Professional Experience Placement Placement Requirements Public Health

Public Health

What you need to do

Before preparing for a public health professional experience placement, please contact the Subject Coordinator for TM5571 Public Health Placement to discuss your options and the subject requirements:

Assoc. Professor Richard Franklin
College of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Veterinary Sciences
Phone (07) 4781 5939
Richard.Franklin@jcu.edu.au

For more information you can contact the Professional Experience Placement Unit

This guide will assist you to organise your professional experience placement. However, you may be required to fulfil additional requirements depending on where your placement will occur (e.g. a national Working with Children Check, current resuscitation certification, current vaccinations). Please confirm with a representative from the placement facility what their specific requirements are, and ensure you meet these requirements prior to beginning your placement.

You must complete and sign the JCU Confidentiality Acknowledgement every year.

In signing the Acknowledgement, you – the student – acknowledge that you have been instructed in the concept of patient, client and business confidentiality, and will respect clients’ confidentiality at all times, including during tutorials, lectures and discussions, both professional and private.

Please download, complete, sign and email the Confidentiality Acknowledgement to the Professional Experience Placement Unit and retain a copy for your professional portfolio.

The work you will be undertaking during your placement must be voluntary. It is not with your employer.

The placement must be public health related; it cannot be clinical practice.

You should not be undertaking any medical procedures as part of your placement.

Your placement must consist of 152 hours of voluntary work, which equates to four weeks of work at 38 hours per week.

These hours can be undertaken as a block or spread out over the semester, e.g. 15 hours a week for 10 weeks.

As a Public Health placement student, you are responsible for covering all costs associated with your placement, e.g. accommodation, travel expenses.

Prior to placement, you must ensure you have:

  1. Formally enrolled in the subject TM5571 Public Health Placement
  2. Developed a learning contract to be endorsed by the subject coordinator and placement supervisor
  3. Completed and submitted the form 'Approval to undertake work experience/community placement'
  4. Completed a health and safety plan via RiskWare

Forms and supporting documents including the TM5571 Subject Outline will be provided to you by the subject coordinator.

There are three pieces of assessment for TM5571 against which you will be graded as competent or not competent:

  1. Learning Contract (30%)
  2. Risk management plan via Riskware (10%)
  3. A portfolio that includes analytical reasoning and a reflective journal or your learning (70%)

The hurdle requirements for TM5571 involve two letters from your supervisor:

  1. The first letter verifies acceptance of your placement and includes the 'Approval to undertake work experience/community placement' form
  2. The second letter verifies your attendance at placement and completion of activities specified in your learning contract

Students undertaking overseas Professional Experience Placements must obtain appropriate approval before departure. Depending on your course of study, your Placement Coordinator may request that you complete the Approval for Overseas Professional Experience Placement form. Please ensure that you have received confirmation from your Placement Coordinator that your Professional Experience Placement has been approved.

Once you have approval, you then need to commence your planning and arranging an itinerary for your travel.  This also includes registering your trip with JCU for safety and insurance purposes.  This should be done at least eight weeks prior to departure where possible.

Please follow this link to complete JCU's Pre Departure Checks & Travel Registration Form (online) for your overseas placement.

If your placement is in the United States or Canada please contact the subject coordinator to discuss if your placement will be covered by JCU insurance.