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Responsibilities, Costs and Timelines

As well as providing five-star teaching, the School of Medical and Health Sciences (SMHS) provides students with hands-on practical experience in the form of supervised placements in the real world. This means our graduates not only have the theoretical knowledge to make a difference, they also are work-ready, confident and competent practitioners.

Over the course of their studies, students have the opportunity to undertake supervised placements across a wide range of health, education and community-based settings. This includes ECU clinics, hospitals, schools, public health settings, aged care facilities and ambulance services across a range of metropolitan and rural sites. Depending on your course, placements may commence as early as your first few weeks at ECU.

Pre-placement preparation

At ECU, we have a duty of care to our students and our placement partners. By completing your pre-placement preparation requirements (for example immunisations, screening checks, education modules) and providing your documentation, you help us to ensure safety for yourself and others in health-related working environments.

Pre-placement preparation requirements must be completed before you can attend your placement site(s) and in many disciplines are a mandatory requirement for specific units. We require that your documentation is up-to-date at the start of each semester or trimester.

Costs and timelines

We ask that you begin actioning these pre-placement preparation requirements as early as possible as some can take multiple appointments to complete and may have significant processing times.

There will be costs for medical consultation, testing and vaccination, which are usually not covered by Medicare, and you will be responsible for these costs. You may obtain these from your local GP or the Student Health Service at ECU. ECU’s Student Health Services usually provides vaccines at a lesser cost for students. For further information, visit the ECU Student Health Services website.

Important information regarding non-compliance

Timely completion and full compliance of pre-placement preparation requirements is vital to your ability to attend placements and ultimately graduate your course. If you do not comply with the pre-placement preparation requirements, you will not be allowed to attend placement facilities and your placement will be cancelled.

  • Where the placement is a mandatory aspect of your education program, the consequence of not being allowed on placement will result in you failing the unit.
  • Where pre-placement preparation is a requirement for a specific unit, not completing these requirements will result in failure of the unit.

We encourage you to read all information provided on this site about ECU's pre-placement preparation for your health discipline. Further information will be provided at one of your first lectures and on Canvas Learning Management System in your relevant units.

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