Handbook

Core requirement

Gross motor skills

Students should possess the strength, range of motion, coordination and mobility sufficient to manage their learning environment and ultimately professional performance needs.

Fine motor skills

Students should possess the manual dexterity and fine motor skills sufficient to manage their learning environment and ultimately professional performance needs.

Course-Specific requirement

Mental Health practice involve physical demands and requires gross motor function and manual dexterity and fine motor skills. Students must demonstrate sufficient gross motor function, manual dexterity and fine motor skills necessary to perform, coordinate, prioritise care and undertake tasks that involve:

Gross motor skills include lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, standing, twisting and bending; and fine motor skills include being able to grasp, press, push, turn, squeeze and manipulate various objects and individuals. Students must be able to demonstrate and perform these tasks consistently and safely to reduce the risk of harm to self and others.

Mental Health practice require both physical and mental performance at a consistent and sustained level to meet individual needs over time. Mental Health students need sufficient physical and mental endurance to perform multiple tasks in an assigned period to provide safe and effective care. Students require the capacity to maintain consistency and quality of performance throughout the designated period of duty; and the ability to perform repetitive activities with a level of concentration to ensure focus on the activity until it is completed appropriately.

Core requirement

Students must be able to manage their own responses and behaviour to work effectively in a range of learning environments with diverse people and tasks. This includes the capacity to be receptive and respond appropriately to constructive feedback. Students should also be able to work with others in a team or group environment and make and maintain effective relationships with a wide range of individuals in order to complete tasks or for professional practice.

Course-Specific requirement

Mental Health students must demonstrate knowledge and engage in ethical behaviour in practice (academically and clinically) to facilitate safe, competent interactions and relationships with people to ensure their own and others' physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual
wellbeing is not placed at risk. Mental Health students must be able to demonstrate behavioural stability by functioning and adapting effectively and sensitively in a diverse and changing academic and clinical environment. Mental Health students must demonstrate knowledge and compliance with Australian law, professional regulations and scope of practice to enable the safe delivery of care.

Mental Health practice require effective verbal, nonverbal and written  communication skills for the safe delivery of care. Mental Health students are required to have effective and efficient verbal communication in English. Mental Health students also need to be respectful, clear, attentive, empathetic, honest and nonjudgmental; and have effective written communication skills – a fundamental responsibility with professional and legal ramifications.

Core requirement

Students should possess the ability to interact with visual,
auditory or tactile inputs sufficiently to manage their
learning environment and to meet professional
performance needs.

Course-Specific requirement

Mental Health students must be able to observe visual inputs, including patient symptoms, which will allow them to manage patient care and continually develop their practice during placements and throughout their
career.
Adequate visual, auditory, tactile acuity is required to provide safe and effective care. Mental Health students must demonstrate the following:

Adequate visual acuity to perform the required range of skills, tasks and assessments to maintain consistent, accurate and safe care to self and others adequate auditory ability to monitor, assess and manage individuals' health needs consistently and accurately adequate tactile ability to monitor, assess and detect patients' physical characteristics and act on any abnormalities detected to provide thorough care.

Core requirement

Students must be able to locate, acquire, retain and apply knowledge as part of their learning and for assessment. They must have the ability to sustain their attention over a designated period, maintain their focus
in a variety of learning environments and remember information long enough to complete tasks in a reasonable and safe time frame.

Course-Specific requirement

Mental Health students must be able to use retained knowledge to determine safe and appropriate care decisions. They must be able to notice, focus their attention and process information in order to respond
effectively to critical changes in instructions, measurements or observable behaviour. For example, they must be able to focus on and respond to changing visual information in answering questions about appropriate courses of action in distracting environments.

Mental Health practice require comprehensive theoretical knowledge. Students must demonstrate consistent and effective knowledge and cognitive skills to provide safe and competent care.

Competent literacy skills are essential for safe and effective delivery of Mental Health care. Mental Health students must have the ability to accurately acquire information and accurately convey appropriate effective messages; to read and comprehend a range of literature and information; and the capacity to understand and implement academic conventions to construct written text in a scholarly manner.

Competent and accurate numeracy skills are essential for safe and effective care. Mental Health students must demonstrate the ability to interpret and correctly apply data, measurements and numerical criteria.