Upcoming events
Clinical Supervision Support Program
One day workshops at foundational or intermediate level have been funded by HWA and the Department of Health (Victoria). In Melbourne South and Melbourne East CTNs they are being run by Monash University HealthPEER.
Foundational and Intermediate Levels Contact:Login to
To register, follow the links on the left hand side to email your name, discipline, health service, email address, phone number and preferred workshop
Full details on the first release of training for the Melbourne South and Melbourne East CTNs, including all dates for 2014, the course outline and full registration details are available here:
Information sheet – Melbourne South and Melbourne East CTNs Clinical Supervision Support Program dates
June - July Newsletter
Melbourne South CTN Coordinator update
Welcome to the third edition of the Melbourne South Clinical Training Network (CTN) newsletter.
The second meeting of the CTN committee was held on 27 May. Stakeholders are encouraged to access the minutes of meetings (via the link below). The next meeting will be on Tuesday 26 August. If you have any comments or topics you would like discussed, plese contact your sector representative or myself before this meeting.
Loretta Bull, Coordinator, Melbourne South CTN
Clinical placement planning in 2014
Clinical placement planning in 2014 has now commenced. Twelve clinical placement provider organisations from the Melbourne South CTN have registered and attended the metropolitan planning meeting held at the Melbourne Town Hall on 12 June.
This meeting provided education and clinical placement providers an opportunity to meet and discuss planned and potential opportunities for clinical placements.
The CTN team have been busy working with stakeholders to support them in this process.
New user training and set up in viCPlace will be provided to stakeholders from organisations and disciplines who are new to clinical placement planning following the release of version 7.1.
If you or someone in your organisation requires further support in using viCPlace, please contact Jacky Fernandez via email
Melbourne South CTN People in Health Awards
Congratulations to the following Melbourne South CTN stakeholders / organisations who were recipients of the followingPeople in HealthAwards
KoolinBalit: Aboriginal Health Workforce Initiative Award Winner
Aboriginal Nursing and Midwifery Career Development Pathway, Monash Health.
Focus on the City: Metropolitan Health Workforce Initiative Award Winner
Out of Hours (OOH) workforce model and training program, Alfred Health
Melbourne South CTN Projects Update
Simulation-based Education and Training
The Readiness for Practice project brings together an online program of learning and provision of simulation assets. These two projects have been achieved through a collaboration between health services, education providers and the Victorian Department of Health within the Melbourne South CTN.
Developed to provide a vertical integration of patient safety principles throughout both professional entry and postgraduate health professional curriculum, these resources can be integrated into existing curricula or used on their own.
For more information on the project, please contact Madeleine Hathaway,
To access the resources, visit the CHI website,
Local Innovations Fund Project: 'Extending interprofessional student education into primary and residential care'
The aim of this project is to evaluate the ability of interprofessional clinical education placements to deliver both student learning and effective patient care in two settings: general practice and aged care.
This project is an expansion and extension of an earlier student led clinic model. Clinics will occur at two new sites within the Melbourne South CTN - Aspendale Clinic (general practice) and Chelsea Manor (residential care setting). The lead organisation is Monash University.
Patients and students have been recruited and student placements commenced in May 2014. Stakeholders can look forward to being updated in the outcomes of this project.
For more information on the project, please contact Fiona Kent,
South Eastern Melbourne Medicare Local Update
South Eastern Melbourne Medicare Local (SEMML) is a not-for-profit primary health care organisation that aims to improve the health of the South Eastern Melbourne region.
SEMML has implemented an innovative business, leadership and clinical placement capacity building program to develop the clinical leaders and local workforce of the future for our growing region.
SEMML will provide clinical placement support to assist with the coordination of clinical placements within local healthcare provider organisations. SEMML will also assist with allocating time and student supervision to achieve positive clinical placement outcomes and experiences for all involved.
