Procedural Information
Students are encouraged to consult and discuss alternatives with their Clinical Associate Dean (or Nominee). If intending to apply for an elective with any UNSW Teaching Hospital, please notify the Clinical Teaching Unit of that hospital.
Students are to make individual arrangements for electives. It is important to
make early arrangements, especially for overseas placements
(one year in advance is not too early).
Students are required to complete the Elective Term Application form located on eMed.
The process for approval
- Return your form (signed by prospective supervisor, or letter of agreement) to the Electives Coordinator in the Office of the Dean, UNSW Medicine.
- Your application is forwarded by the Electives Coordinator to the Clinical Associate Dean of your UNSW Hospital attachment.
- If your Clinical Associate Dean approves your application it will be forwarded to the Senior Associate Dean for final approval.
- If approved by the Senior Associate Dean you will receive a confirmation email.
- When approved you can confirm your acceptance of the offer with your prospective supervisor.
Note: If unforseen events occur in your proposed elective country the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of the University has the final say as to whether travel can be undertaken.
Objectives of the Elective Term
The objectives of the Elective term are to:
- Further develop knowledge in Medicine and/or Surgery;
- To acquire training for a career in a specialty of Medicine;
- To experience a different type of health care delivery from that practised in Australia;
- To obtain experience that may influence subsequent career orientation;
- To correct perceived deficiencies in their undergraduate program and/or
- To obtain a short introduction to research methods and philosophy
Requirements
Students are encouraged to
organise their elective term early. The earliest starting date will be one week after the end of Year 5 (subject to not being required to undertake the remedial term) and the elective should be completed before the commencement of the Year 6 lecture week.
Students will engage in eight (8) weeks in one of the following areas:
- Any school or department within the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW
- In a hospital or medical institution in Australia or overseas
- With a medical practitioner in Australia or overseas
Students may engage in two four-week placements in different areas.
IMPORTANT !
Risk Assessment
In anticipation of risks associated with undertaking an elective, students are required to submit a risk assessment. A link is provided in your application form or on the Electives Checklist page. All potential risks should be considered, such as those associated with travel, accommodation, clinical setting, leisure activities etc. If clarification is required please ring Peter Herring on 9385 2452.
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Supervisor
It is especially important to request an appropriate person to act as supervisor, as the submission of a supervisor’s report to the Office of the Dean is required.
Please include your student ID on all documents.
The Faculty requires all students to provide contact details whilst on electives. Complete these details on your Elective Term application in
eMed.
You may not know these details until you arrive at your destination. As soon as you have these details please complete this section of the form.
Assessment
You are required to pass the Elective course but it is not graded. There are two requirements to pass the Elective course.
1. Supervisor’s Report(s). It is essential that you present the Supervisor’s Report(s) to your supervisor(s) at the beginning of your attachment so as it is clear what is required. You must ensure that the supervisor completes the report at the end of the attachment and forwards this to the Faculty. We need one supervisor report for each place.
2. You are required to write one single report (minimum 1,000 words) on the Elective course. There is no Learning Plan associated with the Elective course. The Elective report must be submitted to eMed by the end of the following teaching period. For most students, this will mean the end of teaching period 1.
The report should focus on how the elective has helped in your development in the graduate capabilities. You should describe what you did, how this experience has complemented your experiences at UNSW, what you learnt and how this relates to the graduate capabilities.
The report will not be graded but will be reviewed by the portfolio examiners at the time of your Phase 3 Portfolio Examination and it may be addressed during your interview.
Please note that the report is not intended to be a travelogue – it should not include details about travel arrangements, accommodation, local tips on good restaurants etc. While information of this nature may be beneficial to future students choosing an elective, it is not to be included in your report. Students wishing to pass on practical information for the benefit of future students can provide this to MedSoc which maintains a database of possible elective sites.
The supervisor reports must be submitted to the Office of the Dean at the completion of the elective term. Your own report must be submitted online via your Electives page on
eMed.
If more than one placement is undertaken, the total word count for your student report should be one thousand words.
Supervisor report is located here:
http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/medweb.nsf/resources/ef5/$file/SuperviseReport.pdf
It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that both reports are received by the end of Teaching Period 1 in Year 6 in time for consideration by the Assessment Committee. Failure to submit the student and supervisor(s) reports will result in a fail result for the elective term and the term will have to be repeated at the end of year 6, thus delaying graduation.
Insurance
The University has appropriate arrangements to insure students against personal injury or illness. Students must ensure that they take with them this information prior to going overseas.
Students are covered by UNSW for Personal Health and Accident Insurance. If you need medical treatment whilst away, you will need to pay for it at the time of treatment, then make a claim when you return to Sydney;
also, UNSW will cover students for Travel Insurance (e.g. lost bags). However,
PLEASE NOTE that the policy does not cover electronic items such as cameras, mobile 'phones and laptops. Please see the Frequently Asked Questions page here:
https://www.fin.unsw.edu.au/RiskManagement/Insurance.html
Students are covered by UNSW against Public Liability issues whilst in the clinical setting. In some cases the host University may provide Malpractice Cover.
