Police Check & other pre-placement information
Interstate Placement Requirements
Clinical Grids
First Aid Information
Immunisations
Insurance
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse
Police Check
OHS&W Information
Placement information
Placement Orientation for Nursing and Midwifery Students
Staff and CPU contact information
Students with Disabilities
Venue Guidelines
Interstate Placement Requirements
Please note that if you are completing a placement in any of the
following states, this will need to be completed and presented to the CPU
prior to your placement:
New South Wales
Student Clearances for Clinical Placements and
Prohibited Employment Declaration Form
Queensland
Blue Card -
Forms
Queensland Health Clinical
Placement Student Orientation
Victoria
Working With Children Check
Western Australia
Working With Children Check
Northern Territory
Working with Children
Check
Clinical Grids
All clinical grids for Division of Health Sciences are available from the Clinical Grid Menu.
First Aid Information
A Senior First Aid certificate with CPR Updates (done annually) are a requirement of being able to attend placement (this is not for Pharmacy students).
NURSING STUDENTS the following link provides you with a guideline for the Placement Process pertaining to Senior First Aid.
Australian National First Aid
Services Pty Ltd (ANFAS)
ANFAS Senior First Aid courses and revision courses are provided at the
University of South Australia. View
available
dates (Word, 260KB).
ANFAS Enrolment Form
available for download (Word, 220KB)
Red Cross
Please refer to their
website for more information.
St John Ambulance
Please refer to their website for more information.
* Students of the School of Education
please note:
All students must complete the course 'First Aid for Centres and Schools
(CPR)' not Basic Casualty
Course or Senior First Aid. St John Ambulance and Red Cross offer
training sessions for 1 full day (6.5 hours) or 1 evening for 2 weeks (2
x 3 hours). ANFAS does not provide this course.
Senior First Aid for external Melbourne students
Monash University
Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice
1st Floor Central and Eastern Medical School
Alfred Iane Prahran
Immunisations
Prior to commencing professional placements, students are advised:
- To consult their general practitioner, the Travellers Medical & Vaccination Centre (a 10% discount is available to students who present a UniSA Student ID Card) or local government immunisation service to be screened and immunised for the following infectious diseases as recommended by Immunisation Guidelines for Health Care Workers in South Australia 2010 (PDF, 105kb).
- To check that all other standard childhood immunisations are up-to-date, as per the state in which the health care venue
ACT^
SA
NSW~
TAS#^
NT^
VIC
QLD
WA
While these immunisations are recommended, we
do require proof of your current immunisation
status, as venues may refuse placement *.
If you do not have records please complete a
Statutory Declaration (information) listing the
immunisations that you have received, this
document needs to be witnessed by a
Justice of
the Peace, (this not the case in New South
Wales, please refer to their website for further
details).
Alternatively, you can visit a doctor and have
blood tests to prove which diseases that you
have immunity.
^ Table 2.3.6 is on page 105 of the document
~ Immunisation in NSW is mandatory and non
compliance will result in your placement being
cancelled.
* Note that immunisation is a mandatory
requirement for many health care Placement
Providers and non
compliance may prevent your placement at these
venues. If in doubt, please contact your Course
Coordinator or the Clinical Placement Unit.
# Please contact the Clinical Placement Unit for
further information.
Insurance
UniSA Students on placements are covered under the University of South Australia's insurance policy provided certain criteria are met.
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse
Under the Children's Protection Act 1993, certain professionals,
including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others who have regular
contact with children, are obliged by
law to notify
The Department for
Family and Communities if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a
child/young person is being abused or neglected. Students participating
in professional placements involving children/young people under 18
years of age are mandated notifiers and have a legal responsibility to
report suspected child abuse or neglect.
Students in relevant programs will be given a briefing session outlining
their responsibilities and rights, and the roles and responsibilities of
placement supervisors and tutors, when confronting possible child abuse
or neglect. The guidelines for reporting abuse can be found
here, please
refer to Chapter 10: Mandatory Reporting for Child Protection
(PDF, 143kb).
Further information including the
State's plans and recommendations are available.
