In Progress
Please note that this Unit Profile is still in progress. The content below is subject to change.Overview
This graduate clinical unit builds on the skills, knowledge and attitudes developed during the Bachelor of Echocardiography and Cardiac Physiology. You will perform diagnostic cardiac ultrasound and other cardiac assessment and analyse the outcomes to specified levels of competency. You will evaluate clinical findings to formulate a differential diagnosis and initiate further investigation within an ethical framework of best practice and patient safety. Behavioural aspects of professional practice are emphasised and you are expected to reflect on your own performance and exhibit the highest level of safe patient care. Critical appraisal of performance will enable you to advance your professional, technical and analytical skills in a work setting under qualified supervision. You will apply knowledge of patient safety, risk management and quality improvement to formulate clinically relevant strategies, promoting a safe work environment and departmental best practice.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite ECHO13007 Cardiac Clinical Unit 3 ECHO13007 Cardiac Clinical Unit 3 must have been successfully completed within the last twelve months. Should this time limit have elapsed the student must successfully complete one (or more) technical skill, professional behaviour and diagnostic knowledge-based assessment (s) (after completion of technical skill / knowledge revision). Details of this will be articulated in a learning contract created by the Head of Course or designate.
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
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).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 18-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 37.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 450 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
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 Student emails.
Students appreciated being sent an email outline of assessment dates prior to commencement of clinical placement.
Relevant dates to again be emailed to individual students to provide clear instruction and prevent any ambiguity in assessment due dates.
Feedback from Student feedback.
Students appreciated the opportunity to speak candidly about placement during the Zoom presentation meetings.
Zoom meetings to again be incorporated into the case study assessment due to the beneficial nature of individual student meetings with the unit coordinator.
Feedback from Student emails.
Students occasionally needed to seek clarification regarding feedback provided for the case study assessment.
More detailed feedback to be provided to students, improving clarity of where case study submission improvements are required.
Feedback from Student and supervisor emails.
Some students and supervisors expressed concern over patient confidentiality while conducting the video recording component of the practical assessment.
Comprehensive instruction to be provided to students and supervisors with guidance on how to exclude the patient and any identifying information during the video recording to ensure patient privacy is respected at all times.
- Perform echocardiographic assessment in the clinical context under supervision
- Accurately communicate the outcomes of cardiac assessment including consideration of quality assurance
- Apply professional behaviour consistent with safe practice
- Analyse, and critically reflect upon, clinical cases involving cardiac ultrasound and other assessment techniques
- Attend clinical placement as per external accreditation requirements (Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry)
- Formulate clinically relevant strategies for improvement based on clinical scenarios related to quality improvement, risk management and patient safety culture.
Linked to National and International Standards
1. ASAR Accreditation Standards for Cardiac Sonography - critical practice Unit 8 - Cardiac, Foundation units of competence - 1 - 5.
2. European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging Core Syllabus
3. American Registry for Cardiac Sonography Core Syllabus
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 0% | ||||||
| 2 - Performance - 0% | ||||||
| 3 - Professional Practice Placement - 0% | ||||||
| 4 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books - 0% | ||||||
| 5 - Case Study - 0% | ||||||
| 6 - Online Quiz(zes) - 0% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | ||||||
| 2 - Communication | ||||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||||
| 4 - Research | ||||||
| 5 - Self-management | ||||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||||
| 7 - Leadership | ||||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||