Health professional education and development

Logo of Victoria's Paediatric Integrated Cancer Service (PICS)

PICS is committed to empowering the Victorian paediatric oncology workforce, and increasing the standardisation and delivery of best-practice paediatric oncology care across the state.

To facilitate this, we provide medical, nursing, and allied health-focused education opportunities across a variety of delivery methods, including:

    • face-to-face education sessions
    • online learning modules, videos, and learning packs
    • the PICS paediatric oncology nursing CPD framework
    • the PICS Nursing Children with Cancer Fellowship
    • facilitating clinical observation placements for allied health professionals.

Face-to-face learning

PICS education and training is delivered throughout the year at The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), Monash Children’s Hospital (MCH), regional shared care centres across Victoria, and in Tasmania. These sessions develop knowledge and practical skills for health professionals who provide care to children and adolescents affected by cancer.

Like our e-learning modules below, they cover a range of topics, with many learnings also useful in wider practice. Sessions include:

    • Foundations in paediatric oncology
    • Fever neutropenia and central lines
    • Fit-for-purpose paediatric chemotherapy
    • Supporting children with medical procedures
    • Is it cancer? Early recognition in children
    • Overview of childhood cancer.

Our education and training at Victorian regional centres is delivered via the PICS Regional Outreach and Shared Care Program (ROSCP).

"I have worked with paediatric patients for 4 years and I wish I did this course 4 years ago. I think everyone who works with kids in health care should do this training. Thanks for developing a great resource."

– Paediatric health professional

Online learning

To support health professionals who provide care to children and adolescents with cancer, we have developed e-learning modules together with staff from the RCH, MCH, and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Like our face-to-face learning above, they cover a range of topics for professionals both in and out of the immediate paediatric oncology community, with many learnings also useful in wider practice. These modules are freely available and hosted on the eviQ Education website:

Other PICS online learning resources include:

Nursing Children with Cancer Fellowship

The PICS Nursing Children with Cancer Fellowship provides Victorian nurses with the opportunity to develop a more complete understanding of paediatric cancer care.

Over an 8-week non-clinical fellowship, the successful nursing applicants build on their existing clinical experience in children’s cancer care, by visiting and learning from peers at other children’s cancer centres and oncology services at Monash Children’s Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and The Royal Children’s Hospital.

Participants engage with different departments and services who provide cancer care; and through observation of practices, protocols and treatments they may otherwise not be exposed to, they build a more integrated understanding of the various elements in the patient care pathway.

On completion of the fellowship, nurses develop a project to share their experiences with their respective health service, to generate discussion, ideas for local improvement, and to translate their learnings into practice.

Contact us if you want to find out more, or apply

"The fellowship has given me the opportunity to be non-clinical in a space which allowed observation, education, learning, the opportunity to ask questions and seek further information. This experience has been invaluable, I have learnt so much over the 8 weeks! I loved that PICS were open to my needs and what I wanted to get out of the fellowship."
– 2023 PICS Nursing Children with Cancer Fellowship participant

Paediatric oncology nursing CPD framework

PICS has developed a framework for continuing professional development (CPD) for nurses working with children and adolescents with cancer. This framework should complement health-service-specific requirements for core skills and competencies, as well as standards for continuing professional development as defined by the relevant nursing regulation agency. It is specific to paediatric oncology practice and is aimed at registered nurses working in paediatric oncology.

The framework provides high-level guidance for advancing practice of the paediatric oncology workforce. Individual nurses, nurse educators and health service leaders can use the framework.

Within paediatric oncology nursing there are various career development pathways, including:

    • clinical care
    • education
    • advanced or enhanced scope of practice roles
    • research
    • leadership positions.

The framework should be used within the context of each individual nurse’s scope of practice and assessed levels of competency.

Learn more
Read the framework
Learn about the project to develop the framework
Explore all PICS frameworks

Clinical placements for allied health professionals

The Clinical Placement Program in Cancer Survivorship led by the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre (ACSC), builds knowledge and confidence in junior medical staff, allied health professionals and practice nurses across Victoria to deliver quality cancer survivorship care.

Since 2022, PICS has collaborated with the ACSC to offer placements with a focus on late effects of paediatric cancer treatment, and family-centred survivorship care. These observational placements are offered at Monash Children’s Hospital, The Royal Children‘s Hospital, and regional centres as appropriate.