The generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools offer clear benefits for learning and administrative efficiency for both students and educators in higher education. However, GenAI tools can also pose serious risks to patient confidentiality, professional accountability, and data governance when used inappropriately. Hence, the study examines the ethical boundaries surrounding the use of GenAI in clinical and practice placement settings within health and social services education in New Zealand Polytechnics. As such, despite the importance of having clear guidelines on the ethical use of GenAI, there remains a lack of specific policies governing its use in clinical and practice placement settings. While professional standards policies exist, they do not explicitly address GenAI use in detail. Health New Zealand has also issued precautionary guidance restricting the use of GenAI in a clinical context, but these policies primarily focus on prohibitions and provide limited practical direction on the ethical use of GenAI in practice placement settings. Therefore, the study adopts a conceptual policy analysis approach to examine existing guidance on GenAI use and identify gaps in the need for student-focused, placement-specific guidance. In addition, the study introduces a conceptual framework called the clinical GenAI boundary model, which provides explicit guidelines with real-life examples to support students in navigating the ethical use of GenAI within health and social service contexts.