Clinical Placement Resource Manual

College of Nursing & Midwifery, CDU

Clinical Placement Resource Manual Copyright © by Charles Darwin University. All Rights Reserved.

Contents

- Introduction

- 1. Welcome

- 2. Important contacts

- 3. Pre-clinical compliance

- 4. Clinical teaching/simulation blocks

- 5. Overview of clinical placement experience

- 6. About attendance and rosters

- 7. Challenges on clinical placement

- 8. Useful terms

- 9. Appendices

- 10. Document history and version control

1

Introduction

This revision was edited by Minakshi Pearce, Angela Bull, Nicole Norman and Dr Brian Phillips.

Pressbooks layout and text by Denis Doan.

Notice to the Reader

- This manual is frequently updated. Please ensure you are using the latest version. The latest version is always available online through relevant course Units or College Central on Learnline.

- If you see an omission or error, it would be greatly appreciated if you would advise the College of Nursing and Midwifery by email at conmugcourse@cdu.edu.au.

1

Welcome

Welcome to the clinical placement component of the Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Midwifery courses in the College of Nursing and Midwifery at Charles Darwin University.

This manual is essential reading. It sets out the general requirements for the clinical teaching blocks (CTBs) and clinical placements. This manual also provides frequently asked questions for nursing and midwifery students regarding clinical placements.

There are compulsory four-day CTBs for each year-level. These are associated with specific units in your course. During these CTBs essential knowledge is applied in simulated practice in a laboratory setting in preparation for the clinical placements to follow.

The clinical placement units are core units in the Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Midwifery degrees. Each has a two or four-week placement for nursing and up to six weeks for midwifery students. Bachelor of Midwifery students are additionally required to complete 10 Continuity of Care (CoC) experiences across the duration of the degree.

Whilst at times challenging, placement experiences are often the most rewarding and memorable of the undergraduate experience. It is during this time that you can contextualise your knowledge and skills into the practice setting.

By taking time to read and understand this manual, we hope that you will be able to engage fully in your clinical teaching blocks and clinical placements to maximise your learning opportunities. We wish you a rewarding and positive experience.

Undergraduate Coordinators for
Bachelor of Midwifery
Bachelor of Nursing

2

Important contacts

Clinical Placements Enquiries

Clinical Facilitators and students should contact the relevant Unit Coordinator below. Additional contact details are available in the relevant Learnline Unit.

Pre-clinical Coordinator

preclinical@cdu.edu.au

Placement Office

nurplace@cdu.edu.au

Course Administration Enquiries

conmugcourse@cdu.edu.au

NUR125 Unit Coordinator

nur125unitcoord@cdu.edu.au

NUR244

nur244unitcoord@cdu.edu.au

NUR343

nur343unitcoord@cdu.edu.au

NUR344

nur344unitcoord@cdu.edu.au

NUR346

nur346unitcoord@cdu.edu.au

MID101

MID101Lecturer@cdu.edu.au

MID102

MID102Lecturer@cdu.edu.au

MID202

MID202Lecturer@cdu.edu.au

MID204

MID204Lecturer@cdu.edu.au

MID301

MID301Lecturer@cdu.edu.au

MID306

MID306Lecturer@cdu.edu.au

MID307

MID307Lecturer@cdu.edu.au

3

Pre-clinical compliance

Clinical placement occurs in real-world clinical settings and therefore has associated health and safety risks to you, your patients, and the public that must be considered. The College therefore mandates certain pre-clinical requirements. These requirements are frequently referred to as “pre-clinical requirements”. You will find a Readiness Checklist to guide you through the process on the Clinical Placements page of College Central on Learnline

You must maintain currency with pre-clinical requirements for your entire course. You will be ineligible for clinical teaching blocks and clinical placements unless your compliance is current.

Mandatory Notifications about Registered Students

Health practitioners and the university must notify the Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency when they have a ‘reasonable belief’ a Registered Student

has an impairment that, when undertaking clinical placement, may place the public at substantial risk of harm. You can view more information on the AHPRA website here. A flowchart for the College processes for mandatory notifications are located in the Appendix.

Student Registration with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Agency

Under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, all nursing and midwifery students enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Midwifery courses must be registered as a student with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. The university undertakes this task upon enrolment into your course. There is no fee. If you are already registered (e.g. Enrolled Nurse) we do not register you again as a student. You can access a Fact Sheet here.

