All students must complete an orientation before commencing a placement within a Queensland Health facility. You will not be able to commence your placement until your orientation is completed.
Orientation requirements are the same for all students, regardless of the educational facility or health program in which you are enrolled. Your orientation is separated into 2 parts:
Part 1 requires you to action something (such as undertake a course or provide information to your education provider), and
Part 2 requires you to be aware of and adhere to certain behaviours and knowledge while attending your clinical placement.
Part 1
Criminal history check
A National Police Certificate is the minimum pre-placement legal check. All students will be required to organise, fund, and maintain a National Police Certificate that is current for the entirety of the clinical placement and be no older than three (3) years at the end of the placement.
Holding a National Police Certificate is in addition to other pre-placement screening checks that may be required through Queensland or National legislation for specific purposes.
You will not be able to attend your clinical placement without a National Police Certificate.
Blue card check – Queensland’s Working with Children Check
The blue card system—Queensland’s Working with Children Check is managed by Blue Card Services (BCS) in the Department of Justice. Your education provider placement coordinator will let you know if you’ll be providing health services to children as part of your placement. If you do, you must apply for a blue card. You won’t be able to start your placement until you’ve been issued with one.
Aged care criminal history check
If your placement is in an aged care facility, you will need to comply with the aged care criminal history check requirements as set out in the Aged Care Act 1997 and related Accountability Principles 2014. It is likely that you will need a National Police Certificate not more than three (3) years old to meet these requirements. You may not be able to start your placement until you have received the appropriate checks.
NDIS worker screening check
From 1 February 2021, new worker screening laws apply in Queensland in relation to services delivered through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). If you will be attending a clinical placement with an NDIS registered provider in a role the hospital or health service has determined is a “risk-assessed role”, you will require an NDIS worker screening clearance.
It is the responsibility of the facility you are attending to know whether you will require a clearance; however, it is important that this is identified early (by your education provider when they negotiate the placement on your behalf), as there is a “no card, no start” requirement. If you are required to have an NDIS worker screening check, you will not be able to start your placement until you have received a clearance. Students are treated as volunteers under the new worker screening requirements and will not be charged a fee for the check.
If you already hold a valid yellow card or yellow card exemption, you won’t need to get an NDIS worker screening check straight away. Your existing card can be used until it expires, is suspended, or is cancelled.
To read more about how to apply for an NDIS worker screening check or find out more information on screening requirements visit the Queensland Government Disability Worker Screening.
Students attending aged care providers supporting NDIS participants
From 16 June 2021, the Australian Government is streamlining the dual regulatory framework for aged care providers that support NDIS participants. This means that an NDIS worker screening clearance will meet the checks for aged care staff and volunteers under the Aged Care Act 1997 for those supporting NDIS participants, where previously both a NDIS worker screen and a National Police Certificate were required.
Read more about the Police certificate and worker screen requirements in aged care.
Corrective services criminal history check
Your Queensland Health supervisor will organise a Corrective Services criminal history check if your placement is scheduled to take place within an area providing health services in a corrective services facility.
Access to Queensland Health facilities may be restricted or denied if students do not meet the immunisation and infection requirements.
Mandatory vaccinations
Vaccination requirements apply to the majority of frontline clinical roles (including students) within Queensland Health. Vaccinations listed here (and reflected on the Student Orientation Checklist) represent the minimum vaccination requirements for student clinical placements. Additional vaccinations may be required to respond to intermittent, seasonal, or recurring disease risk in some or all areas of the State.
MMR, varicella, pertussis, hepatitis B
Information about dose schedules and evidence requirements for these vaccinations can be found at the following links:
Additional vaccinations
Additional vaccinations may be required for the Hospital and Health Services or clinical placement location you are attending. For example, influenza vaccination may be a requirement of undertaking a clinical placement in an aged care facility, and roles with high risk of exposure to certain diseases (such as hepatitis A, Japanese encephalitis) may require additional pre-placement vaccinations.
Tuberculosis risk assessment
Before commencing a clinical placement in a Queensland Health facility, students must complete a TB risk assessment questionnaire, in cooperation with their education provider's placement coordinator.
- TB risk assessment questionnaire for students [PDF 575.82 KB]
- TB risk assessment administration guidance for education placement coordinators [PDF 86.85 KB]
- TB risk assessment frequently asked questions [PDF 587.71 KB]
Infection prevention
All students need to be aware of and comply with Queensland Health’s policies and guidelines related to infection prevention to ensure their own personal safety and that of patients and staff. This includes information about standard precautions, sharps safety, and broader infection management advice.
You need to complete an orientation about the environment you’re going into, your practice and interactions with patients, and how to keep yourself safe.
As part of your orientation you’ll need to do some mandatory online courses. They’ll help you understand your legal, safety, and ethical responsibilities.
These must be done before starting a placement with Queensland Health. Some of the courses also need to be repeated regularly. You’ll do most of your mandatory training on an online training platform called iLearn. All clinical placement students will need an iLearn account.
Whether you're a new or existing student, you should check your mandatory training in iLearn before starting every placement. Your iLearn account will list any new courses you need to complete, as well as any expired courses you need to retake. The required courses are also outlined in the G6. Mandatory Training policy.
