Clinical Placement and Viva
Domain 10: Clinical Placement and Viva
This domain tests whether you can integrate knowledge in a real placement and defend your practice in viva. Examiners look for professionalism, patient safety, infection control, accurate reporting and reflective answers.
Core rules
- Follow the placement dress code, carry your ID, arrive on time and work within your scope; ask for supervision when unsure.
- Use hand hygiene, correct PPE and safe sharps practice in every encounter.
- Report incidents and near misses; never hide an error or alter a record.
- In viva: greet the examiner, listen fully, answer with a clear structure, and state what you would do and why.
- For a case presentation, use a concise order: patient profile, reason for care, observations, nursing actions, response and handover.
- A reflective answer states what happened, what you learned and what you would change.
Worked example
Viva question: What do you check before giving oral medicine? Reasoning: use the rights-right patient, drug, dose, route, time and documentation-plus allergy status, expiry, ability to swallow and any food interaction. Say that you would withhold and clarify an unclear order rather than guess.
Traps
Arguing with the examiner; inventing findings; breaching confidentiality; performing a task beyond your training to impress.