Professional Experience Placements Unit
21 January 2015
School of Nursing & Midwifery
GPO Box 2100
Adelaide SA 5001
Telephone +61 8 8201 2492
Facsimile +61 8 8276 1602
clinical.placements@flinders.edu.au
www.flinders.edu.au/nursing
Dear Student
Immunisation Requirements
You are enrolled in a Nursing or Midwifery program that will require clinical placements in SA Health services during your
studies. In order to undertake a placement with SA Health you must be compliant with SA Health’s Immunisation for Health
Care Workers in South Australia 2014 Policy Guideline (Policy Guideline).
The purpose of the Policy Guideline is to protect you, staff, patients and visitors in SA Health services, as well as ensure that SA
Health meets national Standards for Hospital Accreditation (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care,
2012).
It is your responsibility to ensure you have the required documentation to demonstrate that you are compliant with the Policy
Guideline. SA Health has prepared a document to support you in meeting the requirements of the Policy Guideline. This is
the Screening Questionnaire and Medical Practitioner Form for Health Care Workers (HCWs). Both the guideline and
questionnaire can be downloaded from the School of Nursing & Midwifery Professional Experience Placements (PEP) Unit
website at: http://www.flinders.edu.au/nursing/.
Please ensure that your immunisation status is up-to-date by:
 completing as much of the Screening Questionnaire, and locate as many of the requested supporting documents, as
you can.
 arranging to see your doctor or the University’s Health, Disability and Counselling Service. Take all your
documentation and a copy of the Medical Practitioner Form with you. Your doctor will assess the information you
have provided and may recommend further screening blood tests or vaccination. Your doctor will then complete the
Medical Practitioner Form.
 keeping the original copy of the Medical Practitioner Form - this will be accepted as evidence of your immune status
for clinical placements. You may also be asked to produce this document if selected by SA Health for a random audit
of student HCW compliance with the Policy Guideline.
 going to InPlace, the University Placement Management System at: https://www.flinders.edu.au/InPlace/ and
upload a copy of Medical Practitioner Form. You will also need to complete the declaration that states you are
compliant with the Immunisation and Blood-Borne Virus Policy.
As a student health care worker, you also need to know your HIV and Hepatitis C status but you do not need to inform SA
Health of the result. However, if you have one or both of these infections you must seek confidential medical and career
advice from an infectious diseases specialist.
SA Health and Flinders University are committed to ensuring your privacy and confidentiality of information in relation to your
immunisation status.
ABN 65 542 596 200, CRICOS No. 00114A
Should you feel that you are not able to comply with the Policy Guideline, read the Student HCW Refusal document on the PEP
website and arrange a time to discuss your reasons with me. Please be aware that you may be refused a professional
experience placement if you are not immunised - this may impact your ability to complete your course.
Professional Experience Placements Unit
Tuberculosis Screening
If your professional experience placements are in South Australia, you must undertake screening for tuberculosis infection
with the South Australian Tuberculosis Services prior to your first clinical placement. This is a South Australian Government
requirement. Please follow the link below to complete the short online screening questionnaire. After completion of the
questionnaire, you will receive an email from SA TB Services that will advise you of further instructions to complete your
tuberculosis screening. The link to access the TB Screening Survey is: http://www.pages.on.net/questionnaire.php
If you were screened at SA TB Services last year you do not need complete the online questionnaire again unless you have
been overseas for an extended period of time. You may have to repeat the questionnaire on your return.
Should you have any difficulties accessing or completing the online questionnaire, please email satb@adelaide.on.net
Once you have completed and submitted the questionnaire, please remember to check your email for your screening results,
which will be sent within 7 days. Keep the email from SA TB Services for future reference.
Evidence of your screening results will also need to be uploaded into InPlace.
Regards
ABN 65 542 596 200, CRICOS No. 00114A
Alison St Jack
Manager: Professional Experience Placements Unit
School of Nursing & Midwifery