with four Zoom sessions for case-based learning and assessment.

Cost (includes GST):

• $600 – Doctors
• $350 – Pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists

Non-prescribing health professionals: please contact palcaremodules@otago.ac.nz to register your interest for the modules. We may have limited places for you depending on demand.

Non-Malignant Disease Module

Students will learn how to manage non-malignant life-limiting illnesses using a palliative approach
Start date: 23 February 2026

Registrations for this module are closed.

Opioids Module

Students will learn about the various opioids available to treat palliative care patients. The course covers a range of topics including: opioid pharmacokinetics, opioid initiation and titration, opioid toxicity, methadone, opioids at the end of life, opioids and addiction, opioid use in different settings, and novel uses of opioids.
Start Date: 25 May 2026

Registrations for this module are closed.

Symptom Management Module

Students will learn how to recognise, assess, and manage complex symptoms in their clinical practice.
Start date: 21 September 2026

Enrolments for the above courses will open later this year.

RANZCOG SIMGs online course (MIHI 401)

This online course outlines Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te reo Māori, and Tikanga, especially designed for Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMGs). It is intended for RANZCOG SIMGs during application for registration with the Medical Council, and/or those approved for provisional registration and awaiting MIHI 501 RANZCOG course.

We strongly advise you register and complete Parts 1 and 3 of this course prior to the interview (or during preliminary assessment) with RANZCOG. Once provisionally registered and working in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is strongly encouraged to complete all parts of this course prior to the MIHI 501 RANZCOG course.

Your registration for this course will remain available after the interview and until you commence MIHI 501 RANZCOG course.

Cost: $200 (including GST)

Register for the MIHI 401 RANZCOG SIMGs online course

Hauora Māori in clinical practice (MIHI 501)

These professional development courses are designed to instil confidence in health professionals when applying hauora Māori competencies in a clinical setting. You will be equipped with frameworks to provide health care for Māori patients and their whānau in a way that avoids tokenism, promotes genuine collaboration, and creates a pathway to advocate for Māori health equity.

Choose between a 100 per cent online course, or blended online and in-person learning.

Course details and registration – Hauora Māori in Clinical Practice