You have certain obligations under the law as a student. Under the National Law, if you are enrolled in an approved program of study or are undertaking clinical training, you must notify the Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency within seven days of becoming aware that:

- you have been charged with an offence punishable by 12 months imprisonment or more

- you have been convicted of, or are the subject of, a finding of guilt for an offence punishable by imprisonment, or

- your registration under the law of another country that provides for the registration of students has been suspen

Some pre-clinical requirements may take many weeks to obtain. It is recommended you obtain the pre-clinical checklist for you State or Territory from College Central and consult your medical practitioner as soon as you are enrolled.

Media Attributions

- Student nurse © iStock/Voysla adapted by Charles Darwin University is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

4

Clinical teaching/simulation blocks

Clinical teaching blocks (CTBs) are also called simulation blocks (SBs) or “intensives”.

The CTB is an on-campus intensive program providing you with an opportunity to apply knowledge from your other units into simulated practice. There is at least one clinical teaching block or simulation block for each year-level of your course. Successful completion of the CTB/SB is a pre-requisite (i.e. mandatory) for attending the clinical placements in the same year-level. See Table 2 below for nursing units, and Table 3 for midwifery.

The CTB/SB is also a great opportunity for students to meet each other, form friendships and study groups and meet some of your lecturers.

Good preparation is essential. Being away from home and your absence from employment require some practical forward planning. Remember, you will also need to manage the requirements of your other units while attending the CTB/SB. It is therefore a good idea to recheck assessment due dates.

Students will be expected to attend the entire programme, be on time, wear the correct clinical uniform and be compliant with pre-clinical requirements. Please consider the daily start and end times when arranging travel and accommodation. Contact your Unit Coordinator if you have questions.

Figure 1: Overview of Clinical Placement Processes

Booking your clinical teaching/simulation block

The College has clinical laboratories at campuses in Darwin and Sydney^1. You are responsible for the costs and making arrangements for travel and accommodation.

Our clinical laboratories have a safe occupancy limit, so bookings are the only mechanism for attendance. A special unit enrolment and booking process applies.

Bookings for clinical teaching blocks are made available within “nomination periods”. Nomination periods are a range of dates advertised in your Learnline Units and on College Central in Learnline each semester.

When you are ready to nominate for your simulation block, log in to check your pre-clinical status with your login and password.

Every effort is made to meet your nominated time and location, however, due to demand the College reserves the right to vary the request. Attendance without a current booking will be denied.

Assessment during clinical teaching/simulation block

The clinical teaching block is a pre-requisite to clinical placement. This means that a minimum standard of attendance, professional behaviour, application of knowledge and skill is required. Your lecturers in the clinical teaching block will provide feedback to you if additional support needs are identified. Where gaps are identified a Learning Agreement may be negotiated with you for your clinical placement (see your Learnline Unit for more information on your assessments).

Attendance for the entire duration of the programme is usually a hurdle assessment requirement (see your Learnline Unit). If illness occurs, please contact the coordinator for the clinical teaching block (or your Unit Coordinator).

Check your Learnline Unit for the CTB pre-readings and assessments.

Clinical uniform dress standards apply at all times.

Health and safety requirements for clinical laboratories

Clinical laboratories have mandatory health and safety requirements. The uniform dress standard and behaviour for the clinical laboratories is the same as for attending clinical placement. The uniform requirements are available from the Clinical Placements page on College Central in Learnline.

You will not be permitted entry to the laboratory space if you are non-compliant with health and safety requirements.

Opportunities for additional laboratory practice

Where you or your supervisor identify gaps in skills it may be possible to book additional practice sessions. These can be scheduled outside the clinical teaching block programme times. A booking is essential so that laboratory space can be made available and supervision is arranged. Discuss your needs with your Unit Coordinator.

1Check the Course Catalogue for unit offerings as other locations may become available for the future.