Students who undertake their clinical placement in the region may gain valuable knowledge with providing healthcare to non-English speaking populations. Students may also gain valuable experience in cultural awareness and may improve their confidence with working with culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
The South Eastern Melbourne region offers a breadth of educational benefits for students preparing for professional entry into healthcare, coupled with quality placement options and comprehensive health workforce support.
To learn more about the provision of clinical placement support in the South Eastern Melbourne region, please contact the South Eastern Melbourne Medicare Local on 03 8792 1911.
Best Practice Clinical Learning Environment (BPCLE) Framework implementation
The CTN team have been working closely with organisations within the Melbourne South CTN who are implementing the BPCLE Framework using BPCLEtool.
Congratulations to those organisations who have completed their action plans and finalised the list of selected indicators. We look forward to assisting stakeholders in the next stages of this exciting initiative.
Cross-CTN Update
People in Health Summit and Awards
ThePeople in HealthSummit was held 22-23 May 2014 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and brought together over 500 delegates from health services, education providers, professional associations and government to engage on health workforce issues. The Summit showcased over 90 abstract and poster presentations on health workforce initiatives.
The inauguralPeople in Health Awardsdinner was a notable highlight with over 350 guests attending the event at the Melbourne Museum on the night of 22 May. Over 95 nominations were received across the 12 categories, with the quality of nominees and finalists universally praised by the judging panel. Congratulations to allwinners and finalists.
The survey evaluation has revealed that over 87% of respondents thought the Summit provided them with valuable information, 83% recognising that it provided a good opportunity to build relationships and networks, and over 76% reporting that the event met or exceeded expectations.
The Department of Health would like to thank all delegates and presenters for attending and participating in the event, and the Steering Committee for their valuable guidance and advice.
Best Practice Clinical Learning Environment (BPCLE) Framework
Public Health Services have now completed initial implementation of the BPCLE Framework using the web-based BPCLEtool. Initial evaluation survey results indicate that:
- Over 90% of organisations utilised a whole-of-organisation approach.
- Over 60% of respondents indicated that a key enabler is the support of a senior staff member.
- Close to 80% of respondents indicated that implementation was either a good or very good learning experience in relation to internal systems and structures.
- Over 75% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that the BPCLE Framework will have a positive impact on the organisation's learning environment.
- Over 70% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend other health services implement the BPCLE Framework using the BPCLEtool.
The latest version of BPCLEtool is now live and includes indicator monitoring and comparison reporting functionality. The new version also includes updates to the resource library. To start using the new functionality, it is recommended that users log into BPCLEtool and create their master list of indicators for monitoring.
Victoria's Health Workforce Knowledge Bank
Victoria's Health Workforce Knowledge Bank is a new comprehensive and interactive online repository for data on the health workforce in Victoria. Knowledge Bank has grown out of viCProfile, and has been designed based upon stakeholder feedback requesting greater data reliability, relevance and integrity. It is available at
Knowledge Bank is intended to assist stakeholders with accessible data to inform evidence-based approaches for better planning and development of strategic workforce initiatives. Currently, data contained on the site relates primarily to professional-entry clinical placements across all disciplines, with further data sets and visualisations to be added as they become available, including organisation-level reports, overviews of geographic regions and Clinical Training Networks, postgraduate training activity, as well as workforce demographic and service activity data.
If you would like to submit ideas about reports, data presentation or if you are the custodian of a relevant data set and would like it included on Knowledge Bank, please .
Clinical placement planning in 2014
Clinical placement planning has commenced for 2014, with the first of the three-phase facilitated process having been conducted from 12 June to 19 June 2014.
- Phase 1 commenced on 12 June, with participants meeting to network with colleagues, develop partnerships and discuss their placement arrangements for 2015. Paramedicine and allied health science disciplines attended statewide meetings in Melbourne, while allied health therapy disciplines, nursing and midwifery attended meetings in their local CTN(s).
- Phase 2 commenced on 23 June, with participants accessing viCPlace and booking precommitted placements.
