When you are attending placement at Austin Health you will assessed by a clinical teacher or preceptor.

The clinical teacher model

All students (except final year nursing students), attend placement with the support of a clinical
teacher.

The clinical teacher is:

• employed by the external education provider
• not an Austin Health staff member.
• usually allocated eight students
• required to work the same shift as the students.

Students are also allocated a “buddy” to work alongside on the commencement of their shift.

The clinical teacher engages in the student’s learning objectives, facilitates, debriefs and assists with marking off the student’s assessments. This requires clinical teachers to liaise with allocated buddies to gauge further feedback on the students’ progress.

The preceptor model

The aim of the preceptor model is to provide continuity and consistency in supervision and support.

Undergraduate nursing students in their final year are allocated to nursing staff using the preceptorship model.

Each individual student is allocated a team of a minimum of two preceptors, who will engage in the student’s learning objectives and provide them ongoing support and feedback.

The student works across all shifts with their preceptors “following” their preceptors’ roster. This provides the nursing student with exposure to working shift work, contributing to their work readiness (Barnett et al, 2010).

The Undergraduate Placement Coordinator, Clinical Nurse Education (CNE) team, and Nurse Unit Managers (NUMs) are available to support the preceptors during the student’s placement.