CQUniversity Unit Profile
BMSC12007 Neurological Physiology & Measurement
Neurological Physiology & Measurement
All details in this unit profile for BMSC12007 have been officially approved by CQUniversity and represent a learning partnership between the University and you (our student).
The information will not be changed unless absolutely necessary and any change will be clearly indicated by an approved correction included in the profile.
General Information

Overview

Accurate assessment and management of neurological conditions requires comprehensive knowledge of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. You will study the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, the pathophysiology of neurological conditions and diagnostic tests related to neurological function.This unit prepares you for entry into the clinical environment by discussing the foundational knowledge of neurophysiology and application of key clinical concepts that will be required to provide health care to patients within your chosen health profession.

Details

Career Level: Undergraduate
Unit Level: Level 2
Credit Points: 6
Student Contribution Band: 8
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load: 0.125

Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite: BMSC11001 Human Body Systems 1 OR BMSC11011 Human Anatomy and Physiology 2 OR BMSC11007 Medical Anatomy and Physiology 1 and BMSC11008 Medical Anatomy and Physiology 2

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Offerings For Term 1 - 2025

Brisbane
Bundaberg
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Class and Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Class Timetable

Bundaberg, Cairns, Emerald, Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton, Townsville
Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney

Assessment Overview

1. Report
Weighting: 30%
2. Written Assessment
Weighting: 30%
3. Online Test
Weighting: 40%

Assessment Grading

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.

Previous Student Feedback

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from SUTE

Feedback

The HP4 learning tools are very helpful.

Recommendation

Continue to utilise and expand the HP4 learning tools, considering additional features or resources that could further support student learning.

Feedback from SUTE

Feedback

The teaching material was heavily reliant on images, with limited explanation of their clinical relevance in some instances.

Recommendation

Ensure that explanations of the clinical relevance of images are provided to enhance students' understanding and application of the content.

Feedback from SUTE

Feedback

The laboratory sessions were highly enjoyable, but their effectiveness was occasionally affected by technical issues with the Lt software.

Recommendation

Discuss the issue with the Lt support group to ensure that any technical problems are resolved and that the software operates smoothly for future laboratory sessions.

Feedback from SUTE

Feedback

The unit is well-organised, with clearly structured laboratory sessions and weekly content.

Recommendation

Continue providing well-structured laboratory sessions and weekly content, and explore opportunities for further improvements.

Unit Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
  1. Explain the detailed structure and function of the central and peripheral nervous system
  2. Apply knowledge of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology to interpret key clinical concepts
  3. Describe assessment of neurological function in different neurological conditions
  4. Identify the pharmacological basis of drugs that affect the nervous system.


Alignment of Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Graduate Attributes
N/A Level
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Professional Level
Advanced Level

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes

Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Report - 30%
2 - Written Assessment - 30%
3 - Online Test - 40%

Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes

Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication
2 - Problem Solving
3 - Critical Thinking
4 - Information Literacy
5 - Team Work
6 - Information Technology Competence
7 - Cross Cultural Competence
8 - Ethical practice
9 - Social Innovation
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes

Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Report - 30%
2 - Written Assessment - 30%
3 - Online Test - 40%
Textbooks and Resources

Textbooks

Prescribed

Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases

Third Edition (2021)
Authors: Hal Blumenfeld
Oxford University Press
New York New York , NY , USA
ISBN: 9781605359625
Binding: Paperback

Additional Textbook Information

Both the paper and eBook text can be purchased at the CQUni Bookshop. Click on Textbook Search and enter the unit code at this link: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au.

IT Resources

You will need access to the following IT resources:
  • CQUniversity Student Email
  • Internet
  • Unit Website (Moodle)
Referencing Style

All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)

For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.

Teaching Contacts
Romeo Batacan Unit Coordinator
r.j.batacan@cqu.edu.au
Schedule
Week 1 Begin Date: 10 Mar 2025

Module/Topic

Neuroanatomy overview and basic definitions

Chapter

2

Events and Submissions/Topic

Tutorial - Introduction

Week 2 Begin Date: 17 Mar 2025

Module/Topic

Brain and Environs: Cranium, Ventricles and Meninges

 