Media Attributions

- Overview of Clinical Placement Processes © Denis Doan adapted by Charles Darwin University is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

- Student nurse © iStock/Voysla adapted by Charles Darwin University is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

- Check your pre-clinical status © Denis Doan adapted by Charles Darwin University is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

5

Overview of clinical placement experience

Clinical placements are a highly valued learning experience. Good preparation is essential to get the best from your clinical placement experience. Clinical placements are offered as real-world experiences in actual clinical settings alongside the nursing and midwifery workforce within teams dealing with real clinical problems. Your clinical placements will also include opportunities to experience nursing practice as a member of a multidisciplinary team, including learning alongside or being supervised by other medical and allied health professionals. Good preparation is essential to get the best from your clinical placement experience. This includes preparation for different work hours to what you and your family may be familiar with – including rotating shifts, weekends, and public holidays.

Students attend a clinical setting for a supervised clinical experience as part of a specific unit. Individual unit information, set out in each Learnline site, describes the purpose and assessments associated with each clinical placement.

A clinical placement can only be provided via the Placement Office.

See your Learnline Unit for the requirements, purpose, and assessment documentation to be submitted for each clinical placement.

A clinical placement must be undertaken within 12 months of the clinical teaching block/simulation block.

Bachelor of Nursing (course code BNRSG)

There are five units in the Bachelor of Nursing program that include specific clinical placements. Three of these require attendance at on-campus clinical teaching blocks. These are shown in the table below.

Table 2. Units with clinical placements in the Bachelor of Nursing (BNRSG)

Clinical Placement Unit

Components

NUR125: Nursing Practice 1

Theory
4-day clinical teaching block

160 hours clinical placement in sub-acute setting

NUR244: Nursing Practice 2

Theory
4-day clinical teaching block

160 hours clinical placement in an acute setting

NUR343: Nursing Practice 3

Theory
4-day clinical teaching block

160 hours clinical placement in an acute setting plus 80 hours in mental health setting

NUR344: Nursing Practice 4

Theory
160 hours clinical community setting

NUR346: Transition to Practice 2

Theory
160 hours clinical placement in a primary, secondary or tertiary setting

Bachelor of Midwifery (course code WMIDW1)

There are eight units in the Bachelor of Midwifery that include specific clinical placements. Four of these include on-campus clinical teaching blocks. Additionally, Midwifery students must complete continuity of care experiences. These are shown in the table below.

Table 3. Units with clinical placements in the Bachelor of Midwifery (WMIDW1)

Title of Clinical Placement Unit

Components

MID101 Introduction to Professional Midwifery Practice

32 hours clinical teaching block
80 hours clinical placement

MID102 Fundamental Skills for Midwifery Practice

32 hours clinical teaching block
120 hours clinical placement

MID202 Professional Midwifery Practice 1
Co-requisite unit MID201

32 hours clinical teaching block
240 hours clinical placement

MID204 Professional Midwifery Practice 2
Co-requisite unit MID203

240 hours clinical placement

MID301Women’s Health

80 hours clinical placement

MID303 Professional Midwifery Practice 3
Co-requisite unit MID302

32 hours clinical teaching block
240 hours clinical placement

MID306 Professional Midwifery Practice 4
Co-requisite unit MID305

240 hours clinical placement

MID307 Specialist Neonatal Care

120 hours clinical placement

Continuity of Care Requirement

Students are required to complete 10 CoCs by the end of the Bachelor of Midwifery course.
Students MUST attend their first placement before initiating any CoC relationships.

The Placement Office

The Placement Office is responsible for all administrative aspects of arranging clinical placements. The Placement Office arranges and maintains agreements between health care providers and the College.

You are not permitted to arrange your own placements (or make up shifts). If a health facility offers you a placement (e.g. as an employer), thank them, obtain the contact details and email address, and provide these to your Placement Officer for follow up.

Booking your clinical placement

Time away from family, childcare, and employment leave arrangements can make the task of attending clinical placement complex. Travel of two hours away from home or even interstate may be required. Careful preparation is necessary before booking the placement as non-attendance will have a significant impact on your course progression.

When you are ready to nominate for your simulation block, log in to check your pre-clinical status with your login and password.

You will be notified by email approximately four weeks prior of the details of the clinical placement with details of when and how to contact the health facility prior to placement. Remember that official emails from the university are sent to your student email address.

Requests to change your clinical placement

Generally, a request to make changes to the offered clinical placement is not possible; this includes changes to dates, days, shift work, and geographical locations.

