PRE-PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR NURSING STUDENTS

PRE-PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS FOR NURSING STUDENTS

FIVE PRE-PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS There are five requirements that must be met before undertaking workplace experience placement in nursing. 1. NATIONAL POLICE CERTIFICATE (NPC) 2. IMMUNISATION/VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS 3. NSW HEALTH MANDATORY TRAINING 4. NSW HEALTH FORMS 5. UOW STUDENT FORMS Requirements 1-4 above are necessary in order for you to be compliant with NSW Ministry of Health (NSW Health) policies regarding students on clinical placement. Requirement 5 is a requirement of the School of Nursing at the University. All five requirements must be met in order for you to be eligible to be given a placement in ClinConnect (the NSW Health clinical placement management system). FOUR STEPS THAT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE NOW Step 1 Watch the videos on NSW Health placement requirements - details on page 4. Step 2 Apply for your National Police Certificate - details on page 4. Step 3 See your GP or NSW Health Staff Clinic regarding Vaccination and Immunisation Status - details on page 6. Step 4 Diarise important upcoming dates - details on page 7. 2

WHY DO I NEED TO GET STARTED NOW? Your first placement occurs in your first session of study which seems like a long time away. However, it can take many weeks to meet all requirements, especially if you need to have vaccinations or have a disclosable outcome on your National Police Certificate. You may experience delays with appointment times, problems with availability of required vaccines, or the risk assessment process for disclosable outcomes may take several weeks. Starting now minimises the impact of these factors if they affect you and means you should stay on track to meet placement deadlines. The process can feel quite challenging at a time when you are also adjusting to life as a new university student. The School of Nursing has put in place a series of steps that will help you to meet this deadline. Sticking to these steps will take some of the stress out of the process. WHAT DOES HAVING A STATUS OF VERIFIED MEAN? Having a status of verified in ClinConnect means that you are compliant with the relevant NSW Health policies and are able to enter a NSW Health facility as a student nurse for clinical placement. WHAT IS CLINCONNECT? ClinConnect is the NSW Health clinical placement management system. University staff use this system to book your placements and then allocate you to these placements. NSW Health staff use this system to approve the placements we request as well as track your compliance with their student placement policies. The details of all nursing students are uploaded into ClinConnect after enrolment and initially your status is listed as not verified in ClinConnect. Once you have attended a Verification Session with NSW Health Staff and demonstrated that you have met requirements 1-4, your status in ClinConnect will be changed from not verified to verified. UOW staff cannot do this for you. Only NSW Health staff are authorised to assess and change a student s status in ClinConnect. WHY DOES BEING VERIFIED MATTER? Staff at the University are unable to allocate students to a placement in ClinConnect unless they have a status of verified at least 28 days prior to the start date of the placement. In addition, placement staff are also required to publish the list of placements to students and facilitators 6 weeks prior to the start date of placement. This means you need to have achieved a status of verified by Monday 28th March to meet NSW Health and UOW deadlines for allocating and publishing your placement for Autumn Session 2016. HOW DO I GET VERIFIED? UOW staff schedule a series of Verification Sessions early in the year which are staffed by NSW Health. You will be given full instructions on how to get verified when you attend Enrolment Day. THE FOLLOWING PAGES PROVIDE DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE NEXT 3

Step 1. Step 2. WATCH THE NSW HEALTH VIDEOS ABOUT THE VERIFICATION PROCESS APPLY FOR YOUR NATIONAL POLICE CERTIFICATE (NPC) NSW Health have produced 3 short videos that will provide you with a general overview of the verification process. All students should watch: Video 1 Introduction to Clinical Placement Requirements Video 2 Immunisation Requirements International students also need to watch: Video 3 Overseas Students. The videos will be shown again at your Enrolment Day and are also available on the Health Education Training Institute (HETI) website: http://www.heti.nsw.gov.au/ictn/greater-metroictn/student-verification1/ DOMESTIC STUDENTS CrimTrac oversees the National Police Checking Service (NPCS) and it is the NPCS that provides the information that will appear on your National Police Check. Information about the National Police Check is available at https://www.crimtrac.gov.au/information-individuals. There are many companies that offer a Police Check online. The National Police Check that you apply for must be supplied by a CrimTrac Accredited Broker Organisation or an Australian State or Territory Police Force or the Australian Federal Police. The list of Accredited Broker organisations is via the who can organise my check link in the FAQs on the website above. The National Police Check must: state that it is a National or Australia wide check, and include the student s full name and their date of birth, and not have any offences listed (if it shows Disclosable Outcomes (i.e. offences), you must also apply to NSW Health for a Clinical Placement Authority Card (CPAC) or conditional letter from the Employment Screening and Review Unit, NSW HealthShare), and have exactly the same name on the National Police Certificate as will appear on your Student ID card If you provide a National Police Check from a company that doesn t appear on the list of Accredited Broker Organisations or doesn t contain all of the required information, NSW Health will not accept this as meeting the requirements for verification. You will then be required to apply for a valid National Police Check. 4

