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Overview

A new system for student placements

We are partnering with the health and education sectors to develop a nationally designed, regionally supported and locally coordinated student placement system.

This work will strengthen the way student clinical placements are managed in the health sector. It is critical for growing our locally trained health workforce, as well as a workforce that better represents the communities it serves.

The overall purpose of the new system is to remove the bottleneck that is constraining our ability to grow enough nursing, midwifery and allied scientific and technical health workers in New Zealand.

We’ll see the best results when all health and education providers get involve.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini
My success is not mine alone, it is the success of the collective

What we want to achieve – our objectives

Our work fits within four workstream objectives:

  • Coordination infrastructure–technology and national support for placements (the Digital Coordination Tool and Health Placement Hub)
    This will support better organisation and more diverse settings for placements, through effective coordination and wider visibility. It will improve student experiences and give education providers the confidence to enrol more students in health programmes. 
  • Standardisation of forms, processes and contracts (a simplified and unified approach to quality and administration).
  • Expansion of placements by increasing the number, quality and range of placements across health settings.
  • Equity and retention of students in health education programmes, through improved accessibility, culture and better experiences.

Our strategic and measurable goals

This change programme of work directly contributes to the Government’s Workforce priority – ‘having a skilled and culturally capable workforce who are accessible, responsive, and supported to deliver safe and effective health care’ (as outlined in the Government Policy Statement on Health 2024-27 published in June 2024).

Our work will help New Zealand to train more students locally and retain those already in study. It is a sustainable way to increase our health workforce with people from our communities.

Success will see:

  • A ten percent increase in the number of clinical placements that can be accessed across the whole health sector over the next three years – enabling over 2,000 more nursing, midwifery and allied health students to enrol each year
  • An eight percent increase in student completion rates over the next five years (especially for Māori and Pacific students) – resulting in about 1,500 more graduates per year.
  • More placements with Māori and Pacific health providers, and in other primary, community and rural settings.
  • More diverse and better placement experiences for students in culturally safe environments.

Our scope

At this stage we are focusing on placements in all health settings for pre-registration nursing, midwifery and allied scientific and technical health students. In future we may extend the scope of some of our deliverables, such as the digital coordination tool and unified student clinical placement and access agreement.

Workstream updates

A digital coordination tool for student placements

We are currently building the first iteration of a nationwide digital coordination tool. The tool has been developed using a codesign process (summarised here) and will be an enabler for all workstream objectives.

Once built, health providers will be able to use the tool to offer the placements they have available, and education providers will be able to outline the number of students that will require placements in various health settings. Coordinated in advance, and across the whole country, this will mean health and education providers will be able to better plan their future placement capacity.

The tool will also support providers to liaise locally to match and coordinate placements. The tool aims to streamline relationships between health and education providers, making it easier to see and access new placement offerings across wider settings and reduce manual and duplicated administration.

Future iterations of the tool will be considered to enhance the student experience, streamline the recording of placements and enable effective feedback processes.

Progress and phasing of the digital tool

We are building the digital tool in an agile way; testing and refining the tool as we go, to provide maximum value for clinical and academic users. There will be iterative releases of the tool, with more functionality and improvements added over time.

The first iteration of the tool will be released in October 2024 and we plan to pilot this with Anaesthetic Technicians – a relatively small profession which aims to expand its placements nationwide.

Although we are starting with just one profession, we are considering options for the further rollout of the tool in 2025. This will include a region-by-region approach for nursing and midwifery as well as more allied, technical and scientific health students. We will likely onboard the next groups from March/April 2025, followed by a phased approach to bringing all professions on to the tool. Full roll out of the tool to all professions and with full functionality may take a few years.

A ‘Health Placement Hub’ team is being formed to support the rollout and future operations of the tool. Once a phasing plan has been confirmed, we will let stakeholders know which professions will come on when, to allow time to plan and prepare.

Once the digital tool is rolled out and there are a significant number of providers using the tool, it will be the first time we have a clear, collective view of placement capacity and opportunities across the country. This data will then be able to be used to plan and monitor, as well as inform decision-making at local, regional and national levels, and in clinical and education settings

Clinical Student Placement and Access Agreement

A new national ‘Student Clinical Placement Access Agreement’ (agreement) has been drafted to replace multiple and varying contracts between previous district health and education providers across the country. Bringing these together will create consistency and help us to collectively maximise placement opportunities.

The purpose of the agreement is to help Health NZ and our education partners establish a consistent approach to quality, safety (including screening and onboarding), information, planning, operational efficiencies (such as streamlined business processes and documentation) and equity.

The agreement also streamlines access to Health NZ placements (not including medical) across the country, for all education providers (who can place students in wider settings without negotiating legal agreements with each district – however, placement detail schedules to the agreement will still be agreed annually and locally). The agreement will help us to collectively form a nationwide view of placements, working together with a digital coordination tool, through confirming consistent planning timeframes, obligations and responsibilities in all areas.