Police Check
There has been increasing concern in the community regarding people in positions of trust abusing or misusing that trust to harm those in their care or for whom they are responsible in some way. The sexual, emotional and physical abuse and neglect of children (that is, people under the age of 18) and vulnerable adults is of particular concern. In response to these concerns, the Children's Protection Act (SA) and similar Acts across Australia have been revised and strengthened and this legislation requires organisations who provide services to children or vulnerable adults to establish policies and procedures which ensure a safe environment. As a result, many health care venues and all education venues (schools) are addressing this by policies which include police checks for students prior to being accepted by the placement venue for field/clinical placement.
Three yearly police checks are mandatory for students attending clinical, field or observational placements. A police check is an assessment of an individual's criminal history and is part of the legislated (Child Protection Act and Aged Care Act) risk management requirements of organisations where children or vulnerable adults may be present. Students must ensure the police check will be valid within 3 years for the duration of the placement (for example, the three years should not finish during the placement).
To comply with the requirements of the University and placement venues
all students in the Division of Health Sciences who, as part of their
program, undertake activities where interaction with patients/ the
public is required, such as in field or clinical placements/visits and
in University clinics and gyms, must demonstrate that they have an
Australian police check which will be current for the duration of that
activity. While the University's requirement is for a check once
every three years, some venues may require a more recent check. Details
regarding the currency of a police check for a specific placement venue
are normally available via the Student Placement System or can be
checked with your field placement/clinical placement school staff. Note
that the University does not require you to obtain a police check as a
condition of enrolment.
Students from other Divisions or Universities who enrol in Division of Health Sciences
courses where a clinical or field placement is a requirement are
required to have a police check. If in doubt, please contact the
Clinical Placement Unit on 8302 2214.
Police checks can take several weeks or up to 3 months to finalise. Students must ensure that they provide the police check to the CPU by the time requested in the CPU notice to students about the placement. Students will not be permitted to attend placement if the police check has not been provided to the CPU in the required time frame and there are no exceptions to this rule.
Police checks are conducted in a variety of ways and are titled differently depending on which organisation conducts them. Placement organisations may have specific requirements around which type of check. They may also require the police check to be valid within a time frame that is less than the three years required by the University. Information about any special requirements is in the Student Placement System.
From 2012, in order to make you eligible for placement, the University will accept the National Criminal History Record Check (NCHRC) conducted by the Department of Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI, previously known as the Department for Families and Communities) and will continue to also accept the National Police Certificate (NPC) applied for via police stations. Commencing students and students renewing their police check are encouraged to do so through the NCHRC conducted by DCSI.
Interstate students and interstate placements:
However, students who will be attending placement interstate will
require the National Police Certificate.
Applying for the NCHRC:
- Go to the DCSI website and read the Informed Consent Form Guidelines
- Download the Australia Post Informed Consent
Form and complete the form electronically before
printing. If you need to complete the form manually please
write clearly in BLOCK LETTERS. This document requires the
100 point identification check to be
verified by either the *Manager of the Organisation, a
Justice of the Peace or Commissioner for taking Affidavits
(Solicitor, Barrister or Proclaimed Police Officer).
- Please note that Page 5 of the Australia Post Informed Consent Form below relevant to your discipline and is to be submitted with your application:
- Students who wish the Clinical Placement
Unit Manager to verify their documents are
required to make an appointment through CPU
reception preferably by email
cpuoffice@unisa.edu.au or by phoning 08
8302 2214.
-
Submit the completed form to any Australia Post Office. Students are responsible for the payment of the required fee.
Applying for the National Police Certificate:
Students completing a placement in a state other than South
Australia will require a National Police Certificate. As well as providing
the CPU with the NPC, students also need to provide a
Consent & Authority to Release Form . Rural and interstate students may
send a certified copy of the NPC with the completed consent
form - CPU address is on the consent form.
Application for a National Police Certificate is through the Police Department in your state:
Additional requirements of aged care organisations as a result
of Department of Health and Ageing compliance standards:
People who have lived in a country other than Australia for any
period of time after the age of 16 must provide a statutory declaration
stating they were not convicted of murder or sexual assault, and not
convicted of and imprisoned for any other form of assault during their
time living overseas. Any such criminal record would exclude the person
from working within, or being placed within, an aged care service if
they have unsupervised access to care recipients. In addition to the
statutory declaration (which a Justice of the Peace can assist with) the
person must also have a police check to cover the time
(after age 16) that they have lived in Australia.
OHS&W Information
Detailed information
about Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare is available.