The College understands life circumstances can intervene unexpectedly, are outside of your control, and you may find you are unable to accept the offer made to you for clinical placement. This can include notification of military deployment, employer cancels leave, etc. (for issues related to illness see “reasons for absence” below)

Where circumstances have changed such that you are no longer able to undertake clinical placements as they are normally offered, a discussion with Access and Inclusion may assist.

If you need to decline the placement offered to you, you will need to contact your Unit Coordinator to discuss the issues. Your Unit Coordinator will notify the Placement Office and the offer of placement will be provided to another student.

You should be aware that declining a clinical placement means you return to the placement request queue as a new request. Therefore, you will need to re-enroll into a later semester that matches better with your availability. These changes delay your progression.

Flowchart for placement change request

A decision to support a withdrawal without penalty will be based upon the Higher Education Assessment Procedures under Special Consideration. You will need to provide supporting evidence will be requested to support a decision.

Lateness, illness and other reasons for absence

The health facility expects you to attend the clinical placement booked on your behalf by the Placement Office at the allocated shift start time. Health facilities make operational decisions based on your attendance. Normal operational processes for absence apply to you. Additionally, your assessment requires clinical placement hours to be accounted for. The required clinical placement hours are set out in your Learnline Unit assessment details.

If you are unable to attend a booked placement, you may be able to make an application for a special withdrawal from the unit if exceptional circumstances apply (documented evidence will be needed). Otherwise, non-attendance means mandatory hours and assessments are unable to be successfully completed, resulting in a fail grade for the unit.

Lateness or absence – for example, traffic accident or illness – can be unexpected. You should identify on the first day of placement the number to call and the process expected of you by the Facility should you be late or absent. It is a professional responsibility to inform your supervisor if you are going to be late or will be unable to attend a rostered shift.

Illness, such as the “flu” or flu-like symptoms, is ordinarily problematic as a student. However, when attending clinical placement you must also consider the infection risk to your patients or clients. Until you are medically cleared you must not put your clients or patients at risk. Infection can have very serious consequences. If you are unwell or have symptoms that indicate you are unwell you should not attend clinical placement until your medical practitioner clears you or completely symptom free.

See also Australian Government information on coronavirus (COVID-19) signs and symptoms and risks and actions being taken within the health sector.

If you are uncertain what to do, contact your medical practitioner or the clinical supervisor in the health facility before attending.

If you are unable to attend placement due to illness or other reason, you must:

- Notify the Health Facility prior to the shift commencing;

- Contact the Placement Office and your Unit Coordinator as soon as possible;

- Obtain a Medical Certificate if unwell, or complete a Statutory Declaration to account for missed hours. A copy must be provided to the Placement Office and the Unit Coordinator. Attach an additional copy to your Clinical Assessment Portfolio.

- The Placement Office will liaise with you and the Health Facility to secure appropriate make-up time on your behalf.

Severe weather events

The personal safety of students is the primary factor in the event of a cyclone or other severe weather event. Closure of schools and other related factors may prevent attendance.

If there is an official decision to close Charles Darwin University Casuarina and Palmerston campuses due to a cyclone the student should contact the Health Facility and advise that they are unable to attend clinical placement until the University re-opens. Students in other locations should continue their placements as required and contact staff at the Alice Springs or Sydney campuses until the Casuarina campus reopens. Prior to closing the Placement Office will make every reasonable effort to advise students who they can contact if the need arises.

If absent due to weather events, the Placement Office will prioritise organisation of “make up” shifts and do their best to minimise any inconvenience to students.

Expected student behaviour on clinical placements

The health facility expects you to act professionally at all times, and comply with the policies of the organisation. In return, you are provided with a supervised opportunity to learn. The expected behaviours of a student working towards the registered nurse or registered midwife standards are set out in your Clinical Assessment Portfolio. Remember that you must comply with the policies and procedures of the health facility. Breach of confidentiality, including via social media, is regarded as a serious event by the health facility, the university, and the patient concerned.