Step 2. APPLY FOR YOUR NATIONAL POLICE CERTIFICATE (NPC) continued. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS International students are required to have two police checks: one from their country of origin (in English or including an English translation) and one from Australia. Applying for an Australian National Police Check (NPC) before you arrive in Australia International students may apply for a National Police Check (NPC) before arrival in Australia through the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Refer to the AFP Police website www.afp.gov.au for an application form. In addition to the instructions on the AFP website, students must (on the AFP application): enter Code Number 37 in section 1 Purpose of NPC ; tick No to the Fingerprint check in section 5 Applying for an Australian National Police Check (NPC) after arriving in Australia CrimTrac oversees the National Police Checking Service (NPCS) in Australia and it is the NPCS that provide the information that will appear on your National Police Check. Information about the National Police Check is available at https://www.crimtrac.gov.au/ information-individuals There are many companies that offer a Police Check online. The National Police Check that you apply for must be supplied by a CrimTrac Accredited Broker Organisation or an Australian State or Territory Police Force or the Australian Federal Police. The list of Accredited Broker organisations is via the who can organise my check link in the FAQs on the information website. The National Police Check also must: state that it is a National or Australia wide check, and include the student s full name and their date of birth, and not have any offences listed (if it shows Disclosable Outcomes (i.e. offences), you must also apply to NSW Health for a Clinical Placement Authority Card (CPAC) or conditional letter from the Employment Screening and Review Unit, NSW HealthShare), and have exactly the same name on the National Police Certificate as will appear on your Student ID card If you provide a National Police Check from a company that doesn t appear on the list of Accredited Broker Organisations or doesn t contain all of the required information, NSW Health will not accept this as meeting the requirements for verification. You will then be required to apply for a valid National Police Check. Police Certificate from your Home Country International students are also required to provide a Police Certificate (with English translation) from their home country and any other country that they have lived in, which includes any charges the students may have against their name. If you are unable to provide a Police Certificate from a country that you have lived in, you must complete a Statutory Declaration stating that you: a) have no pending criminal charges or previous convictions from that country OR b) have pending or previous criminal convictions, and must list the details of the charges and convictions, including dates and court outcomes. Further information regarding this requirement is available on the NSW Health website: http://www. health.nsw.gov.au (type clinical placement in the search area). 5

Step 3. SEE YOUR GP OR NSW HEALTH STAFF CLINIC REGARDING YOUR VACCINATION AND IMMUNISATION REQUIREMENTS Enclosed in this pack is your Vaccination Record Card together with NSW Health Information Sheets 1 4 regarding occupational assessment, screening and vaccination against specified infectious diseases. IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN EMPLOYED BY NSW HEALTH If you have never been employed by NSW Health, take the Vaccination Record Card and Information Sheet to your local Doctor, GP or Immunisation Nurse and ask them to complete the required details for your written proof of protection against the diseases below. Ensure the card is accurately completed with the date, the name of the person providing the immunisation/ vaccination, their signature and a practice stamp on your card next to each entry for the following: Diphtheria, Tetanus, Acellular Pertussis (Whooping Cough) (dtpa) Hepatitis B Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) Varicella (chickenpox) Information Sheet 2 - Checklist: Evidence required from Category A applicants (p. 2) is the one you should show to your doctor to assist them to fill out your card correctly. Tuberculosis screening is NOT required at this point in the process. It will occur at a later date and will be done by NSW Health staff during your Verification Session. IF YOU HAVE WORKED FOR NSW HEALTH If you have worked for NSW Health, contact your staff health clinic and request a written result letter detailing your vaccination history and staple this to your Vaccination Record Card. If you are not already immunised as required by NSW Health, you will require several appointments with the Doctor/General Practitioner/Immunisation Nurse to achieve the relevant immunisation status. This process can take as long as six months depending on which immunisations/vaccinations you need to have, especially since appointments with GPs may be difficult to secure. Your GP may order blood tests to check for immunity status as part of completing the Vaccination Record Card. You need to ask for a serology report (blood test results) showing the results and bring this to your verification Session along with your other documents. If you have at least made an appointment to see your GP or Staff Clinic prior to Enrolment Day this is a very good start toward meeting this requirement. It s even better if you have had your card filled out as much as possible and a next appointment made if you need to have some vaccinations or serology (blood tests) done. Please familiarise yourself with the NSW Health Policy Directive PD2011_005 Occupational Assessment, Screening & Vaccination Against Specified Infectious Diseases available on the NSW Health website at: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/policies/pd/2011/ PD2011_005.html ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE OF IMMUNISATIONS: NSW Health Vaccination Record Card that had been completed, signed and stamped by a GP NSW Health Staff Clinic record, printed and stapled to a NSW Health Vaccination/ Immunisation card NSW Health Child Personal Health Record (blue book, baby book) NSW Health School Vaccination Record cards Immunisation List signed and stamped by your GP PLUS Serology reports (blood test results) If you remember having vaccinations at school but can t find the record cards, call the Public Health Unit on 1300 066 055 to request your Public Health records 6

