Who can train
Clinicians whose professional scope of practice includes assessment are eligible to train as interRAI assessors. Only current practising certificates issued by recognised New Zealand professional bodies are accepted. Eligible clinicians include registered and enrolled nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, speech-language therapists, and occupational therapists. All clinicians must have approval from their manager. Other health professionals and researchers may also undertake training to read and understand interRAI assessments but are not eligible to complete assessments.
How to enrol
There is no charge for interRAI training.
Start the enrolment process now by completing a user access form.
This form is for requesting training and changing interRAI Assessment Software (iAS) access e.g. changing employer, changing your name or completing additional assessment types.
To complete the form, you'll need:
- Your contact details, including your personal email address
- Your workplace details
- Your manager's name, work phone number and work email address
- Registered health professionals: your registration or APC number
Make sure you have all the information you need before you begin. This is because you can't save the form until you complete it. After you submit the form to us, a copy of the data is emailed to you and your manager automatically.
Your manager must approve the form using the instructions in the email for your access request to be processed.
Training information by assessment type
| Time to complete: | four weeks |
| Virtual classroom time: | one day |
This assessment is a brief, screening assessment for people with less complex needs in the community. The Contact Assessment is completed by home-based support providers and Needs Assessment Coordination Service team members.
The course is delivered online with the help of your interRAI educator. It's a mix of educator-led and self-directed learning. After you've completed the virtual classroom portion of the course, your interRAI educator will support you to complete real assessments that will count towards course completion.
We'll send you a confirmation email and reminders before the course starts.
| Time to complete: | six weeks |
| Virtual classroom time: | two days |
This is a comprehensive assessment for people with complex needs living in the community. This includes private homes and independent living in such places as retirement villages. This assessment is usually completed in the community by assessors working with the local Needs Assessment Coordination Service (NASC), but may also be used in other settings.
This course is delivered online by an interRAI educator. After you've completed the virtual classroom portion of the course, your educator will support you to complete real assessments that will count towards course completion.
We'll send you a confirmation email and reminders before the course starts.
| Time to complete: | six weeks |
| Virtual classroom time: | two days |
The Community Health Assessment is a comprehensive, modular assessment for people living in the community. This includes private homes and independent living in such places as retirement villages. It is usually delivered in the community by assessors from health of older people or mental health services.
This course is delivered online by an interRAI educator and is a mixture of directed and self-directed learning. After you've completed the virtual classroom portion of the course, your interRAI educator will support you to complete real assessments that will count towards course completion.
We'll send you a confirmation email and reminders before the course starts.
| Time to complete: | six weeks |
| Virtual classroom time: | two days |
This assessment is a comprehensive assessment for people living in aged residential care. The Long Term Care Facilities assessment is completed by health professionals in aged residential care facilities.
The course is delivered online by an interRAI educator and is a mixture of directed and self-directed learning. After you've completed the virtual classroom portion of the course, your interRAI educator will support you to complete real assessments that will count towards course completion.
We'll send you a confirmation email and reminders before the course starts.
| Time to complete: | six weeks |
| Virtual classroom time: | two days |
This assessment is for people who have a terminal diagnosis. The Palliative Care assessment is completed by clinicians in hospice, community and aged residential care settings.
The course is delivered online by an interRAI educator and is a mixture of directed and self-directed learning. After you've completed the virtual classroom portion of the course, your interRAI educator will support you to complete real assessments that will count towards course completion.
We'll send you a confirmation email and reminders before the course starts.
| Time to complete: | four weeks |
| Virtual classroom time: | one and a half hours |
This assessment is for people who are being assessed during an inpatient hospital stay. The Acute Care assessment is completed by those working in hospital or with in-hospital patients.
This course is delivered online by an interRAI educator and is a mixture of directed and self-directed learning. You will complete learning modules and attend a virtual classroom. Once this is done, your interRAI educator will support you to complete real assessments that will count towards course completion.
We'll send you a confirmation email and reminders before the course starts.
Preparing for your training
Once your enrolment is confirmed, you'll receive a welcome email with everything you need to know about your training. Check your spam or junk mail if you haven't received this.
There are some things you'll need to ensure training success. You may need to talk to your manager to arrange these.
A suitable computer
You can use a work or home computer or laptop to complete your training. It must have:
- Zoom installed
- Stable internet connection and browser - Chrome, Firefox or Edge
If you are training with others from your organisation, each learner must have their own computer or laptop. You can bring a laptop from home to use for accessing Zoom and interRAI Learning and Development (iL&D), and the interRAI Assessment Software (iAS) Training Site.
A suitable setup
A quiet, well‑organised space for learning will help you succeed. If possible, avoid completing training at busy nurses’ stations or in high‑traffic clinical areas.
Some interRAI training programmes can be completed at home, which may support focused and flexible learning. Certain programmes are fully self‑directed and can be completed at a time that suits you, with educator support available if needed—for example, the Palliative Care Transition training course.
If you have access to a headset and dual monitors, you may find training easier, particularly when navigating assessment tools alongside learning materials.
Resources and Support
For help logging in to iL&D, iAS and Zoom, watch our welcome video:
You should have copies of the relevant manuals that you need for training at your workplace. If you can't find them, talk to your manager - they may need to order new ones.
You’ll need to be rostered off the floor to take part in the virtual classroom sessions. Please log in and be ready to go 15 minutes before the start time. If someone on your team is already trained, it can be really helpful to have them walk you through software systems like Zoom and show you a person’s assessment.
Urgent Training Needs
We understand that staffing gaps can occur suddenly. We may be able to provide an emergency training placement to help cover these gaps. If you need to train an assessor urgently, please email interRAI@tas.health.nz.
Transition Courses
We offer shorter transition courses for competent assessors who are moving between assessment types or need to use multiple types in their role i.e Home Care (HC), Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF) or Community Health Assessment (CHA) assessors wanting to also use the Palliative Care (PC) assessment.
Email us at interRAI@tas.health.nz if you think you may qualify for transition training.
Read-only Access for Clinicians
Clinicians who don’t complete interRAI assessments but need access to assessment information can request read-only access to the interRAI Assessment Software (iAS). This allows clinicians to view assessment information to support safe, informed clinical decision-making without changing the assessment record. This ensures assessment data integrity is maintained.
You will need to fill out a user access form.
If you haven’t used interRAI before, to help you navigate the software and understand the assessment outputs, we recommend completing our self-directed online learning module Understanding and Interpreting interRAI Assessments.
Click here to access the module.
Click here to access the interRAI Researchers and Data Analysts Workbook. This workbook explains all the assessment outputs in depth.