Professional Experience Placement (PEP) provides students the opportunity to practise their developing child and family health nursing (CFH) capabilities under supervision of an experienced child and family health nurse.
The first placement will initially be observational as student’s transition from their established role of Registered Nurse to novice child and family health nurse. Students will be immersed into the early childhood healthcare nursing environment which encompasses a broad range of practice promoting the physical and emotional health, wellbeing and development of children from birth to five years of age and their families. Reflection is a key part of learning throughout PEP, supporting the development of core knowledge and skills that will be the foundation of your increasing Child and Family Health nursing practice as your progress through each placement.
Students will be placed at NSW Health Early Childhood Health Centres, where they will attend placement across a variety of settings, including home visits, community health facilities and specialist clinics. Dependent on location, students may become part of outreach or multidisciplinary teams.
There are two PEP Units within the Child and Family Health Nursing Stream, CNA752 and CNA753. These units must be completed either in conjunction with or after their relevant co-requisite units. Additionally, CNA752 must be completed prior to CNA753.
Eligible students who are currently employed as a child and family health nurse may be able to apply for credit of prior learning for the practice component by completing an Application for Advanced Standing form. For further specific course information, please refer to the H5F course information page.
Each PEP unit requires 15 days attendance (30 days in total). Students entering the course under the NSW HETI Scholarship program are required to complete the program in one year and attend placement within their employing Local Health District (LHD).
All other students may attend placement either within their LHD, or at other LHDs, after discussion with the NSW PEP Team. As there are very few placement sites who support part-time attendance on placement, most students will be required to attend PEP in weekly blocks.
Preparing for PEP
Students will need to meet University of Tasmania Safety in Practice Compliance Requirements, as well as NSW Health and other partner compliance requirements prior to commencing placement.
Once new students have completed the enrolment process, a NSW PEP Pack will be emailed to students’ University of Tasmania email address, detailing all the requirements that need completing prior to census date.
More information is available on the College of Health and Medicine PEP Compliance page.
Additionally, although most students are currently employed as Registered Nurses with NSW Health, for placement purposes, your status changes to student during placement. All students enrolled in the child and family health nursing stream who will attend placement in NSW are required to meet compliance requirements through the NSW Health ClinConnect placement system. The NSW PEP Team will advise students when they are eligible to meet NSW Health ClinConnect compliance. More information is available via NSW Health Education and Training (HETI )
Students will not be able to commence placement until both University of Tasmania and NSW Health ClinConnect verification requirements have been met.
The PEP Pack includes a PEP planner, where students can nominate preferred dates of placement and locations, if known. The NSW PEP Team will coordinate your placements in negotiation with NSW Health Early Childhood Health Centres. As placement approaches, students will receive information regarding each placement, placement locations and facility information. This information is provided via the InPlace student placement system.
100% attendance is required for PEP. If a public holiday occurs, or students are absent during placement, this time will need be made up. Students will need to consider how they will manage personal and work commitments during placement as well as any impact it will have on their financial situation during this time.
PEP Supervision
During PEP, students always practice under the supervision of qualified health care professionals. Students will practice with ‘in house’ preceptors, who will mentor and guide during PEP, assisting students to expand developing practice and to provide regular feedback.
As each placement site will have their own arrangement for completing University of Tasmania assessment requirements, student assessments may be completed by a preceptor, site educator or Clinical Nurse Consultant
Additionally, the NSW Fieldwork Coordinator will provide support to students, facility staff and preceptors to ensure students are provided the opportunity to demonstrate performance in practice.
Scholarships for PEP
Students should visit the University of Tasmania scholarships page to review scholarships they may be eligible to apply for. The Tasmanian University Student Association (TUSA) also offers advice, information and financial support for students.
Mandatory Training
Many of our industry partners are gradually introducing their own pre-placement mandatory training requirements. This is to manage risk and ensure students are aware of partner policy and procedural guidelines. Students allocated to NSW Health facilities will receive an email 13 days prior to placement detailing the NSW Health Mandatory Training Requirements
Information relating to other practice partners specific requirements will be provided closer to placement.
