2 Key Responsibilities for Successful Placements

Responsibilities of the placement supervisor

Placement supervisors play an important role in enabling the student to reach their full potential whilst on placement. As a placement supervisor, your key responsibilities include ensuring the student is inducted and aware of the following upon commencement of the placement:

• Occupational health and safety
• Organisation policies and procedures, code of conduct
• Standard operating procedures
• Internal confidentiality
• Expected working hours/dates
• Providing day to day supervision of the student in a safe and supportive work environment
• Providing ongoing, constructive feedback to the student, as well as providing final feedback via the ePortfolio
• Being available and responsive to student questions and needs
• Liaising with the UQ WIL Partnerships Coordinator and Course Coordinator

UQ is conscious of the need to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its students while they undertake placements. In particular, UQ endeavours to place students with host organisations that offer safe work environments with appropriate policy and supervisory arrangements in place. It is UQ’s expectation that when placement partners accept one of its students on placement, they:

• acknowledge the student’s rights to feel safe and to be treated with respect while on placement; and
• undertake to provide an environment that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, free from hazards and risks that might result in the student suffering physical or psychological harm.

Should a student report to UQ that there has been an alleged incident during a placement that involves hazards and risks of this nature, UQ will investigate such incidents in accordance with its established processes and procedures, and take such action as it considers appropriate in the circumstances.

Responsibilities of the student

Before starting a placement, our students are made aware of UQ’s expectations of them whilst placed at a host organisation. We expect that our students behave as you would expect an employee of your business to behave and uphold standards of professional behaviour. This includes:

• Abiding by workplace rules, policies, and procedures
• Behaving in a professional manner
• Submitting assessment in line with the UQ course requirements
• Liaising with the UQ WIL Partnerships Coordinator and Course Coordinator
• Notifying their workplace supervisor of any concerns during the placement

UQ has a Supporting Students’ Fitness to Study Policy which aims to guide student behaviour on placement and to manage cases where student behaviour is not consistent with expected behaviours or contravenes expected standards in the workplace.

Student absence process: 

• Students are to notify their preceptor as soon as they know they will be absent from their placement.
• Students also notify the School of Pharmacy by recording hours absent, reason for absence and any hours made up in UQ’s placement portal.
• Students who are away for more than 2 days (i.e. on the THIRD day) due to illness must provide a medical certificate to the school.
• Students are to plan with preceptors how they will make up missed days/hours at a later date that suits the preceptor.
• In cases where the student is unable to make up missed placement days a decision will be made on a case-by-case basis, by the course coordinator, as to whether the placement has been completed satisfactorily or not.

Responsibilities of the WIL Partnerships Coordinator

The WIL Partnerships Coordinator can be contacted any time before, during, or after the placement to assist with:

• Host organisation questions and concerns
• Student questions and concerns

Where appropriate, the WIL Partnerships Coordinator will meet with the student and the placement supervisor at the placement site.