You should also be aware of the following expectations health facilities generally have about students:

- Be respectful, courteous and professional at all times to colleagues, supervisors, clients/patients, Health Facility staff, and the public;

- Comply with the policies and procedures of the Health Facility; this includes respecting and promoting the Mission Statement of the facility;

- Obtain an orientation to emergency and evacuation procedures;

- Practice under the supervision of the clinical staff;

- Be fit for undertaking clinical practice, including maintaining own health and ensuring adequate rest;

- Notify your supervisor if you become unwell, and also if experiencing symptoms indicating you may be unwell (e.g. flu-like symptoms, etc.);

- That you understand and practice within your student Scope of Practice (see the Clinical Assessment Portfolio);

- Take responsibility for your own learning and are motivated to seeking out learning opportunities as well as assist in general clinical tasks and routines;

- Be punctual – arriving at least 15 minutes prior to commencement of an allocated shift and returning from meal breaks on time;

- Speak English at all times while on site or while ever in your role as a student nurse or midwife;

- Wear the Charles Darwin University uniform and your name badge above the waist in a location easily visible unless specifically directed otherwise by the Health Facility;

- Inform the Registered Nurse or Midwife responsible for client care in the area whenever leaving the area;

- Report any malfunction or breakage of equipment and any health and safety hazards to the Registered Nurse or Midwife responsible for client care in the area;

- Be sensitive to and respectful of client’s physical and cultural safety;

If at any time your clinical supervisor or the facility judge that they are unable to provide sufficient supervision, or for operational reasons can no longer provide supervision, the facility can request the clinical placement be terminated.

Assessment on clinical placements

The primary purpose of your clinical placement is to gain experience applying your clinical reasoning, knowledge and skill to people in need of nursing or midwifery care. Assessment assists you to understand your progress and guides you toward meeting the required standards.

While on clinical placement, your progression toward the relevant NMBA Standards for Practice is assessed. Your Clinical Assessment Portfolio records these assessments and guides you and your supervisor through the aims and objectives of the placement, who must sign, when and how to submit. You will need to print a copy of the Clinical Assessment Portfolio prior to beginning the placement and be familiar with the requirements.

If you do not understand the assessment requirements, you should contact your Unit Coordinator.

See your Learnline Unit for the requirements, purpose, and assessment documentation to be submitted for each clinical placement (e.g. Clinical Assessment Portfolio).

Unsatisfactory progress

See the section about “Challenges on clinical placement” on page 15.

Supervision on clinical placement

As a student beginning your journey towards professional nursing practice, your clinical placement experience is an opportunity to begin to apply knowledge and skill within a real clinical setting. This always occurs under the supervision of an experienced Registered Nurse. On some placements you will have the opportunity to also undertake experiences supervised by medical or allied health professionals.

Supervision may be arranged in different ways at different health care facilities, or may be different according to different specialty areas. The level of supervision also changes as you progress through your course and demonstrate competence to take on increasing responsibility. Initially, you may find the different terms used for your supervision to be confusing.

In most organisations, your clinical placement experience will be overseen by a Clinical Nurse Educator or Clinical Facilitator who is responsible for a group of students at the facility. Where this model is provided at the health facility, you will find that you are then allocated a Registered Nurse who will be your preceptor for each shift or across a sequence of shifts.

In some placements, you will have an opportunity to accompany a clinician from a different discipline (e.g. Aboriginal Health Worker). The allied health professional will sometimes be referred to as your clinical supervisor. Nonetheless, your Clinical Nurse Educator or Clinical Facilitator retains overall responsibility for your clinical placement and will ensure that a Registered Nurse assesses signs off on your practice. They will do so in consultation with the interdisciplinary clinical supervisor.

At smaller facilities, the Clinical Facilitator may also be the person who supervises you for some or all of your clinical placement. Alternatively, you may encounter arrangements where your Clinical Facilitation is shared among two or three key senior nursing staff. While this may seem a cumbersome arrangement, students often find that smaller health facilities can offer a range of personalised learning experiences not possible in very large health care settings.

A Clinical Facilitator may be an employee of the health service or directly contracted by the College of Nursing and Midwifery. The Clinical Facilitator is responsible for your orientation to the facility, key policies and procedures and any specific risks. They may do this themselves, or may delegate this to a preceptor.

The Facilitator is also responsible for guiding the quality of your overall learning experience. They will frequently check in with you each day to ensure your learning experience is progressing. These check-ins are useful times to reflect on your practice development, communication skills and application of knowledge to clinical problems. As you develop as a student, a key feature will be developing skills with structured clinical reasoning.

