Topic outline
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The University of South Australia does not offer clinical placements.
In order to enrol in the programs. students must provide evidence of an acceptable training placement and supervisor. Most of these students are in paid positions.
These placements are in a wide variety of workplaces locally, interstate, and overseas. They range across rural and remote locations, private practices, and tertiary referral public teaching hospitals.
Currently there are no formal requirements from any accrediting body for imaging practices to be 'accredited' to offer training positions, or for nominated workplace supervisors to hold a different level of accreditation.
These issues pose challenges and barriers in the implementation of a formal process, such as a supervision contract, which would ensure that all supervision provided to students meets a certain level of quality.
We require that supervisors of our students are Accredited Medical Sonographers through the ASAR or equivalent, and advise that they possess at least two years post qualification experience.
This information is collected each semester via the Clinical Supervisor Declaration form. The Supervisor details provided as evidence for Criterion 4.4 demonstrate that the educational qualifications and clinical experience of the supervisors meet with these requirements.
Our logbook is structured such that the student is required to seek regular performance feedback and goal setting from their supervisor/s. The 20 week performance reviews, as well as the milestone assessments are demonstrated in the logbook details provided as evidence for Criterion 2.4.
We place a strong emphasis on ensuring all supervisors of our students know and understand that we support them, and encourage open communication between the student, the workplace, and UniSA. We run annual supervisor workshops via a virtual classroom platform, and encourage all supervisors to log on, or to watch the recording at a convenient time. Any specific workplace training issues which are made know to us are treated seriously, and with support from required services available at the University. As discussed in Criterion 4.9, a wide range of course specific and broader clinical supervisor support resources are available to all of our Medical Sonography clinical supervisors.
Student satisfaction data, employer satisfaction data and course outcome data have all been provided as evidence for Criteria 1.1, 1,2, 1.4 and 1.7, as well as with the Self Study Report of Appendix 2.
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