Rethinking clinical placements: A response to changing healthcare demands
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Clinical placements allow students the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge and become workforce ready. Demand for clinical placements from education providers already exceeds supply. As healthcare workforce shortages continue, the need for increasing numbers of graduates will generate additional strain, and policymakers targeting health workforce shortages must be cognisant of their impact on the education and health sectors. At the same time, clinical placements must be fit for purpose and meet the learning needs of students. The diverse array of placement models has been compounded by rapid developments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenges and considerations include labour intensity, need for capacity building, importance of engagement at institutional and local supervisor levels, cost (including that to students), planetary impact, availability and equity. The future of high-quality clinical placements needs to be secured and built on a sustainable framework to support future clinical placement capacity.
Authors: Joy Rudland, Julie Ash, Luke Barclay, Jacqueline Bloomfield, Fiona Bogossian, Kaylenne Byrne, Mary Butler, Anna Chur-Hansen, Scott Clark, Amanda Edgar, Penelope Fotheringham, Roma Forbes, Elyce Green, Navine Haworth, Richard Hays, Belinda Judd, Priya Martin, Rachel Macdiarmid, Clare McNally, Liz McNeill, Richard McGee, Judith Needham, Phillippa Poole, Jacqueline Raymond, Melissa Ridd, Adrian Schoo, Michael Tran, Debra Virtue, Tim Wilkinson, John Wright, Danielle Ní Chróinín
Institutions: University of Otago, The University of Adelaide, University of Canberra, The University of Sydney, University of the Sunshine Coast, University of South Australia, Deakin University, University of Newcastle Australia, The University of Queensland, Charles Sturt University, Chiropractic Australia, James Cook University, Auckland University of Technology, The University of Melbourne, Flinders University, Griffith University, University of Auckland, UNSW Sydney
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4408989888