Position Statement: Urgent support needed for paramedic students experiencing ‘placement poverty’

Position Statement

Key statement

The Australian Government has announced it will invest $427.4 million from 2024-25 to 2027-28 to introduce a new Commonwealth Prac Payment (Payment) from 1 July 2025 to support eligible teaching, nursing and midwifery, and social work students in higher education and VET in completing their placements. Paramedic students were not included.

The Australasian College of Paramedicine (the College), the peak body for paramedicine representing and supporting paramedics and paramedic students, is calling on the government to include paramedicine in its Commonwealth Prac Payment initiative.

Clinical placements are a mandatory requirement of paramedicine degrees, and paramedicine students experience ‘placement poverty’ in the same manner as their nursing and midwifery peers. Paramedicine students complete up to 18 weeks of placement, which can be located hundreds of kilometres from their homes, causing extreme financial hardship as students seek accommodation, juggle paid jobs and rent/mortgage commitments and other family responsibilities.

Students are not immune to the cost-of-living pressures, and paramedicine students receive very little support via bursaries or grants compared with other student cohorts. Paramedic students need the same support as their nursing and midwifery peers. Most paramedic programs already require paramedic students to compete with nursing and midwifery students for tertiary institution support and this payment initiative compounds the inequity experienced by paramedicine students.

It’s time to recognise paramedicine students and support the next generation of this critical healthcare workforce.

Read our full Position Statement here