- Phase 3 will commence on 21 July, with participants having the opportunity to arrange 2015 placements using viCPlace.
The Medicine Senior Reference Group on clinical placement planning met on 23 June 2014 to consider medicine's participation in the process. The minutes of the meeting will be published at available.
viCPlace: release 7.1
The release of viCPlace 7.1 on 23 June 2014 represents a major update to improve the look, use and feel of the system which coincides with the beginning of Phase 2 of Clinical placement planning in 2014. This version of viCPlace has incorporated stakeholder feedback received through the evaluation of Clinical placement planning in 2013 and via requests to both the viCPlace "helpdesk" and CTN Information Support Officers (ISOs).
A quick guide to the changes can be downloaded from the dashboard within viCPlace or at
viCPlace: API
The department is leading development of an application programming interface (API) to enable interoperability between viCPlace and in-house or third-party placement management systems.
The department has sought education provider nominees to the viCPlace API Advisory Group, and has obtained information from group members about their current systems.
The first meeting of the Advisory Group is scheduled for mid-July 2014, and it is anticipated the API will be available for Clinical placement planning in 2015.
Simulation-Based Education and Training (SBET) Expert Advisory Group (EAG)
The SBET EAG provides a multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral, state-wide mechanism to inform and support the strategic development of SBET in Victoria. As part of its remit, the EAG has identified three priority areas of focus for 2014. These are to:
- ensure sustainability of simulation;
- widen the simulation community of practice (CoP); and
- develop an evidence base supported by research and data.
The SBET EAG is currently considering how to best support simulation personnel and the use of assets for clinincal education and training in Victoria through development of a state-wide sustainability plan.
To complement this work, the EAG is also supporting other activities including:
- supporting travel awards to attend SimHealth/SimTecT on 25-28 August 2014 in Adelaide (see next item);
- hosting an 'Ask an Expert' open session on Friday 25 July 2014, 2.00-4.00pm at the Department of Health (RSVP by 16 July );
- publishing an education and training resource guide for simulation educators, coordinators and technicians;
- developing a research agenda to better understand the link between simulation and outcomes such as patient safety; and
- contributing to the agenda for co-hosting a symposium with the Clinical Supervision and Expanded Settings EAGs later in the year.
Simulation-Based Education and Training (SBET) - Awards to attend SimHealth/SimTecT 2014
SimHealth/SimTecT 2014 (25-28 August) brings together international and local experts in simulation education, research and development, human factors, system design and quality improvement.
The department is sponsoring five awards (up to $2000 each) to cover individual expenses associated with attending SimHealth/SimTecT 2014 (conference fees, accommodation and airfare, train/bus fares to Adelaide).
Award applications are now open. The guidelines, including eligibility criteria and a link to the application form, are available atApplications close 5.00pm (AEST) Tuesday 15 July 2014.
For further details about this opportunity please .
Expanded Settings Program: Update
The Expanded Settings Expert Advisory Group (EAG) held a facilitated workshop on 27 May 2014 to prioritise the activity and focus of Victoria's Expanded Settings Program. Outcomes will be available shortly.
For further details about regarding the Expanded Settings Program and EAG are now available at
Clinical Supervision Support Program: Update
The clinical supervision skills training workshops are underway. Register now to secure your place.
Over 150 workshops are being held over the next year to provide free foundation and intermediate level training for the supervision workforce in Victoria's health services.
To find out about workshops being held near you, please ask your CTN Coordinator or read the 'Upcoming events' (above on this page).
If you have any questions about the training or the Clinical Supervision Support Program, please .
VSA Metropolitan Symposium
Registrations are now openfor the VSA Metropolitan Symposium to be held onFriday 18 July 2014at Holmesglen Simulation Centre, Moorabbin, Victoria
The VSA welcomesProfessor Robert P. O'BrienProfessor and Director of Edith Cowen University Health Simulation Centre, as keynote speaker, addressing"Health Simulation in Australia: it's time to stand up as a world leader".
Details are available on the VSA website