12 Tips for Establishing a Hospital Based Student-Led Service

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. This paper presents 12 tips and recommendations for healthcare facilities and health sciences university academics to support the establishment and sustainability of a student-led service (SLS). SLSs enable students to develop their professional and clinical skills in an authentic clinical environment. Key features that underpin a sustainable SLS include a service based on the principles of evidence-based and quality driven patient-centred care; clearly defined student learning outcomes which can be met in a safe and supportive learning environment; clearly defined, evidence-based patient outcomes; an awareness of ethical considerations to ensure that patients and students are not exploited; clearly defined stakeholder outcomes; and opportunities to partner with university expertise to develop innovative models of care for the future. In the current climate of placement shortages, SLSs offer a sustainable work integrated learning model to meet student placement capacity demands and to support unmet health service provision at various healthcare facilities.