Media Attributions

- Check your pre-clinical status © Denis Doan adapted by Charles Darwin University is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

- Flowchart-for-placement-01 © Denis Doan adapted by CDU is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

- Student nurse © iStock/Voysla adapted by Charles Darwin University is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

6

About attendance and rosters

Students are expected to attend clinical placements and undertake shift rosters in the same manner as the colleagues you are working with on placement.

Here is some important information about attendance and rosters.

- Attendance is recorded in your Clinical Assessment Portfolio.

- The required attendance for clinical placement is measured in hours.

- Clinical placement ‘hours’ includes clinical experience and clinical debriefing sessions. While valuable, library time and doing written university work during clinical placement are not to be counted as clinical time. Lunch or dinner breaks are not included in the calculation of attendance hours.

- Students take the same shift breaks as ordinarily provided to the preceptor. Example: 7:00hrs – 15:30hrs = 8.5 hours with 30 minutes allocated to break, therefore 8 hours of placement is recorded on attendance record.

- Attendance is required for all rostered shifts. Students are required to notify both the health facility and the Placement Office of all absences.

- Midwifery students placed within midwifery group practice settings may not have set shifts and hours, in which case, hours must be tallied as and when the student is attending care with the midwife.

There are some restrictions on shifts that a student can undertake.

- Students are required to contact the health facility prior to their first shift as advised by the Placement Office. This confirms you will be attending and to expect you. It also enables you to obtain a roster. If you have difficulties, contact the Placement Office as they are able to liaise on your behalf. Instructions for contacting – or not contacting – the health care facility are in the official email sent to you from the Placement Office

- Extending shifts beyond the ordinary start and finish time for the roster will not normally be accepted. You must obtain authorization from the Placement Office and Unit Coordinator prior to undertaking an extended shift.

- A shift in excess of 8 hours is not normally accepted unless this is the normal shift for that workplace and it has been authorised by both the Placement Office and the appropriate person acting for the Health Facility. However, midwifery students are permitted to stay with a woman in labour for up to 12 hours where the facility supports this.

- The Health Facility may roster students to weekends, public holidays and night shifts where the Health Facility deems there is an appropriate level of senior supervision. Midwifery students may be expected to be on-call for births.

- Students are expected to be available throughout the duration of the allocated placement across a 7-day roster attending a variety of shifts. Students are not permitted to request changes to rosters without first seeking authorisation from the Placement Office.

- Rosters should not exceed an average of 40 hours per week for the placement unless it has been authorised by the Health Facility and the Placement Office;

- Students must have their Clinical Assessment Portfolio while on placement. It must have the “Clinical Placement Agreement” signed prior to the first shift and be made available to the precepting staff.

- Leave of absence from you clinical placement to attend personal business is not permitted.

- Midwifery students may negotiate with the health care facility for one hour to attend a Continuity of Care appointment.

Students are not permitted to attend placement while also undertaking normal employment hours. It is regarded as a significant health and safety risk top work beyond 40 hours per week. The clinical placement will be discontinued until safe attendance can be assured.

7

Challenges on clinical placement

Various challenges can arise for students during clinical placements. Generally, problems can be resolved informally in a discussion between you and your clinical supervisor (or preceptor). In the event issues cannot be resolved at this level, you or the Health Facility should contact the Unit Coordinator to discuss the issues and find a solution.

Unsatisfactory progress

If you or your clinical supervisor judge that you are at risk of unsatisfactory placement, the Unit Coordinator must be contacted as soon as possible.

Generally, gaps in knowledge, skills, and behaviour will be progressively discussed with you and noted as formative assessment in your Clinical Assessment Portfolio. You will see that you are also expected to actively engage with this feedback and make a response.

Where your supervisor judges that you are below acceptable standard(onANSAT/AMSAT) a Learning Agreement may be negotiated between you, your Unit Coordinator, and your clinical supervisor.

See the Discontinuation flowchart.

Where your clinical supervisor judges that you are below acceptable standard (on ANSAT/AMSAT) and supervision can no longer assure safe practice, your placement may be discontinued (i.e. “withdrawal from placement”).

If placement is discontinued, you should normally receive a brief explanation from your clinical supervisor of senior clinical staff before leaving the facility. Nevertheless, you should also contact Unit Coordinator and Placement Office as soon as convenient.