Placement information
- All clinical/field placements are arranged by the Course Coordinator and the Clinical Placement Unit (CPU). Students are not to negotiate their own clinical placements, except in very specific circumstances. Please check with your Clinical Coordinator or the CPU.
- Students should refer to the teaching schedule provided at the time of their enrolment or re-enrolment for details of their clinical placement dates and times throughout the year. These dates and times are set in advance and are not negotiable.
- Students are notified of placement details well in advance and are expected to be able to organise personal life commitments and travel arrangements to undertake these as scheduled.
- The Division of Health Sciences reserves the right to change clinical dates to suit clinical practice sites' availability if necessary. Students will be notified as soon as possible should such a circumstance eventuate.
- All students must adhere strictly to the requirements around clinical placement practice for their program. The requirements are outlined in the Course Information Booklet and other course documentation.
- Students should also refer to the Practicum, Field and Clinical Placements clauses in the current year's Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual, available on the Policy and Procedures website, for further information on their rights and responsibilities while on placement.
- Students must take note of the Division's policy on police checks.
- Non compliance with placement venue requirements such as police checks, immunisation, and mandatory notification training will result in you not being accepted for that placement.
- Information about First Aid Training is available.
- A student may request a variation to the assessment tasks required within a practicum, field or clinical placement on medical, compassionate or religious observance grounds, or community service eg elite athletes, jury duty, Defence Forces leave. Such requests must be supported by documentary evidence. (Ref: Moderation and Variation clauses in the UniSA Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual).
- Student requests for variation to placements must be submitted on the Request for Variation to Placement Form. The completed form and attachments must be submitted to the CPU (see location and postal details at the end of this document) at least 6 weeks before the course commences.
- Each request for variation to a placement will be considered by the Course Coordinator. A student may appeal a Course Coordinator's decision by making a written submission to the Program Director and if unresolved to the Head of School, for the appropriate discipline.
- Some programs will require students to undertake a rural or interstate clinical placement.
Placement Orientation for Nursing and Midwifery Students
For students attending a SA venue, please read the
School of Nursing and Midwifery Student
Placement Clinical Orientation Handbook and return Attachment 1
to the Clinical Placement Unit.
For students attending a QLD venue, please read the
Student Health
Professionals' Clinical Placement or Fieldwork Orientation and
return a copy to the Clinical Placement Unit.
Staff and CPU Contact Information
Site address
City East Campus
Bonython Jubilee
Level 2 Room 03
(BJ2-03)
Mailing address
GPO Box 2471
Adelaide
South Australia 5001
Australia
General Student, SPS & Documentation enquiries
(Phone) 61 8 8302 2214 (Fax) 61 8 8302 2830
(Email) CPUOffice@unisa.edu.au
Office Hours
Monday - Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm (Closed Public Holidays)
Students with Disabilities
Professional placement can be a particularly challenging activity for
students with disabilities or those with other health/injury problems.
Every reasonable effort is made to adapt the learning experiences and/or
assessment requirements of placements to meet the individual needs of
students with disabilities. Students with a disability or injury that
may impact on their participation in professional placement are
encouraged to discuss their needs, preferably well before the placement
commencing, with the
Disability Advisers at the Learning and Teaching Unit or
Program Director if you wish. If your program is within the School
of Nursing and Midwifery, the
Disability Contact Officer is also available to consult. The
objectives of such discussions are to:
- Clarify the nature and impact of the disability/health issue within the placement setting.
- Consider the potential problems that might be encountered within the practice setting (these are not always apparent in the first instance and hence discussion regarding this may highlight some unexpected issues).
- Develop a plan of action that will best support the student and support a positive relationship with the venue and/or academic staff.
Confidentiality regarding a student's disability is assured both by the University and under the Disability and Discrimination Act (Commonwealth Government - Australia 1992). Under this legislation, students can discuss issues with a disability officer and this information need not be passed on to the placement venue without the students consent. It is important to note however, that considered self-disclosure of disability related issues has the potential benefit of enhanced student support and success.
Students with injuries (including short-term) are encouraged to notify appropriate staff of their injury to ensure the placement is structured and monitored appropriately. Attending to this as early as possibly will assist in supporting the process and maintaining strong relationships with industrial partners.
Find out more at our students with disabilities placement project website.
Venue Guidelines
Please refer to Student Placement System site notes for each individual health care
organisation.