Chapter

5

Events and Submissions/Topic

Tutorial discussion of week 2 Clinical case 

Week 3 Begin Date: 24 Mar 2025

Module/Topic

Corticospinal Tract and other motor pathways

Chapter

6

Events and Submissions/Topic

Tutorial discussion of week 3 Clinical case

Week 4 Begin Date: 31 Mar 2025

Module/Topic

Somatosensory pathways

Spinal nerve roots

Major plexuses and peripheral nerves

Chapter

7, 8, 9

Events and Submissions/Topic

Tutorial discussion of week 4 Clinical case

Week 5 Begin Date: 07 Apr 2025

Module/Topic

Cerebral Hemispheres and vascular supply

Chapter

10

Events and Submissions/Topic

Tutorial discussion of week 5 Clinical case 

Vacation Week Begin Date: 14 Apr 2025

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 6 Begin Date: 21 Apr 2025

Module/Topic

Brainstem and cranial nerves

EEG, epilepsy and seizures

Chapter

12

Moodle resource

Events and Submissions/Topic

Tutorial discussion of week 6 Clinical case

Week 7 Begin Date: 28 Apr 2025

Module/Topic

Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia

Chapter

15,16

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 8 Begin Date: 05 May 2025

Module/Topic

Limbic System and higher order cerebral function

Chapter

18,19

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 9 Begin Date: 12 May 2025

Module/Topic

ANS, neuropharmacology

Chapter

Moodle resource

Events and Submissions/Topic

Written assessment Due: Week 9 Friday (16 May 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 10 Begin Date: 19 May 2025

Module/Topic

Revision

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 11 Begin Date: 26 May 2025

Module/Topic

Revision

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Exam preparation tutorial

Week 12 Begin Date: 02 Jun 2025

Module/Topic

Revision

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Review/Exam Week Begin Date: 09 Jun 2025

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Online Test Due: Review/Exam Week Monday (9 June 2025) 9:00 am AEST
Exam Week Begin Date: 16 Jun 2025

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Term Specific Information

The teaching team consists of Dr. Romeo Batacan Jr and Dr. Sarah-Jane Gregory. Romeo is the unit coordinator and will be delivering live lectures and tutorials throughout the term, conducting residential schools and the on-campus practicals at Rockhampton. Sarah-Jane will be conducting the on-campus practicals at Bundaberg. 

You can contact the teaching staff via the unit's Moodle Q&A forum. This forum is a great place to post questions relevant to your study. Please don't feel shy in asking questions as you will often find that other students also share your query. The Q&A forum will be monitored daily and you can expect responses in a timely manner. If your queries are of a personal nature, you are welcome to contact the unit coordinator via email at r.j.batacan@cqu.edu.au or phone 07 4930 9278. The General Discussion forum is a social space where students can communicate with other students in this unit. Please ensure that your conduct within this forum is consistent with the Student Charter.

Live lectures and tutorials will be delivered each week from Rockhampton campus, available to multiple other campuses and will be simultaneously recorded. The recordings of the lectures and tutorials will be available on the unit's Moodle site for all students to access. During the tutorials we will discuss clinical cases and weekly study questions that are provided to you on the Moodle site. The weekly study questions will focus on the key learning objectives for each week and assist in your preparation for the assessment items.

For students enrolled via on-campus study at Rockhampton and Bundaberg campuses (e.g. CM17, CB84, CG85, CG93), you are required to attend weekly on-campus practical sessions at Rockhampton or Bundaberg depending upon your campus of enrolment.

On-campus practical session: There are 2 sessions of on-campus practicals offered each week, you are required to register and attend one on-campus practical session each week.

For students enrolled via mixed mode study (e.g. CB77, CB84, CG85, CG93), you are required to attend a compulsory residential school. The residential school sessions for this unit will run as follows:

Session 1: Rockhampton campus. Week 9: May 17 and 18, 2025 (CB84, CG85 and CG93 mixed mode students only)

Session 2: Brisbane campus. Week 11: May 24 and 25, 2025 (CB77 students and mixed mode students only)

Session 3: Brisbane campus. Week 11: May 26 and 27, 2025 (CB77 students and mixed mode students only)

Note: The residential school sessions for this unit are run as a 2-day block. You are required to sign up for one session of residential school only. You must attend the residential school session at the campus where you are enrolled to complete your course of study. Please nominate your campus for the residential school session via MyCQU (my.cqu.edu.au) before making arrangements for travel and accommodation. For work and health safety reasons, you must nominate your residential school session to secure a place. To ensure you can secure your preferred attendance dates, it is recommended that you nominate your residential school session at the start of term. More information about enrolling into residential school will be available on Moodle.

