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Various factors must be considered when offering a student placement in an NDIS provider organisation. The Preparing for a Clinical Education placement section of this website outlines considerations for offering student placements for the first time, as well as providing a pre placement planning checklist that outlines necessary communications with university partners, your workplace and students.

It is important that you have processes in place that allow NDIS participants to understand how student provided services may add value to their existing plan, while also allowing them to make an informed decision about whether they will consent to receive services from students. The NDIS Participants section of the Future Allies website, highlights some of the information that could be discussed with NDIS participants to facilitate their decision making. If students are involved in the delivery of care, the funding, type of service and time needs to negotiated with the participant and the consent needs to be documented. Please liaise with your provider organisation to identify documentation requirements.

As students work in an unpaid role, you will also need to determine either with your provider organisation or via the National Disability Insurance Agency how to make a claim for services where you have provided supervision. More information on making claims relating to student delivered care can be found at:

If your health profession uses a standardised assessment tool (for example the Student Practice Evaluation Form (SPEF-R2), then you may also consider liaising with the university placement coordinator to customise the assessment tool to suit the setting. This activity can usually be completed once and can then make the administrative load associated with student assessments more efficient and tailored to the setting in which you are hosting student placements.

Some additional considerations unique to NDIS provider organisations are outlined in the open access eLearning module developed by Flinders University, ‘Building the Allied Health Workforce for an NDIS future’. The information provided in this module includes:

  • Benefits of hosting a student placement in an NDIS provider organisation
  • Orientation to the NDIS from a student placement perspective
  • Ways to incorporate student placements into NDIS funded services
  • Placement models for NDIS provider organisations
  • Orientation to service and facilitating learning in NDIS provider organisations

Supporting resources

Student Placements and the NDIS: Panel Discussion (00:26:51). The panel discusses:

  • challenges associated with student supervision in NDIS
  • costing and practice models
  • supporting sole practitioners to take students (psychology example)
  • ideas to increase placement numbers
  • viability of placements in NDIS
  • ensuring quality of service when students are delivering the service.

References:

  • Speech Pathology Australia (2019) FAQs from SPA members Students on clinical placements working with NDIS participants Accessed June 2021 from https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Resources_For_Speech_Pathologists/NDIS/SPAweb/Resources_for_Speech_Pathologists/NDIS/NDIS.aspx?hkey=7758095b-271a-430d-88f9-d29fafa87895
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