Progress on finalising the agreement

The development of the agreement has included consultation and engagement with Health NZ district clinical leads and legal, as well as education providers. Feedback has been addressed in partnership with legal counsel, Health NZ’s Hauora Māori services, HR, Privacy and Occupational Health and Safety services and the workforce planning and development group.

The agreement was circulated in August for final review to all future parties to the agreement, including future local and national level relationship managers within education providers and across Health NZ (which are roles outlined in the agreement).

Next steps with the agreement

The final agreement will be put forward for signing to Health NZ leadership in September 2024. The agreement will then be circulated to our education partners for signing with the intent that the agreement will in place for student placements in 2025.

Expansion of placements

Dedicated Education Units (DEU)

The DEU model is an evidence-based approach to improve the quality of placements and increase the capacity for hosting students at one time. Following a stocktake and discussions with nursing leaders from Health NZ and nursing schools, approval was given for an initiative to develop a national approach for supporting placements, leveraging off the DEU model.

The intention is to begin in a few locations, learn how best to expand DEUs and support districts to build on successful nursing DEU approaches that are already used by some districts. Through this initiative, we expect to get clearer about what national consistency should look like to improve placement quality, student experiences and completion rates, while also increasing placement numbers across all districts. While the initial focus of these DEUs is nursing students, we also plan to innovate the DEU model across community and interprofessional settings.

Note: As of July 2024, the DEU expansion is paused. We plan to restart in semester one 2025. 

Our inaugural national DEU symposium is being planned for November 2024 and aims to create a community of practice by sharing and comparing how DEUs have been implemented and maintained over the last decade. The symposium will facilitate discussions on commonly themed enablers and challenges, laying the groundwork for a national DEU approach.

Download the flyer for the DEU symposium (PNG 3MB)

Promoting placements 24/7 and across the calendar year

Placements offered year-round on a 24/7 schedule maximise the use of all available shifts, increasing capacity and enhancing continuity between students and supervisors. This approach can also better prepare students for the workplace upon graduation and can provide more flexible options to accommodate their work or whānau commitments.

The digital tool will make these expanded opportunities more visible, fostering the innovation needed in education programmes to optimise placement use.

The team has engaged with nursing and education leaders to address the challenges associated with this initiative and will continue collaborating with the sector to develop solutions and promote broader placement options.

More diverse settings for placements

We have been engaging with community health providers to understand new placement opportunities. These include Hauora Māori and Pacific providers, Nurse Leads in primary care, Lead Maternity Carers, and other non-government organisations and private providers.

In future, providers will be able to enter their placement information into the new digital tool. This will improve visibility of, and access to, placement opportunities for education providers.  

If you are you a community health provider and are interested in providing placements in the future, please email us placementmodel@tewhatuora.govt.nz.  We will add you to our database for recruiting on to the digital tool when it becomes available for your area and the relevant professions you want to support.

Background

Key documents about the project

Student placement digital tool design feedback and next steps - July 2024

This document outlines what we heard from future users about the initial design of a digital tool for coordinating student placements nationwide. It includes feedback on the design, our refinements based on feedback, and the next steps for the build of the digital tool.

Download: Student placement digital tool design feedback and next steps (PDF 558KB)

Finding a place to learn in health – July 2023

Our analysis and findings of how health and education providers manage existing student clinical placements. It is informed by intensive sector engagement activity, data and other research. We’re using this current state analysis to inform and implement a collaborative design and iterative approach to improving the student placement system in New Zealand. 

Download: Finding a place to learn in health (PDF 1.5MB)

Stakeholder updates

Throughout the project we’re keeping stakeholders informed. Whanaungatanga, connecting and moving together is important for the success of the new student placement system. The team is always keen to make time to talk about the project. Email us if you’d like to find out more.

Our regular stakeholder updates are available below. Email us at placementmodel@tewhatuora.govt.nz if you’d like to receive these updates. 

Why we need to improve student placements

Challenges and opportunities this work will address

  • We urgently need to increase the number of health professionals in New Zealand, and one way to do this is to train more students.
  • In many cases, tertiary education organisations could enrol more health students if they know clinical placements will be available.
  • The student placement system initiative is key to unlocking a pipeline of undergraduate students by improving processes, the coordination of placements, and students’ experiences.
  • It can quickly support growth in our locally trained workforce.
  • Outside of medical students, there is no national system to organise and coordinate clinical placements. The current manual approach is not sustainable and is unable to support an increase in placements.
  • To facilitate rapid growth without a national digital system will be difficult to achieve for education and health providers.
  • Placement opportunities are being missed across all health settings and throughout the country.
  • Experiences on placement can contribute to students leaving study early, particularly  for Māori,  Pacific and older students. This results from unsafe cultures, cultural inequities, financial pressures and whānau or work commitments.