General Information for All Students

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The Prince of Wales Hospital welcomes students as valued members of clinical services and expects students to behave appropriately at all times including when offsite with clinical services such as the Hospital-in-the-Home program.

Medical students undertaking clinical attachments in the Prince of Wales Hospital are required to comply with policies of the University of New South Wales (Policies on Student Matters) and of NSW Health.

Seeing Patients on Wards

If you are seeing patients on the wards unsupervised you must:

• Identify yourself to a member of the nursing staff. Ensure your ID card is visible.
• Obtain permission from the nursing staff to see the patient if your team does not know the patient.
• Introduce yourself to the patient as a “medical student” or “student doctor” and explain the purpose of your visit. The more precise you are about your aims, the more likely the patient will agree.
• Obtain the patient’s permission. The patient has the right to decline for no stated reason. If the time is not suitable, ask the patient if you can return at a later time.
• Not disturb a patient who is sleeping, having a meal or undergoing any nursing care.
• Obtain permission from visitors to interrupt their visit. Ensure you inform visitors when you have finished seeing the patient.
• Not disturb dressings without the permission of the nursing staff.
• Not move patients who require assistance without the permission of the nursing staff.
• Stop immediately if the patient is to be taken off the ward for any reason.
• Help the patient with dressing, repositioning when you are finished and leave their area as you found it.
• Return the patient’s medical records and any charts to the appropriate place. Students must not remove any information relating to the patient, including medical records and X-rays, from the ward.
• Report any incident to the Acting Nurse Unit Manager that may have occurred during your visit that may have harmed the patient or which could result in a complaint. Note that all students are covered by an insurance policy.

Patient Confidentiality

At all times, students must be mindful of patient’s confidentiality.

• You should not include identifying details when discussing a patient’s condition with other students or staff who are not involved in the patient’s care.
• You should never discuss a patient in a public place eg in elevators or in corridors, even if the patient is not identified. A relative could readily identify whom you are talking about and hear information not disclosed by the patient.
• You cannot photocopy medical records.
• You cannot use the hospital’s computer clinical information system to obtain information on a person, which is not relevant to their clinical care.

Dress/White Coats

While there is no defined dress code, you are expected to dress in a manner respectful of patients’ expectations. Observe the manner of dress of staff involved in patient care.

Years 1, 2 and 3 students are particularly reminded that casual dress on campus may not be suitable in the hospital. It is not sufficient to wear a white coat over untidy clothes.

The wearing of white coats is not compulsory although individual tutors, especially in years 1, 2 and 3, may expect students to wear white coats.

Your tutor or term supervisor has the final say in whether your dress or appearance is acceptable.

Security / Identification Cards

All students must have a hospital identification card. The card should be attached to a lanyard supplied by the clinical school and be clearly visible at all times. The card should be used to identify yourself to staff and patients.

Hospital ID cards are obtained from Security. You’ll need to present to Security with an identification form (available from the Clinical Teaching Unit) and your university student number.

Keep your ID card as it can be used throughout your time at the hospital.

There is a replacement cost of $10.00 if your card is lost.

Infection Control / Needlestick Injury

Students are expected to be familiar with infection control procedures and adhere to these when seeing patients. Standard precautions are safe working practices required for the basic level of infection control. They are practices that reduce the risk of mucocutaneous exposure to blood and body fluids and include handwashing, immunisation, sharps safety and injury prevention and the use of personal protective equipment. These precautions are recommended in the care of all patients and their body substances. Additional precautions are required when dealing with selected patients – you should ask the nursing staff if additional precautions are necessary.

Further information on infection control can be obtained from the NSW Health Infection Control Policy.

You should familiarise yourself with the actions to be taken in the event of a needlestick injury or other exposure to blood or body fluids (POW Intranet - POW protocol).

Immunisation

Students on clinical placements in teaching hospitals of the UNSW are required to comply with the NSW Health policy on Occupational Screening and Vaccination against Infectious Diseases (Circular No. 2003/91). Students are also expected to have complied with the requirements of the Faculty’s Immunisation and Blood-borne Virus Overview (PDF) and Immunisation and Blood-borne Virus Policy (PDF) before commencing their clinical studies. If not, it is essential that you make arrangements through your local doctor or the University Health Service to have the appropriate immunisations completed. See the Screening and Vaccination against Infectious Diseases (Word) document for the documentation required

Attendance

Students are expected to attend specified clinical activities (eg clinics, ward rounds) as part of their course requirements. Tutors and/or term supervisors will determine which clinical activities are relevant.

The UNSW Undergraduate Handbook stipulates that if students attend less than 80% of their possible classes they may be refused final assessment. Tutors and term supervisors will be asked to inform the Clinical Teaching Unit of any student who is failing to attend.

You should inform your tutor and/or term supervisor as well as the Clinical Teaching Unit if you foresee that you will be unable to regularly attend a session because of other commitments.

Communication (Email & internet)

All communication between the Clinical Teaching Unit and students will be via Unimail.

If you are using a different email address you must redirect email sent to your Unimail address. You can readily redirect your email at the UNSW Communications Unit. (Log in Required)

News and upcoming events will be posted to the Clinical School website. Please check this regularly.