School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine

The School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine has a plethora of diverse professional experiences available to nursing students. Whether it be national, international or remote rural, ACU has established a world-class reputation that opens incredible clinical placement opportunities.

Our international opportunities include an exchange program with our sister Catholic university in America (CUA), as well as Short-Term International Student Experiences (STISEs) in locations such as Miami, North Carolina, Boston, Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Chile and Vanuatu.

For those interested in remote and rural nursing, we have placement opportunities in Central Australia and rural opportunities closer to home.

While undertaking a nursing degree, ACU ensures you are given a range of placement experiences across different areas of nursing such as mental health nursing, acute care nursing, surgical, gerontological and other specialty nursing areas.

ACU has also set up clinical schools across our national campuses. This allows you to establish professional relationships over the course of your degree as you will undertake all of your professional practice with one facility while still being exposed to a variety of clinical opportunities.

The following is an example of the opportunities by units in the Bachelor of Nursing.

Integrated practice 2
First year – Aged care/sub acute/rehab. This can be in residential aged care or a hospital setting.

Integrated practice 3
Second year – Mental health nursing/acute care nursing. This includes psychiatric facilities, forensic facilities, metropolitan hospitals, and more.

Integrated practice 4
Second year – Mental health nursing/acute care nursing. This includes psychiatric facilities, forensic facilities, metropolitan hospitals, and more.

Integrated practice 5

Third year – Acute care. This is usually in a tertiary setting and mental health.

Integrated practice 6
Third year – Specialty areas such as paediatrics, peri-operative, intensive care in major metropolitan tertiary hospitals.

Nationally, we have relationships with St Vincent’s Health Australia, Macquarie Health and Ramsay Health Care, just to name a few.

Unit MIDW127 undertaken in the first semester of full-time study will include a clinical placement in a maternity unit of a regional or tertiary hospital in Melbourne or Brisbane, dependent on availability.

Unit MIDW300 undertaken in the first semester of your third year will include a clinical placement in a special care nursery in a tertiary hospital in Melbourne or Brisbane, dependent on availability.

A range of diverse placement opportunities are provided for Bachelor of Paramedicine and Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Paramedicine students, varying by campus.

These include:

• non-emergency patient transport
• jurisdictional ambulance services
• aged care facilities
• emergency departments, intensive care units, maternity units and operating suites
• event medical support as well as other private providers
• both on- and off-campus simulation activities.

You will undertake both metropolitan and rural placement experiences. In some instances there are opportunities to complete placements internationally, in addition to both on- and off-campus simulation activities.