Attendance and class requirements

Attendance at preparation for placement sessions: Students are expected to attend all preparation for placement lectures/tutorials (e.g., briefing and de-briefing sessions, tutorials and seminars/workshops targeting skills essential for clinical placement). Students are also expected to actively participate in discussions and activities. Briefings, debriefings, tutorials, workshops can occur within the inter- and mid-semester breaks, and in exam periods, in addition to the standard semester times.

Note: Students must also meet all pre-placement requirements as outlined on the University of Sydney Course-specific Checks and Clearances website (http://sydney.edu.au/current_students/enrolment/course_checks.html). Further, students must have an up-to-date declaration (in Sonia) that they have read and understood key documents related to privacy and confidentiality, codes of conduct, NSW Health policies and general communication/email etiquette. NSW Health and other sites may require students to undertake mandatory orientation and induction modules as relevant to the specific placement site. Failure to meet these requirements may prevent a student from being allocated to, and/or completing a placement or fieldwork unit of study irrespective of their enrolment status

Attendance at the placement site: Learning in a clinical environment is a key feature of this unit of study. Students will be allocated to a clinical site for up to 37.5 hours per week (not including breaks) and for up to 5 weeks. Clinical placements are mostly within the Sydney Metropolitan area, however, you must expect that you will be allocated a placement outside this area, including locations such as Broken Hill, Tamworth and Canberra. You will be required to work a variety of hours during each block depending on the site. Typically students work Monday to Friday within the hours of 8am and 5pm. However, many placements require non-standard work hours, such as very early morning, evenings or weekends. This is to be expected because these types of hours are normal for some sectors of the industry. The total hours of placement will vary depending on the site, but will likely be in the range of 80-185 hours. Specific placement details are available on SONIA.

Students are expected to attend all scheduled clinical placement days, except those days where special circumstances exist (sick, religious observance requirements, bereavement or other forms of leave, public holidays, or staff leave). Students normally would not attend placement if their nominated supervisor is taking a rostered day off, unless the supervisor has made arrangements for someone else at the site to supervise the student. If any makeup-days are required, the nature of these days is to be organised by the relevant WIL academic who will negotiate arrangements with the placement site. Students are required to submit a Medical Certificate to the relevant WIL academic if more than one day is taken off placement as sick leave.

Activities will include assessment and intervention with clients. You will also be expected to be involved in other activities as directed by the site supervisor, e.g. orientation, case conferencing, meetings, report writing, presentations, and assignments. The types of activities will vary from site to site. Failure to participate in activities or complete tasks as directed by your supervisor may result in failure of the unit of study. Students are expected to attend all preparation for placement lectures/tutorials.