Clinical Practice Placements
Thank you for your interest in a clinical practice placement at The Hospice of St Francis.
We are a multi-professional centre for palliative care based in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, offering inpatient, outpatient and community support.
We value the opportunity to share our experience and expertise with others and try to offer placements, visits and work shadowing wherever we have capacity to do so.
Aim of Practice Placements:
- To provide an understanding of palliative care in practice.
Areas of expertise:
- Symptom management
- Psychosocial and spiritual care
- Advance care planning
- Significant conversations
- Palliative rehabilitation
- Family and carer support
- Bereavement care
- Care of the dying person
Types of Clinical Practice Placements at the Hospice of St Francis:
We offer a variety of placements. We will pair you with a key member of staff or mentor to support you in your placement aims and learning objectives. Places are limited so we urge you to apply early in order for us to meet your needs. If we are unable to accommodate your placement request we can direct you to our education programme that may assist you with meeting some of your learning objectives or direct you to clinician for a further discussion.
Clinical Placements include:
- Pre-registration nursing students (Via University of Hertfordshire)
- Return to Practice Nursing Students (Via University of Bedfordshire)
- Social work students (Via University of Bedfordshire)
- Medical Students
- Chaplains and Spiritual Care Leads
- Paramedic students and ambulance clinicians (work shadowing offered)
- Registered nurses and doctors (work shadowing offered)
- Occupational Therapists (University of Northampton)
Medical Placements:
For doctors interested in observing the multi-disciplinary approach to decision making and symptom management in palliative care we offer our RAPT (Rapid Access to Palliative Care) programme. This is a 2 day Medical Practice Placement for FY1 and 2 Doctors, GP Registrars or medical colleagues and involves work-shadowing within the Inpatient Unit, attending ward rounds and MDT meetings and the opportunity to observe community or outpatient care depending on circumstances. Cost £200
Volunteering:
For prospective healthcare students interesting in broadening their experience within a volunteering role (rather than a clinical practice placement), or for nurses or healthcare assistants looking to work within a voluntary capacity, please contact our Voluntary Services Team at volunteering@stfrancis.org.uk