Getting ready

The School

Ask your contact person at the school about the circumstances in which the students will be attending. Are they coming voluntarily because they are interested specifically? Is it an elective or compulsory attendance (or limited alternatives)? Whilst you may not be able to alter your workshop content too much, knowing the background will help you to understand and prepare for their various expectations.

Once you have arranged dates and times with the school that you will be visiting, send out a confirmation letter of these details. This confirmation letter can also include a paragraph that you can suggest is included in their student newsletter.

i Written forms of communication are generally more accessible to teachers and are good to refer to when calling to follow up on something.

You can also send out an A4 or A3 poster for the school to fill in with date, time and other details of your visit to promote the RHSV throughout the school.

You will need to send out the photo consent form with a cover letter to the school that you are visiting at least 3 weeks prior to your visit date to make sure that the school has time distribute the forms and receive a response from parents/guardians.

The Health Professional

Collaborate with health professionals from the local area and provide them with a clear briefing so that they understand what it is you want them to talk about. Engaging professionals from the local community is invaluable as they provide an ongoing and consistent contact person long after you have returned to your university.

RHC Students

Recruit Members

Advertise within your club for members to participate in the RHSV. This can be done by using the A4 or A3 poster and adding information that is relevant to your next RHSV. You can also email club members about the RHSV as well as advertising during lectures, club meetings and activities.

Make sure you select a group of RHC students who represent a variety of health professions (where possible), a variety of different backgrounds (eg. Rural vs urban, school-leaver vs non-school leaver, scholarship holder vs non-scholarship holder), and male and female representatives. Having both sexes on a visit is particularly important when visiting Aboriginal schools due to cultural reasons.

Advertise and encourage involvement in your club’s RHSV to nearby RHC’s (if applicable) – other club members are welcome and will increase your mix of health professions!

i Try to take someone on your RHSV that has facilitated one before.

Multi-disciplinary

Try and ensure that your club members have some knowledge of at least two or three other professions, perhaps sharing the tasks amongst your group, so that you will feel more comfortable in responding to questions about disciplines other than your own. Brief each other on the various health professions and training available so that you will be able to answer questions when they arise. More information about the various health careers can be found here.

Confirm Member Attendance

You will need to contact the students who have shown an interest in participating in the RHSV to confirm their attendance and make sure that they will be ready for the trip and go over with them what their roles and responsibilities will be while on the RHSV. You will need to notify the students of the time commitment that is required for the visit, whether you intend to provide funds for travel, meals and accommodation. You may also want to organise a half-day training session the weekend before the RHSV (or whenever is most convenient) to run through the program for the RHSV.

Notify the NRHSN

You will need to notify the NRHSN of the dates and the schools that you will be visiting. You can also get in touch with the NRHSN to help source students from other clubs to join your RHSV. This can then help with making sure that the students that are participating in the RHSV represent a multi disciplinary team. This also helps with interclub interaction.

Resources

The My Future website is a fantastic resource and you can find information on all health careers available in Australia and which institutions offer them.

You will need to make sure that all materials have been printed off and are ready before you go. Things such as the health career information flyers, the further information sheets for students, student evaluation forms and RHC student evaluation forms.

i REMEMBER TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF YOUR PRINT RESOURCES ARE PRINTED AND READY TO GO BEFORE YOU HEAD OFF.

Equipment

You will also need to borrow equipment such as Gutsy Gus (anatomical manikin), stethoscopes, tendon hammers etc from your university to use during your RHSV. You can also check with the NRHSN to see if these resources will be available to use at the time of your RHSV.

i In extremely difficult groups or amongst non-English speaking students, hands on equipment will be your lifesaver.

Promotional Resources

In preparation for your RHSV you can also access some Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) promotional material for you to distribute during your visit. You will need to get in contact with us (and then we will contact DoHA) regarding this at least 6 weeks prior to your scheduled RHSV to make sure that the DoHA staff are given enough notice to prepare and send out what you require. Items such as pens, notepads, showbags, rulers, lip balm and sunscreen are available for you to use. Please email us to request this merchandise.

You can also check with the NRHSN to see what promotional materials they have available. There’s usually something!

Working With Children Checks

You will need to check what your state or territories requirements are in regards to working with children and follow the instructions given. More information is available here.

Car Hire & Accommodation

Now that you know roughly which RHC students will be attending the RHSV you can start booking things such as car hire and accommodation. You will need to call again at a later date to confirm that payment has been received by the car hire and accommodation companies and that your booking is still correct.

Lesson Plan

You will need to go through the lesson plan to make sure that you are prepared for all aspects in terms of timing, resources and students participation. You can also take with you the Quick Reference Guide to refer to during your visit.

Media

Send out a media release one week before your visit. See the media section for further details on how to go about this.

Evaluation

Hand out the student evaluation form and teacher evaluation form at the end of the visit and collect them.

There is also a RHC member evaluation form to be filled out by those RHC members that attended the RHSV once they have finished the visit.