What are the steps involved before, during and after a placement?

As part of the student placement arrangement, your organisation will be required to enter into a legal agreement with the University, commonly called a Student Placement Agreement or VPLA (Vocational Placement Letter Agreement).

Student Placement Agreement

The University has adopted the Victorian Department of Health Student Placement Agreement template which was developed in collaboration between government, health service and education provider representatives. The template and its associated documents - the Standardised Student Induction Protocol represent the best practice framework for the delivery of student placements.  The SPA is designed for use by larger placement providers.

If the University's standard student placement agreement is used, your school/department contact will liaise with the Partnerships Coordinator, Experiential Learning located within the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences . Please note that if amendments are required on the standard template or a bespoke agreement is received from your organisation, the matter will be referred to our Legal and Risk Department for review.  Agreements that are reviewed by our Legal Services Office can take up to 3 months to fully negotiate.  For agreements with international organisations, this process may take up to 6 months.

The Partnerships Coordinator, Experiential Learning will communicate with your organisation on behalf of the School/Department.  Please contact mdhs-placements@unimelb.edu.au if you have any further queries about this process.

Vocational Placement Letter Agreement (VPLA)

The VPLA is a standard form agreement that is ideal for placements that are being arranged with small organisations that only cater for one discipline or for one-off arrangements. As this agreement has been drafted in-house by our expert team of lawyers, they take less time to put together and are normally handled directly by the School/Department clinical administration team.

The Placement Provider (Host Organisation), Student and University have certain obligations, roles and responsibilities to consider during a student placement in order to achieve a quality workplace learning experience.  In summary, they are as follows, however this list is not exhaustive and will depend on the type and nature of placements.

Host Organisation

• Will ensure that all relevant by-laws, policies, manuals, guidelines, protocols, procedures and any other relevant information is readily available for the student, including details of emergency procedures to be followed.
• Will ensure students are offered quality supervision, including the provision of a safe environment.
• Will use best endeavours to obtain patient/client consent to students participating in their care or treatment, where reasonably practical.

Students

• Will comply with the Host Organisations applicable laws, protocols, procedures, policies and guidelines including, all matters pertaining to OHS, Infection Control, Privacy and Confidentiality, personal information and health records.
• Will perform tasks allocated to them as part of the student placement with due care, skill and attention and in a proper and time efficient manner.

University

• Will coordinate the collection of required student documentation on behalf of the Host Organisation, eg. Police Check, Working with Children Check and Immunisation Records.  With regards to Insurance coverage for our students, you can find further information here.
• Will provide support to Host Organisation supervisors.
• Will ensure that placements are suitable, prepare students for workplace learning, monitor the student's progress and welfare  and provide the appropriate supports during site visits.

There will be an opportunity for the student and host organisation to provide feedback on their experiences during the placement. A thorough analysis of the results of feedback allows for process improvement.  Relationships with our hosts are strengthened based on the regular communication that exists post-placement.  There are also opportunities for hosts to have access to work-ready graduates with whom they are familiar with.

Students may be required to submit a workbook consisting of reports and learning activities.
An appraisal form is generally sent to host organisations or invitations to participate in annual surveys, although more informal arrangements will be considered.