The courses on iLearn are the minimum requirements for clinical placements with Queensland Health. Some hospital and health services will have more training requirements that you’ll also need to do.
Accessing iLearn
You can only have one iLearn account.
Students who are:
- Queensland Health (QH) employees should use their existing iLearn account, if they have one
- non-employees or QH employees without an iLearn account will need to apply for an iLearn student account.
Once you’re logged in, you can find your mandatory training modules by clicking on ‘View G6 Core Mandatory Training Equivalency Mapping’. Click on the courses you need to complete or renew.
You can also add any courses you need to do or renew by using the search bar and the name of the course.
Allow plenty of time to do your mandatory training before your placement starts. If you need help with iLearn, call 1800 198 175.
Records of course completion
Record the details of the completed training courses in your Student Orientation Checklist.
You’ll get a certificate for every course you complete on iLearn. Download copies of all your certificates to share with your education provider and/or your supervisor as requested.
To generate a completion certificate in iLearn:
- click the ‘Certificates’ button at the top of the landing page
- select your course
- click ‘generate certificate’.
For help with generating iLearn certificates, call 1800 198 175.
If you do any local training that’s not on iLearn, keep copies of those completion certificates as well. They will be recorded locally by the hospital and health services.
Queensland Health mandatory training
The Queensland Health mandatory training courses were updated in April 2025. Some of the new courses have combined a few older courses into one.
If you didn’t finish training on all the topics covered in the new course, you’ll need to retake the training. These will be listed in your iLearn account. All updated courses are listed in the tables below.
Required courses for all clinical placements
| Old mandatory training course name | New mandatory training course name | Frequency of new course |
|---|---|---|
| Code of Conduct Fraud Control Public Interest Disclosure | Working Ethically | Annually |
| Occupational Violence Orientation Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders Work, Health and Safety Induction | Keeping You Safe | Once |
| First-response and Evacuation Instructions (FREI) | First-response and Evacuation Instructions^ - unchanged (locally offered*) | Every 2 years* or if you change location |
| General Evacuation Instructions (GEI) | General Evacuation Instructions^ -unchanged (locally offered*) | Annually* or if you change location |
| Infection Prevention and Control | Infection Prevention and Control -unchanged (locally offered*) | Once* or if you change location |
* These courses have location-specific content. You’ll be given details on how to access the local content when you start each placement. Local content is not located with the other core Mandatory Training courses on iLearn. If you change location, you may need to complete the training again at your new location.
^ First-response and Evacuation Instructions and General Evacuation Instructions may be offered as a single course, which is completed annually.
Additional courses for placements over 3 months
If your placement is 3 months or longer, you will also need to complete the following mandatory courses.
| Old mandatory training course name | New mandatory training course name | Frequency of new course |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome to the Department | Welcome to Queensland Health | Once |
| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Practice Program | First Nations: Cultural Safety and Equity in Healthcare | Once |
| Cyber Security Essentials | Keeping Our Organisation Safe | Annually |
| Recognise, Respond, Refer | Recognise, Respond, Refer -unchanged | Every 3 years |
For help with mandatory training requirements, please contact LeadershipCapability@health.qld.gov.au.
Part 2
Queensland Public Service Code of Conduct
The Code of Conduct for the Queensland Public Service applies to all permanent, temporary, full-time, part-time, or casual Queensland Health employees, volunteers, students, contractors, consultants and anyone who works in any other capacity for Queensland Health.
The Code reflects four ethics principles:
- Integrity and impartiality
- Promoting the public good
- Commitment to the system of government
- Accountability and transparency
Please read the Code of Conduct for more information.
National Code of Conduct for Health Care Workers (Queensland)
The National Code of Conduct for Health Care Workers (Queensland) Queensland Code applies to health care workers who are:
- not required to be registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (including de-registered health practitioners)
- registered health practitioners under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and who provide health services that are unrelated to their registration.
In Queensland, a health service is as defined in Section 7 of the Health Ombudsman Act 2013 (Qld).
The Queensland Code also applies to students meeting the above criteria.
Please ensure that you are aware of your obligations to review the Queensland Code and supporting documents.
Providing culturally appropriate health services
The following documents will assist you in providing culturally appropriate health services:
Patient trust is critical to providing high quality health care. As a student, you will have access to sensitive patient information. Queensland Health places an extremely high importance on maintaining patient confidentiality.
Privacy
The Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) sets out the provisions for access to non-personal information held by Queensland government departments.
Confidentiality
Queensland Health is bound by strict obligations in relation to the disclosure of patient identifying information. For more information, refer to Part 7 of the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 (Qld). Anyone being educated or trained at a public sector health service facility as part of the requirements for the following are bound by that legislation:
- registration, enrolment or other authorisation (however described) to practice as a health professional
- completion of a course of study qualifying a person for registration, enrolment or authorisation mentioned in (1).
Any disclosure of patient identifying information can only be permitted where one of the limited exceptions to our duty of confidentiality permits such disclosure. Once bound, you will not be indemnified for confidentiality breaches.
Failure to comply with confidentiality obligations may result in termination of your placement and/or further legal action being taken against you by Queensland Health and/or the education provider.
Documentation
Good clinical documentation is an integral part of patient care. Further information will be provided to you by your Queensland Health supervisor when you commence your placement.