Once your Unit Coordinator is informed of the withdrawal from placement, an information-gathering process is necessary to inform normal assessment requirements. If you haven’t already, you will be asked to provide your responses in the Clinical Assessment Portfolio. Your Unit Coordinator will explore if a Learning Agreement is feasible to permit you to safely return to clinical placement.

As with all your course assessment these processes are informed by the Higher Education Assessment Procedures.

Accident or injury (and insurance)

Charles Darwin University has personal accident and public liability coverage which extends to cover the legal liability of students while engaged on authorised university-sponsored activities including continuity of care experiences for Midwifery students. This includes practical experience activities, provided the student is not engaged as an employee in receipt of remuneration. In assisting CDU with the provision of clinical practice experience, it is understood that the student will be under supervision at all times and practice within their Scope of Practice.

Students must comply with university accident and injury reporting guidelines in addition to the procedures of the health facility. If necessary, you should attend the Emergency Department or be seen by a Medical Officer.

Students are responsible for the costs involved for any accident or injury to themselves while on placement and should be treated as a member of the public when seeking medical assistance. It is important to remember students on placement are not covered by workers compensation as you are not employed by the University or the health facility. The personal accident policy of the University is available on request.

In event of accident or injury

In the event of an accident or injury you and the health facility must inform the relevant Unit Coordinator and Placement Office about the incident as soon as practicable at NurPlacCoord@cdu.edu.au and complete a Charles Darwin University Accident and Incident Form. Send the Accident and Injury Form to the Unit Coordinator who will complete the required section and forward to the Charles Darwin University Work, Health & Safety Office.

Links to frequently asked questions (FAQs)

- FAQ – Pre-clinical requirements

- FAQ – Nursing Simulation Blocks

- FAQ – Midwifery Clinical Teaching Blocks

- Student Uniform

- FAQ – Clinical Placements

- Pregnancy and Clinical Placements

8

Useful terms

Buddy midwife or nurse: A midwife or nurse who you work alongside for a shift. Usually a shift-by-shift basis.

Clinical Facilitator: A clinical facilitator is a midwife or nurse employed by or contracted to the university to assist with the smooth running of your placement. They ensure you are have a preceptor or buddy, and that you are progressing with your clinical assessment portfolio and achieving your objectives.

Clinical Nurse Educator: The clinical nurse educator is a senior nurse employed by the health facility who acts as a role model, preceptor or mentor for less experienced nurses. Their aim is to facilitate the development of clinical expertise and decision making in a specialty area of practice. A part of their role may be oversight of undergraduate nursing placements.

Clinical Supervisor: Clinical Supervisors are employed by educational institutions to support, teach and assess groups of students. The clinical supervisor works in conjunction with preceptors to support, teach and assess students over the clinical placement.

Learning Agreement: An agreement negotiated between you and the Unit Coordinator to address gaps in knowledge or skill with your supervisor while on clinical placement. Your supervisor must be made aware of the Learning Agreement and it must be included in your Clinical Assessment Portfolio submission.

Preceptor: A preceptor is a registered nurse or midwife working in practice for a longer period than for a “buddy”. They have undertaken specific preparation for the role of supervision, clinical teaching, assessment and the provision of feedback to students, usually for the full length of the clinical placement.

Mentoring: Often regarded as a relationship over time between an experienced clinician who creates opportunities for the student to obtain skills and knowledge, and is socialized into the clinical setting.

9

Appendices

Figure 2: Discontinuation of clinical placement

Mandatory Reporting of Student Impairment

Media Attributions

- Discontinuation of clinical placement © Brian Phillips adapted by Charles Darwin University is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

- Mandatory-reporting-of-student-impairment © Brian Phillips adapted by CDU is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license

10

Document history and version control

Last Updated

Approved by

Brief description

1st November, 2019

A/Dean SE

Major revision of content and layout of 2018 edition. Consolidated information from various School of Health web pages. Conversion to CDU PressBooks format.

2nd March, 2020

A/Dean SE

Deleted Course Coordinators as contacts. Added section for placement change requests. Added information related to coronavirus.

5th April

ADA

Various updates and minor changes to chapter organisation including a separate Appendices. Addition of mandatory reporting, information related to Student Registration, and process for changing placement offer.