Professional Experience Placement (PEP) provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their developing knowledge, skills and behaviour in a professional healthcare setting. It is a time for students to immerse themselves in the health professional culture; understand the diversity of health care teams, and to develop inter-professional relationships. Practising under the supervision of experienced staff, students will meet and provide care to a range of people in a variety of practice settings, developing your identity as a healthcare professional.
NSW Bachelor of Paramedicine students will undertake placements in an emergency ambulance setting and within aged care facilities. Aged Care placements are located throughout the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Region while emergency ambulance placements are across New South Wales. There may also be opportunities to undertake a placement internationally.
New South Wales Ambulance (NSWA) is a key partner of the University of Tasmania and is where students will undertake the majority of their emergency ambulance placements. NSWA allocates stations to the University of Tasmania students for placement according to operational demands and capacity to support student learning. NSWA is divided for operational purposes into Regional and Metropolitan Divisions. Students located in major urban areas of Sydney may be able to complete their placements locally, however, due to the number of stations available in the Sydney Metropolitan Division, Sydney based students are only guaranteed one Sydney placement and will be required to re-locate away from the Sydney Metropolitan Region for some placements.
PEP dates are planned in conjunction with curriculum requirements and partner operational demands. Placement dates are scheduled at specified times each year and are not negotiable.
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. Students will complete the compliance process via the University of Tasmania placement management system InPlace.
Once new students have completed the enrolment process, a PEP Information Pack will be emailed to their University of Tasmania email address, detailing all the requirements that need completing prior to census date in Year 1.
More information is available on the College of Health and Medicine PEP website Compliance page.
Additionally, all students enrolled in the NSW Bachelor of Paramedicine program are required to meet NSW Health compliance requirements through a placement system called ClinConnect. 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).
Other industry partners may have additional pre-placement compliance requirements to be completed once students are allocated to that facility.
As placement approaches, students will receive information regarding each placement, including preference submission, placement locations and facility information. This information is provided via the InPlace student placement system.
PEP requires students to attend their allocated facility on a full-time basis, which will include morning, afternoon, night duty and weekend shifts. Associated with this shift work, there may be increased transportation costs, longer travel time and less opportunity for students to undertake regular hours in any paid work they have. Changes may also need to be made to normal family routines during this time. Students will need to consider how they will manage their personal commitments throughout their placements.
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PEP Supervision
During PEP, students always practice under the supervision of qualified health care professionals. There are two main modes of supervision in NSW for paramedicine students - preceptor only, and a combined preceptor/facilitator model.
During emergency ambulance placements, students practise alongside one allocated preceptor, who will provide mentorship and guidance during PEP, assisting to expand students’ developing practice, providing regular feedback as students’ progress through the placement. The preceptor will formally provide feedback on students’ progression in practice.
When placed within aged care facilities, students will also have a preceptor to practise alongside each shift, however a University of Tasmania Facilitator will ensure students are meeting the intended learning outcomes of each placement. Facilitators liaise with the health care facility staff, provide regular feedback regarding student progress and will provide documented feedback to university staff.
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Scholarships
Students should visit the University of Tasmania scholarships web 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. TUSA Financial Support
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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 date.
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Australian Health Practitioner Registration Authority
All students enrolled in the University of Tasmania Bachelor of Paramedicine program will automatically be registered, as a student, with the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Authority, as required by legislation.
Upon graduating from the program, students will need to apply directly to the Paramedicine Board of Australia to register as a paramedic. Further information is available from the Paramedicine Board of Australia.
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Compliance and InPlace
All College of Health and Medicine students need to complete:
Information on how to log in and upload your compliance documents:
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