Preparing for your clinical placement

All students must complete an orientation before commencing a placement within a Queensland Health facility. You will not be able to commence your placement until your orientation is completed.

Orientation requirements are the same for all students, regardless of the educational facility or health program in which you are enrolled. Your orientation is separated into 2 parts:

Part 1 requires you to action something (such as undertake a course or provide information to your education provider), and

Part 2 requires you to be aware of and adhere to certain behaviours and knowledge while attending your clinical placement.

Part 1

Criminal history check

A National Police Certificate is the minimum pre-placement legal check. All students will be required to organise, fund, and maintain a National Police Certificate that is current for the entirety of the clinical placement and be no older than three (3) years at the end of the placement.

Holding a National Police Certificate is in addition to other pre-placement screening checks that may be required through Queensland or National legislation for specific purposes.

You will not be able to attend your clinical placement without a National Police Certificate.

Working with children check

Working with children checks ("blue cards") are undertaken by the Queensland Government Public Safety Business Agency. Your education provider placement coordinator will advise if you are required to provide health services to children as part of your placement and whether you are required to apply for a blue card. You will not be able to start your placement until you have received a positive notice.

Aged care criminal history check

If your placement is in an aged care facility, you will need to comply with the aged care criminal history check requirements as set out in the Aged Care Act 1997 and related Accountability Principles 2014. It is likely that you will need a National Police Certificate not more than three (3) years old to meet these requirements. You may not be able to start your placement until you have received the appropriate checks.

NDIS worker screening check

From 1 February 2021, new worker screening laws apply in Queensland in relation to services delivered through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). If you will be attending a clinical placement with an NDIS registered provider in a role the hospital or health service has determined is a “risk-assessed role”, you will require an NDIS worker screening clearance.

It is the responsibility of the facility you are attending to know whether you will require a clearance; however, it is important that this is identified early (by your education provider when they negotiate the placement on your behalf), as there is a “no card, no start” requirement. If you are required to have an NDIS worker screening check, you will not be able to start your placement until you have received a clearance. Students are treated as volunteers under the new worker screening requirements and will not be charged a fee for the check.

If you already hold a valid yellow card or yellow card exemption, you won’t need to get an NDIS worker screening check straight away. Your existing card can be used until it expires, is suspended, or is cancelled.

To read more about how to apply for an NDIS worker screening check or find out more information on screening requirements visit the Queensland Government Disability Worker Screening.

Students attending aged care providers supporting NDIS participants

From 16 June 2021, the Australian Government is streamlining the dual regulatory framework for aged care providers that support NDIS participants. This means that an NDIS worker screening clearance will meet the checks for aged care staff and volunteers under the Aged Care Act 1997 for those supporting NDIS participants, where previously both a NDIS worker screen and a National Police Certificate were required.

Corrective services criminal history check

Your Queensland Health supervisor will organise a Corrective Services criminal history check if your placement is scheduled to take place within an area providing health services in a corrective services facility.

Access to Queensland Health facilities may be restricted or denied if students do not meet the immunisation and infection requirements.

Mandatory vaccinations

Vaccination requirements apply to the majority of frontline clinical roles (including students) within Queensland Health. Vaccinations listed here (and reflected on the Student Orientation Checklist) represent the minimum vaccination requirements for student clinical placements. Additional vaccinations may be required to respond to intermittent, seasonal, or recurring disease risk in some or all areas of the State.

MMR, varicella, pertussis, hepatitis B

Information about dose schedules and evidence requirements for these vaccinations can be found at the following links:

Additional vaccinations

Additional vaccinations may be required for the Hospital and Health Services or clinical placement location you are attending. For example, influenza vaccination may be a requirement of undertaking a clinical placement in an aged care facility, and roles with high risk of exposure to certain diseases (such as hepatitis A, Japanese encephalitis) may require additional pre-placement vaccinations.

Tuberculosis risk assessment

Before commencing a clinical placement in a Queensland Health facility, students must complete a TB risk assessment questionnaire, in cooperation with their education provider's placement coordinator.

