Better Placed: Excellence in health education

Clinical education and placements are integral to the education of health professionals, facilitating the integration of theory and practice. This growth in student numbers, as well as intense student interest in health careers, has resulted in increased competition for placement sites and increased pressure on health services to accommodate placements. Quality and sustainable clinical education and placements need a positive partnership between education providers and clinical sites. Over the last decade in South Australia, there has been both increased demand for health services and a near doubling of South Australian university health profession students. SA Health has developed a framework for governance and clarity regarding responsibility for the leadership, oversight, management and coordination of SA Health’s approach to clinical placements.

Preparing graduates

In order to prepare graduates to deliver contemporary health services it is essential that the health and education sectors work closely together with the common goal of high quality clinical placements in South Australia.

Clinical placements

In late 2013, SA Health commissioned a review into the way clinical placements were managed to develop a consistent and robust framework for the management and governance of clinical placements across the organisation. As a result of this framework SA Health implemented a state-wide approach to the management of clinical placements and education for all professions. SA Health’s ongoing commitment to educating its future workforce, Better Placed: Excellence in Health Education 2017-2019 (PDF 168KB) outlines the current directions.

Clinical Placement Management System (CPMS) Placeright™ 

One of the initiatives was the implementation of a Clinical Placement Management System (CPMS) Placeright™ to improve clinical placement administration and management for all health professions.

To access Placeright, follow this link: https://placeright.net.au (please use Google Chrome to open this link.

The SA Health Better Placed Clinical Placement Coordination Team in conjunction with Local Health Networks, work closely together with education providers to facilitate the coordinated administration of placements. The team is situated within the Office for Professional Leadership and has a number of functions including: