An essential feature of teaching practice in the School of Nursing & Midwifery is the placement of undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in a variety of clinical practice settings where they have the opportunity develop clinical skills and observe clinical, remedial and training practices.
The healthcare agencies that provide our clinical practice settings are important partners of the School and help us to create practical and appropriate learning environments for our students and a curriculum that is sensitive to the requirements of nursing and midwifery practice.
Students may be placed in dedicated education units (DEUs), the primary model for clinical placement, or in block placements. There are also opportunities for clinical placement outside the metropolitan Adelaide area. Please see Riverland venues and Rural & Regional Clinical Program for more information.
Information about the contexts of clinical practice can be found in the section Contexts of clinical practice, which discusses what clinical practice and clinical experience are, standards you need to meet in clinical practice experience, models of clinical placement and assessment of clinical practice experience.
This part of the website deals with practical aspects of clinical placement.
Clinical placement is a complex matter logistically. It is important that all students take responsibility to actively engage with the processes involved in preparing for and undertaking their clinical practice experience. It is your responsibility to:
- be available for clinical placement
- understand the clinical learning objectives described in your Topic details booklet and other learning materials
- note the information on this website about:
- pre-clinical meetings
- venue orientations
- placement dates and venues
- closing dates for applications (for example, to change/swap placement, for rural or regional placement etc (dates will be provided on appropriate form)
- registering as a student nurse with NMBA (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia)
- all other relevant information about your clinical placement.
- check your university emails and FLO topic website regularly, especially once placements have been posted, including during mid-semester, mid-year and end-of-year breaks
- ensure that your National Police Certificate and immunisations are up-to-date each semester
- complete the NursingSA web based clinical placement orientation each semester before going to a public clinical venue
- attend your pre-clinical meeting and venue orientation
- arrange your own travel to and from rural placement venues
- contact your clinical facilitator and the clinical venue on each day that you cannot attend placement due to illness
- ensure that you attend a full shift on each day at your allocated clinical venue
- make sure you wear your Flinders University clinical ID badge for each shift
- wear the appropriate uniform
- advise the Clinical Placement Unit by email if you are withdrawing from a clinical topic (remember to withdraw formally: contact the student enrolment office or withdraw online)
- read the booklet A guide to clinical placement.