Infection prevention

All students need to be aware of and comply with Queensland Health’s policies and guidelines related to infection prevention to ensure their own personal safety and that of patients and staff. This includes information about standard precautions, sharps safety, and broader infection management advice.

Before commencing a clinical placement, you are required to undertake orientation about the environment you are entering, your practice and interactions with patients/clients, and your safety. Some of this orientation is a requirement of legislation, and others are required by guideline or policy.

Required orientation can be found in the Queensland Health Human Resources Policy Mandatory Training G6 (QH-POL-183) policy. Completion of your required orientation should be recorded on your Student Orientation Checklist.

Please note: Some orientation modules require you to access the iLearn learning management system (register as a student), and others require you to undertake training directly with the facility you are attending. This orientation represents the MINIMUM requirements to undertake clinical placements in a Queensland Health facility. Some Hospital and Health Services may have additional modules that are site- or profession-specific. It is a requirement that you complete orientation and pre-placement checks prior to the commencement of your clinical placement, unless you are unable to access local learning or location-specific modules prior to your placement (for courses required to be completed at the placement location).

For assistance with mandatory training requirements, please contact LeadershipCapability@health.qld.gov.au.

Accessing iLearn

For iLearn courses, you are only permitted to have one account per person:

Queensland Health employees are to use their existing iLearn account
non-employees will need to apply for an iLearn student account.

To enrol into a course, please access iLearn, select the Course Catalogue, and search for a course by the title as shown in the Queensland Health Human Resources Policy Mandatory Training G6 (QH-POL-183) policy. New users and users experiencing difficulties with access to iLearn should allow sufficient time to register and complete modules prior to placement. All training that can be completed through the iLearn platform should be finalised well before the placement is due to commence.

For assistance with access to iLearn, please contact 1800 198 175.

Recording course completion

For iLearn modules, you will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the training. You must retain this and provide it to your education provider and/or Queensland Health supervisor, as requested. For learning management system (LMS) training/learning modules, your completion will be recorded locally by the Hospital and Health Services and may not be transferable between facilities.

For assistance with generating iLearn certificates, please contact 1800 198 175.

Part 2

Queensland Public Service Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct for the Queensland Public Service applies to all permanent, temporary, full-time, part-time, or casual Queensland Health employees, volunteers, students, contractors, consultants and anyone who works in any other capacity for Queensland Health.

The Code reflects four ethics principles:

Integrity and impartiality
Promoting the public good
Commitment to the system of government
Accountability and transparency

Please read the Code of Conduct for more information.

National Code of Conduct for Health Care Workers (Queensland)

The National Code of Conduct for Health Care Workers (Queensland) Queensland Code applies to health care workers who are:

not required to be registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (including de-registered health practitioners)
registered health practitioners under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and who provide health services that are unrelated to their registration.

In Queensland, a health service is as defined in Section 7 of the Health Ombudsman Act 2013 (Qld).

The Queensland Code also applies to students meeting the above criteria.

Please ensure that you are aware of your obligations to review the Queensland Code and supporting documents.

Providing culturally appropriate health services

The following documents will assist you in providing culturally appropriate health services:

Patient trust is critical to providing high quality health care. As a student, you will have access to sensitive patient information. Queensland Health places an extremely high importance on maintaining patient confidentiality.

Privacy

The Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) sets out the provisions for access to non-personal information held by Queensland government departments.

Confidentiality

Queensland Health is bound by strict obligations in relation to the disclosure of patient identifying information. For more information, refer to Part 7 of the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 (Qld). Anyone being educated or trained at a public sector health service facility as part of the requirements for the following are bound by that legislation:

registration, enrolment or other authorisation (however described) to practice as a health professional
completion of a course of study qualifying a person for registration, enrolment or authorisation mentioned in (1).

Any disclosure of patient identifying information can only be permitted where one of the limited exceptions to our duty of confidentiality permits such disclosure. Once bound, you will not be indemnified for confidentiality breaches.

Failure to comply with confidentiality obligations may result in termination of your placement and/or further legal action being taken against you by Queensland Health and/or the education provider.

Documentation

Good clinical documentation is an integral part of patient care. Further information will be provided to you by your Queensland Health supervisor when you commence your placement.