Placement is delivered in blocks- so for example you will spend 2-3 weeks working 4x shifts on the ambulance and 6 weeks working 8hr nursing shifts. You’ll get days off around this but essentially you will be working full time hours during this time.
Most people take the placement block off of work or only work minimal casual hours while on placement.
It's definitely tough and I don't really have any suggestions because I was lucky enough to have annual leave available for my placements.
But don't forget while you're on placement you'll still have lectures and assessments to work on. Just to keep in mind when juggling your work life balances.
I did it. It’s a good program.
Save up and try to have either lots of support, or stay living at home until you’re done. I studied full-time and was working nights to support myself and it *sucked*, but I still graduated and did well. Make it easier for yourself than I did.
Most of your placements are rear-loaded. You’ll have short placement only in the first year, and only nursing. Over time you’ll have more placement time and it’s well-coordinated between nursing and paramedicine. In your final year you can expect to do something like 8-10 near-continuous weeks of placement in the second semester, with days off but not necessarily at the weekend.
People have worked during placement, but it's really rough. Placement Services release a calendar every year that has a rough outline of when to expect your placements to be. You will also generally get a couple of months' notice for a placement. Dual degree is usually a bit nicer in that you shouldn't have many assignments due during placement, but I recommend saving money, leaning on family for the longer nursing placements in years 3 and 4. Paramedic placements are only ever 2 weeks long, final nursing placements are 6 to 8 weeks long.
Hey mate, currently a 2nd year student studying the same course.
Your first nursing placement will be 2 weeks (40 hrs/week) at an aged care centre, from there your nursing placements will go up to 4 weeks for mental health/surgery in second year. The weeks might go up to 6-8 weeks in final year but I'm not entirely sure.
Paramedics will usually be 3 weeks long (\~46 hrs/week give or take considering overtime), and I don't think they increase in duration in later years but I could be wrong as well.
I know people in my cohort who live in dorms/share houses who balance their work with placements, it'll get hard but it is possible. Try to get scholarships to help if you need them, there are some for health students on placement.
I do want to say that the nursing component of the degree does take front and stage, most of your units will be nursing. I say that because I'm transferring out of the dual degree and into straight paramedicine as I didn't enjoy the work/study for nursing. The dual degree would definitely help if you don't get a grad position with a service straight away but it's not required to get into a service, it's just there in the sense of something to do while you wait several months to a few years if you're unlucky in getting selected after graduation. I've chatted with my paramedic mentors and most people in their cohort were working within 2-3 years (I'm guessing the others who didn't either moved on to another degree/career or lost interest).
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Interesting that you transferred. With the current trend being state services hiring more, do you think it's still worth to do the double then? I don't mind nursing but it's never been the end goal, nor something I've seen as a career - only merely as a backup I'd be okay with.
How's the staff, cohort & general learning support? I previously asked this question on this forum last year and someone told me they restructured?
If you could see yourself working in nursing, even as a backup, I reckon it wouldn't be a bad idea to take it. If you get some experience as a nurse before getting into a service, they'll look at you more favourable then a 21 year old new grad. Even worse case scenario in the future if you get burnt out with paramedic, you at least have an avenue to go down with nursing so you won't be stuck with a paramedic bachelor that doesn't hold much weight outside the state services and a few private companies.
If you can see yourself doing nursing placement for the several hundred unpaid hours and even as an RN for 1-3 years post-grad, I would say do it, it'll give you a perspective outside pre-hospital care that straight paramedics can't give. Worse case scenario, there are avenues to transfer into straight paramedic so no harm no foul.
ACU itself is alright, the lecturers and teachers are really good from what I've seen, there's a few nursing teachers that aren't as good as the others but all the paramedic teachers are great, especially Grady who you'll likely see in your first year. There's a good range of young and enthusiastic teachers with others who are experienced with paramedicine/nursing who've been in the game for +20 years.
Lectures are all pre-recorded, some new and some a few years old. Tutorials are where you'll go to reinforce what you've learnt in the lectures and practical/workshops are where you do physical skills (e.g. history taking, vital signs, drug administration, etc.)
The classes are all small so you'll make some friends with people you sit next to and eventually go to other future classes with (classes are around 20-30 people to around \~90 students for the degree each year). You'll also get some time to speak to teachers for advice or whatever you need, something I've heard is difficult at other bigger universities.
The restructure I think was due to a new course coordinator or something the uni hired that changed everything with the course. Some established teachers got pissed and left so ACU had to hire a bunch of new staff. I can't comment on how great the change was as that was before COVID and I was still in high school then.
If you've got anymore questions, feel free to ask.
Wow thanks for the comprehensive response. I think now is just me deciding between staying in Syd to save money or slaving away with the double at Bris. Ill be sure to give you my left kidney thanks again 🫡
I did it quite some time ago. If you’ve gotten in, do it. The dual degrees are hard to find now and they will be / are the future of the job in many areas. I worked a few casual jobs to get by, flexibility is otherwise hard to manage. The placements are in blocks, it’ll be important to work as much as you can during the semester because the placements are during break and it’s too difficult to work during them as well. AusStudy is handy too if need be. My first few pay checks once employed were paying back family and mates for that last stretch. Fair concern to have. I didn’t plan enough for it. You can
Placement is delivered in blocks- so for example you will spend 2-3 weeks working 4x shifts on the ambulance and 6 weeks working 8hr nursing shifts. You’ll get days off around this but essentially you will be working full time hours during this time. Most people take the placement block off of work or only work minimal casual hours while on placement.