All students are required to attend residential school/ on-campus practical classes wearing the uniform appropriate to their course to build a level of professionalism.

Assessment Tasks

1 Report

Assessment Title
Report

Task Description

You will complete a series of tasks and interpret data generated from neurophysiological measurement equipment. Tasks will include questions on brain structure, reflexes, EEG, EMG, and sensory and motor experiments. 

For students attending the on-campus practical sessions or residential school, you will perform hands-on activities and will be required to complete the following tasks:

Part A:  Complete an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Neurological assessments for the OSCE will be specific to student's course of study.

Part B: Submit a completed report within one week of attending the residential school or the last on-campus practical session.

 

Gen AI
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 front 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.

 


Assessment Due Date

The completed workbook/report must be submitted within one week of attending the residential school or the last on-campus practical session.


Return Date to Students

Due to the multiple number of residential school sessions running until week 11, the report results will be available to students on 09 June 2025.


Weighting
30%

Minimum mark or grade
In order to pass this unit, you must achieve 50% of the available marks for this assessment item.

Assessment Criteria

Questions will be marked as per marking scheme. The maximum score that can be achieved from this assessment item equals 30% of the total unit marks.

Please note that all late assessments will be penalised 5% per calendar day unless an application for extension has been approved.

All extension applications must be made through the extension request system on Moodle. 


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • Describe assessment of neurological function in different neurological conditions


Graduate Attributes
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking
  • Information Literacy
  • Information Technology Competence

2 Written Assessment

Assessment Title
Written assessment

Task Description

In your role as a health professional you will be required to provide health care to patients with all kinds of neurological conditions. This assessment task is designed to present a real world presentation of a neurological condition similar to what you may come across in the clinical environment. You will be presented with a clinical case scenario along with information regarding the physical and neurological condition of a patient. You will be required to answer a set of questions based on this clinical case scenario. This assessment item is designed to assess your understanding of nervous system anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology of neurological conditions and application of key clinical concepts.

 

Gen AI
In developing your assignment, you should consult peer-reviewed journal articles and referenced textbooks. Extensive
use of non-peer-reviewed sources of information is strongly discouraged.

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 front 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.

 


Assessment Due Date

Week 9 Friday (16 May 2025) 11:45 pm AEST


Return Date to Students

Week 12 Friday (6 June 2025)


Weighting
30%

Minimum mark or grade
In order to pass this unit, you must achieve 50% of the available marks for this assessment item.

Assessment Criteria

Assessment criteria will be based on knowledge of theory, rationalisation, presentation of information and referencing. A detailed marking rubric will be available on Moodle.

Please note that all late assessments will be penalised 5% per calendar day unless an application for extension has been approved.

All extension applications must be made through the extension request system on Moodle. 


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Submission Instructions
To be uploaded on Moodle and submitted as a Word document.

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • Explain the detailed structure and function of the central and peripheral nervous system
  • Apply knowledge of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology to interpret key clinical concepts
  • Describe assessment of neurological function in different neurological conditions
  • Identify the pharmacological basis of drugs that affect the nervous system.


Graduate Attributes
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking
  • Information Literacy
  • Information Technology Competence
  • Ethical practice

3 Online Test

Assessment Title
Online Test

Task Description

You will be required to complete an end of term online test. This online test will assess all content covered throughout the term. The test will be composed of different question types that will assess your understanding and application of key concepts discussed in the unit. Please see Moodle site for more details.


Assessment Due Date

Review/Exam Week Monday (9 June 2025) 9:00 am AEST

Available for a 12-hour period during the Exam week


Return Date to Students

Marks will be available on 27 June 2025.


Weighting
40%

Minimum mark or grade
In order to pass this unit, you must achieve 50% of the available marks for this assessment item.

Assessment Criteria

Questions will be marked as per marking scheme. The maximum score that can be achieved from this assessment item equals 40% of the total unit marks.


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • Explain the detailed structure and function of the central and peripheral nervous system
  • Apply knowledge of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology to interpret key clinical concepts
  • Identify the pharmacological basis of drugs that affect the nervous system.


Graduate Attributes
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking
  • Information Literacy
  • Information Technology Competence

Academic Integrity Statement

As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.

Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.

When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.

Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.

As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.

What is a breach of academic integrity?

A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.

Why is academic integrity important?

A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.

Where can I get assistance?

For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.

What can you do to act with integrity?