The 72-hour grade period does not apply to this assessment.

During the practical sessions and residential school, you will be required to complete a series of tasks related to the content covered in the unit. These activities include spirometry, performing and interpreting electrocardiograms (ECGs), including a 12-lead ECG, conducting a six-minute walk test (6MWT) and acid-base balance interpretation. During each of these tasks, you will be assessed according to a series of practical competencies such as communication skills, professionalism, technical skills, and knowledge. Details of the competencies assessed can be located on the Moodle page.

This is a Pass/Fail assessment. In order to receive a passing grade, you must be deemed competent in all competencies assessed during the practical sessions or residential school. 

Level of Gen AI use allowed:

Level 1: You must not use AI at any point during the assessment.

1. Attendance, engagement and completion of all practical sessions is compulsory in order to be deemed competent in the practical session and pass the practical assessment.
2. A Pass / Fail grade will be awarded depending on the level of competency and knowledge displayed during the practical assessment.
3. If any practical assessment task is not marked as competent, students will be allowed a second attempt at that practical assessment task during the practical class or residential school.
4. You must pass the Practical Assessment to be eligible to pass the unit.

Aim

This assessment item requires you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of how the cardiovascular and respiratory systems are connected and work together, as well as changes that can occur in their normal function. You will also need to describe how a disruption in one system can influence the other, and clearly explain the links between them.

Task

There are two (2) steps to completing this assessment. 

Step 1 – Topic Selection requires you to select a topic from those provided in the assessment tile on Moodle and research this topic. The topic selection will open on Monday of week 1 at 9am AEST and close on Friday of week 3 at 5pm AEST.

There are limited places available for each topic so please ensure that you select a topic prior to it closing. If you do not select a topic prior to closing the unit coordinator will assign you a topic and notify you of your topic allocation.  If a topic fills prior to closing then any students who have not selected a topic will be assigned the topic which is not full and will be notified by the unit coordinator.

Step 2 – Written Assessment

This assessment requires you to produce a 1200-1500 word research brief / evidence snapshot based on a clinical question from the provided case scenario based on your topic selection.

Important: This is not an essay – you will present information in the required structure using bullet points, a summary table and a concise written explanation.

After selecting your topic and reviewing the provided case scenario and clinical question, you are required to search for and summarise 5 - 8 peer‑reviewed research articles that support your response to the clinical question. Your goal is to demonstrate that you understand how the cardiovascular and respiratory systems are linked and work together, and how an alteration in one system can directly impact the function of the other. For example, changes in heart function can alter blood flow through the lungs, while respiratory impairment can affect oxygen delivery to the heart and body. Understanding these interactions is essential for interpreting clinical symptoms and planning patient care.

The research brief / evidence snapshot must include the following: 

1. Indicate why the clinical question provided for the case scenario is important by focusing on the normal physiology of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and how they work together; 3-4 bullet points.
2. A summary table of your findings that provides a snapshot of your evidence. Your table should contain the study details, design/population, key findings, limitations, and clinical takeaway for each journal article.
3. A 500-600 word explanation that brings together the findings from all the studies and clearly describes what the research shows about the relationship between the two systems, including how changes in one system can affect the function of the other.
4. Describe any implications for clinical practice; 3-5 bullet points.
5. A 100-150 word closing summary that highlights the overall findings and reinforces the connection between the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
6. Include in-text references where appropriate and provide a reference list, as per the current CQUni APA or Harvard referencing guidelines.

This assessment helps you build skills in reading research, understanding how the cardiovascular and respiratory systems are linked, and applying evidence to clinical situations.

Evidence Requirements

• In this task you must use peer-reviewed journal articles, current clinical guidelines and referenced textbooks only.
• A maximum of eight (8) resources are to be used for this assessment; including a maximum of two (2) StatPearls articles. Not complying with this will affect your marks as per the rubric.
• Ensure that all resources are current and have been published within the last 10 years.
• Any clinical guidelines used are to be the most current available. If the clinical guidelines are more than 10 years old then please indicate that you have completed a thorough literature search to ensure that those you have provided are the current guidelines.