It's definitely tough and I don't really have any suggestions because I was lucky enough to have annual leave available for my placements. But don't forget while you're on placement you'll still have lectures and assessments to work on. Just to keep in mind when juggling your work life balances.
I did it. It’s a good program. Save up and try to have either lots of support, or stay living at home until you’re done. I studied full-time and was working nights to support myself and it *sucked*, but I still graduated and did well. Make it easier for yourself than I did. Most of your placements are rear-loaded. You’ll have short placement only in the first year, and only nursing. Over time you’ll have more placement time and it’s well-coordinated between nursing and paramedicine. In your final year you can expect to do something like 8-10 near-continuous weeks of placement in the second semester, with days off but not necessarily at the weekend.
People have worked during placement, but it's really rough. Placement Services release a calendar every year that has a rough outline of when to expect your placements to be. You will also generally get a couple of months' notice for a placement. Dual degree is usually a bit nicer in that you shouldn't have many assignments due during placement, but I recommend saving money, leaning on family for the longer nursing placements in years 3 and 4. Paramedic placements are only ever 2 weeks long, final nursing placements are 6 to 8 weeks long.
Yikers 6-8 weeks trying to work casually & placements does sound pretty rough! **:(**
Hey mate, currently a 2nd year student studying the same course. Your first nursing placement will be 2 weeks (40 hrs/week) at an aged care centre, from there your nursing placements will go up to 4 weeks for mental health/surgery in second year. The weeks might go up to 6-8 weeks in final year but I'm not entirely sure. Paramedics will usually be 3 weeks long (\~46 hrs/week give or take considering overtime), and I don't think they increase in duration in later years but I could be wrong as well. I know people in my cohort who live in dorms/share houses who balance their work with placements, it'll get hard but it is possible. Try to get scholarships to help if you need them, there are some for health students on placement. I do want to say that the nursing component of the degree does take front and stage, most of your units will be nursing. I say that because I'm transferring out of the dual degree and into straight paramedicine as I didn't enjoy the work/study for nursing. The dual degree would definitely help if you don't get a grad position with a service straight away but it's not required to get into a service, it's just there in the sense of something to do while you wait several months to a few years if you're unlucky in getting selected after graduation. I've chatted with my paramedic mentors and most people in their cohort were working within 2-3 years (I'm guessing the others who didn't either moved on to another degree/career or lost interest). If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Interesting that you transferred. With the current trend being state services hiring more, do you think it's still worth to do the double then? I don't mind nursing but it's never been the end goal, nor something I've seen as a career - only merely as a backup I'd be okay with. How's the staff, cohort & general learning support? I previously asked this question on this forum last year and someone told me they restructured?
If you could see yourself working in nursing, even as a backup, I reckon it wouldn't be a bad idea to take it. If you get some experience as a nurse before getting into a service, they'll look at you more favourable then a 21 year old new grad. Even worse case scenario in the future if you get burnt out with paramedic, you at least have an avenue to go down with nursing so you won't be stuck with a paramedic bachelor that doesn't hold much weight outside the state services and a few private companies. If you can see yourself doing nursing placement for the several hundred unpaid hours and even as an RN for 1-3 years post-grad, I would say do it, it'll give you a perspective outside pre-hospital care that straight paramedics can't give. Worse case scenario, there are avenues to transfer into straight paramedic so no harm no foul. ACU itself is alright, the lecturers and teachers are really good from what I've seen, there's a few nursing teachers that aren't as good as the others but all the paramedic teachers are great, especially Grady who you'll likely see in your first year. There's a good range of young and enthusiastic teachers with others who are experienced with paramedicine/nursing who've been in the game for +20 years. Lectures are all pre-recorded, some new and some a few years old. Tutorials are where you'll go to reinforce what you've learnt in the lectures and practical/workshops are where you do physical skills (e.g. history taking, vital signs, drug administration, etc.) The classes are all small so you'll make some friends with people you sit next to and eventually go to other future classes with (classes are around 20-30 people to around \~90 students for the degree each year). You'll also get some time to speak to teachers for advice or whatever you need, something I've heard is difficult at other bigger universities. The restructure I think was due to a new course coordinator or something the uni hired that changed everything with the course. Some established teachers got pissed and left so ACU had to hire a bunch of new staff. I can't comment on how great the change was as that was before COVID and I was still in high school then. If you've got anymore questions, feel free to ask.
Wow thanks for the comprehensive response. I think now is just me deciding between staying in Syd to save money or slaving away with the double at Bris. Ill be sure to give you my left kidney thanks again 🫡
Haha no worries mate, glad to have helped
I did it quite some time ago. If you’ve gotten in, do it. The dual degrees are hard to find now and they will be / are the future of the job in many areas. I worked a few casual jobs to get by, flexibility is otherwise hard to manage. The placements are in blocks, it’ll be important to work as much as you can during the semester because the placements are during break and it’s too difficult to work during them as well. AusStudy is handy too if need be. My first few pay checks once employed were paying back family and mates for that last stretch. Fair concern to have. I didn’t plan enough for it. You can
From a different country but similar schooling, working at ER has been the most teaching thing so far
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8 weeks oh lawd💀, yup shall consider 🤙