Step 4. DIARISE THESE IMPORTANT DATES ENROLMENT DAYS There will be further information about placement requirements and how to book appointments for your Verification Session along with a chance to ask any questions that you might have about getting started. Wollongong Campus Thursday 28th January Southern Sydney Campus Monday 1st February Shoalhaven Campus Wednesday 10th February Batemans Bay Campus Thursday 11th February Bega Campus Friday 12th February NURSING ORIENTATION DAYS You will receive information about uniform requirements and how to order them, and be provided with other key information that will help you prepare for your degree. This is also a chance to meet other students you ll be studying with and become familiar with the campus, as well as a fun day with activities planned for all new students. Wollongong Campus Wednesday 24th February Southern Sydney Campus Tuesday 23rd February Shoalhaven Campus Wednesday 17th February Batemans Bay Campus Thursday 18th February Bega Campus Wednesday 17th February NSW HEALTH VERIFICATION SESSIONS You will meet with NSW Health staff, who will review your NPC and immunisation evidence to determine whether you can be verified or need to take further steps. The sheet given to you on Enrolment Day provides details of how to book an appointment for a Verification Session and what you need to bring. Verification Session 1 Tuesday 23rd February (Bega Campus) Verification Session 2 Wednesday 24th February (Southern Sydney Campus) Verification Session 3 Thursday 25th February (Shoalhaven Campus) Verification Session 4 Friday 26th February (Batemans Bay Campus) Verification Session 5 Monday 22nd February to Friday 26th February (Wollongong Campus) MONDAY 28TH MARCH deadline for being verified and therefore eligible to be allocated a placement for Autumn Session 2016. 7

LEARN MORE This brochure is just a part of who we are and what we do. You ve met us face to face now and we hope you choose to come back and study with us so we can further show you why UOW is the place for you. FREE CAMPUS TOURS Every Friday, between 10 am and 3pm AND FINALLY FACULTY OF SCIENCE, MEDICINE & HEALTH Student Hub 41 +61 2 4221 3492 smah-earlyadmission@uow.edu.au smah.uow.edu.au The School of Nursing looks forward to welcoming you to the program and being with you every step of the way on your journey toward a rewarding and important career as a Registered Nurse. GENERAL ENQUIRIES The Bachelor of Nursing programs are demanding and challenging with plenty of support available uow.edu.au/future to help you navigate verification and other Within requirements. Australia: It is normal 1300 to feel 367 lost 869 and International: +61 2 4221 3218 futurestudents@uow.edu.au overwhelmed at times, especially in your first session of study. The important thing is to seek help and advice at those times so that we can assist you to be successful in meeting all of the demands of your degree. NEED HELP? FACULTY OF SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND HEALTH StudentHub41 Phone (02) 4221 3492 Email smah-students@uow.edu.au Web smah.uow.edu.au/preplacement 8 The University of Wollongong attempts to ensure the information contained in this publication is correct at the time of production (November 2015); however sections may be amended without notice by the University in response to changing circumstances or for any other reason. Check with the University at the time of enquiry for any updated information. UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG CRICOS: 00102E