Allied Health at Northern Health has a history of innovation in workforce development including: new allied health roles, a graduate development program, a supervision framework and supervision/leadership training programs. Underpinning these is a focus on person centred goal setting and an interprofessional approach to patient care and to staff and student learning.

Interprofessional Clinical Practice

Interprofessional education has been defined as `occasions when two or more professions learn with, from and about each other to improve collaboration and the quality of care’ (CAIPE, 2002). Health care delivery in Victoria currently involves participation of various allied health service providers and other health professionals, including medical and nursing staff. To enhance the quality of healthcare and improve health outcomes for patients it is preferable that these professionals work collaboratively. Adopting a person centred approach to care fosters interdisciplinary practice and service delivery.

One of the earliest opportunities to promote collaborative practice within the health care system is to provide interprofessional clinical education (IPCE) for student health professionals. IPCE involves students from a range of disciplines who work and learn together, sharing patients or participating in interprofessional workshops. While international opinion generally supports teaching students together, current practice in Australia is dominated by single discipline placements conducted in relative isolation from student colleagues in other disciplines.

At Northern Health we have developed innovative models for interprofessional clinical education and incorporate these learning activities into student placements whenever possible. The availibility of these interprofessional opportunities whilst at Northern Health is often determined by the timing of placement blocks by the Universities.

Students from a range of allied health desciplines, as well as medicine and nursing students have participated in the IPCE program since 2009. This program usually involves one half-day session per week, run over 2 consecutive weeks. Northern Health has also recently piloted another inovative interprofessional model of health professional student education. The Interprofessional Practice Placement (IPP) provided a unique opportunity for students to work in interprofessional teams whilst on Clinical Placement, working toghether to care for a groups of patients. Feedback from students who have been involved in the programs has been overwhelmingly positive. Students commented that following these programs, their knowledge and respect for other disciplines roles was increased; and they felt they had a deeper understanding of interprofessional practice, person-centred care, team processes and the value of teamwork.

Person Centred Care

Person centred care is about a collaborative and respectful partnership between the service provider and the service user. It includes:

1. Getting to know the service user as a person;
2. Sharing the power and responsibility between the service user and service provider;
3. Accessibility and flexibility of both the service provider and of the services provided;
4. Coordination and integration of care for the service user; and
5. Having an environment that is conducive to person-centred care for both service providers and service users.

Information for Prospective students

In Allied Health we have a strong commitment to fostering person centred, interprofessional practice and we encourage our clinicians to be evidence based and critically reflective about the care provided to our community.  We have developed an Allied Health Supervision Framework and continue to work hard to foster professional development opportunities for our staff and students. 

We want to train health professionals for the future – highly competent practitioners who are ready to effectively meet the challenges of working in health care.

Arranging Clinical Placement at Northern Health

All student clinical placements are co-ordinated through the University or training organisation. Students wishing to apply for a clinical experience at one of Northern Health’s campuses should direct their enquiries to their University/training organisation.

We do not accept direct applications from students for clinical placements at Northern Health as we deal directly and only with the training organisation.

For further information please contact:

Kathryn Gould
Clinical Education Support Person
Allied Health Learning & Research Unit
kathryn.gould@nh.org.au

Work Experince at Northern Health

Students wishing to apply for work experience at Northern Health should direct all enquiries to

Human Resource Department
hrnorthernqueries@nh.org.au  
Phone: 8405 8034