A letter indicating the amount of UNSW cover can be obtained by contacting Peter Herring in the Office of the Dean, 'phone 9385 2452. It is suggested that this letter is sent to the medical school/hospital with a covering letter to ask if the amount meets their requirements. Students should also keep a copy of the information as it includes the University's emergency contact number
| Following is our current insurer Emergency Contact: |
| Insured : | University of NSW |
| Policy : | 0007072 |
| Contact Number : | 61 2 9202 8211 |
However, the very high level of medicolegal claims in countries in North America may mean that the amount of cover from UNSW is insufficient to meet claims. Some host universities ask for evidence of level of insurance cover.
Important Considerations about Electives Undertaken Overseas
The safety of UNSW students is of paramount concern to the Faculty. Therefore, the Faculty may not approve some electives.
In general, the University acts on advice issued by The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Whilst electives are organised well in advance, it is essential for students to check the
DFAT website on a regular basis for travel warnings before leaving Australia. Conditions in some countries are in a volatile state and sometimes even the most serene location can become unstable in a short time. In addition to generic concerns, there are some areas where it may not be safe for women to travel alone.
The Faculty will not approve electives in countries which are declared by DFAT as “Do not travel”. The Faculty will consider applications to countries declared by DFAT as “Reconsider your need to travel” providing:
The student is planning to undertake the elective in their home country.
The student will be staying with family or close associates.
The local hosts (both the hospital and residential hosts) can provide advice about the local security risks and how these can be managed. This would be included in the student’s risk assessment.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of
the University has the final say as to whether travel can be undertaken.
Emergency Counselling for Australian students overseas provided by DFAT
The Department of Foreign Affairs provides emergency services for Australians who are overseas and these services include access to Lifeline telephone counselling options for those negotiating a crisis overseas or who requiring counselling services whilst they are overseas. This service is available 24 hours a day 365 days a year. This is a service for all Australians but of course is available for Australian students on an overseas study exchange, placement or field study.
To access this 24/7 telephone counselling service students can ring the consulate emergency number +61 1300 555 135 and wait on the line or follow the offered selection options for different services e.g press 2, 4, 5, 6 etc. - At the time of logging this information on this website option {6} was for emergency help. Lifeline is only going to be crisis management (not therapy) but it is a 24 hour 7 day a week option for counselling needs in emergency situations.
Telephone calls to local Australian high commission/embassy/consulate in various countries can also be put through to Lifeline in Australia for the cost of a local call. If it is after hours in the country from which the person is calling their call is automatically transferred to Australia. A web link that includes the telephone numbers for the Consular Emergency Centre is:
http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/index.html
Health Risk
Students undertaking electives outside Australia need to consider the usual risks associated with travel to that region. There may also be additional risks related to the work environment. Students should seek specific advice either from a primary practitioner with expertise in travel medicine or from a specialist travel advisory centre (such as
Travel Doctor TMVC). This website has locations of a number of travel medicine clinics, but many local GPs also have an interest in travel medicine.
Students should also look up travel websites themselves, such as
CDC travel and
WHO or a personally tailored travel site, such as
MASTA.
As some vaccination regimens take months to complete, this should be attended to well in advance of the anticipated time of travel.
Obviously it is expected that all students will be up to date with the immunisations required for working in their usual clinical schools.
If students will be undertaking electives in areas where access to post exposure prophylaxis for HIV is not available they need to consider their risk management strategy in this circumstance. It may be necessary for students to obtain advice about the use of PEP and carry antiretroviral medication. Students should contact the relevant clinical service in their clinical school to obtain information about PEP and antiretroviral drugs. A doctor there can write a prescription for a starter pack.
Supervision
The elective is a learning experience and the student will need to demonstrate that the level of supervision available will enable the objectives of the elective to be achieved. In some cases lack of supervision also has implications for health risk to the student.
Language
Some students will consider electives in countries in which English is not the first language. This needs to be considered in terms of the level of academic supervision of the proposed elective, as well as whether the lack of understanding of the local language compromises student safety in the health environment.
Elective Term Fee
Students sometimes wonder why it is that the fee for the Elective Term is the same as for each other term in Year 5 and Year 6. This is the situation for both local and international students. The reason for the fee being the same is that it is necessary for the units of credit for each course to accurately reflect the amount of work that is undertaken in that course. This is necessary so that the Academic Record is a true and accurate reflection of the work that has been undertaken by the student. In Year 6, there are five courses of equal length (8 weeks) so therefore they have the same number of units of credit (10).
The cost to the Faculty for supporting the Year 6 Elective is significantly less than each of the other four courses in Year 6. Fees are levied on the basis of units of credit and so it has the appearance that students (both international and local) are being overcharged for the Elective. However, this is taken into account when the fees for the whole program are set and if the fee for the Elective term was reduced, there would be a commensurate increase in the fees (and units of credit) for the other courses in Year 6. |