Note: Internet websites and non-peer-reviewed sources of information are not to be used in this assessment. Use of these will affect your Evidence selection, quality and critical appraisal, as well as Referencing in the marking rubric.

Level of Gen AI use allowed:

Level 3: You may use AI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify any AI-generated content you use.

Students are permitted to use Generative AI for the assessment in the following ways:

• Developing literature search strategies
• Guidance on developing arguments
• Assistance in formatting and grammar

If Generative AI is used in any way, it must be cited as per the CQU Guidelines (Academic Learning Centre). The following statement must be completed and included on the cover page of the uploaded assessment:

"I have used (insert technology) to (insert how you used this) in accordance with the requirements of this unit. The reason I used this was to (explain why you used it). The details of how I used it as (insert how). I hereby declare that the submission is an appropriate representation of my individual skills and abilities to meet the requirements of the task/s."

As per academic writing requirements and assessment criteria; citations of information should be of the primary source (i.e., statistics returned by AI must be fact-checked and referenced from their original source as well as the AI source). Failure to cite primary sources as well as AI sources could be considered breach of academic integrity. 

Your use of Generative AI must be clearly outlined in an appendix including the prompt used and Generative AI response. Failure to include an appendix may result in academic integrity investigation. 

Formatting:

• This is not an essay; however, use of proper sentences, spelling and grammar is required.
• A cover page is required which includes your full name, student ID number, unit code, assessment title, due date, word count, referencing style utilised in your assessment (i.e. APA or Harvard referencing style) and your Generative AI information (as above) if relevant, if you have not used Generative AI then please state this.
• Student name and student number are to be included in the header. Do not include a footer.
• Double line spacing must be used.
• Font in either Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman, 12-point.
• Word limit: 1200-1500 words, this includes your table and in-text citations.

1. The written assessment will be marked in accordance with a detailed marking rubric that can be found in the assessment tile on the Moodle site.
2. The written assessment equals 40% of the total unit marks, and the minimum requirement for this assessment task is 50% of the available marks.
3. All submissions after the 72-hour grace period will be penalised 5% per calendar day unless an application for an extension has been approved.
4. All extensions must be made through the extension request system on Moodle with appropriate documentation that complies with the Assessment Policy and Procedure.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment.

Aim

The aim of the online test is to assess your knowledge and understanding of the content covered during each week of the term. Also, to evaluate your ability to accurately apply theoretical knowledge of cardiovascular and respiratory measurements to practical scenarios and interpreting results in a clinically relevant context.

Online test details:

• Opens: Week 12, Thursday at 9:00am
• Closes: Week 12, Thursday at 9:00pm
• Timing: You will have three (3) hours to complete the test during the 12 hour period that it is open.
• Topics assessed: Weeks 1 to 10
• Attempts allowed: One (1)
• The online test will contribute 60% to your final grade.
• There is a minimum requirement for the assessment task: 50% of the available marks.
• There will be no option to complete the assessment prior to the opening date and time listed in the unit profile and on the Moodle site.

Level of Gen AI use allowed:

Level 1: You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

Each assessment question is uniquely designed and requires precise, context‑specific detail; using AI‑generated responses will likely result in incorrect or incomplete information that does not meet the assessment requirements.

1. The online test will be a combination of automatically and manually marked questions.
2. A variety of different question styles including multiple choice, short and long-answer written responses will be used in the online test to assess the content in a variety of contexts.
3. The online test equals 60% of the total unit marks, and you are required to achieve a minimum of 50% of the marks available for this assessment task to pass the unit.
4. All extension requests must be made through the extension request system on Moodle with appropriate documentation that complies with the Assessment Policy and Procedure.
5. Once the online test has closed, you will not be able to access it unless you have an approved extension or have arranged with the Unit Coordinator to reopen it; any late submissions will incur a penalty of 5% per calendar day.