Overview
This unit explores the abdomen, specifically normal and pathological ultrasound examinations. Online lectures and interactive Zoom tutorials are used to lay the foundation for this knowledge. Sonography images and scanning videos, both of normal and abnormal abdominal organs, are used to familiarise you with how things appear on ultrasound. This unit prepares you for not only MEDS12004 Sonographic Skills Development 1 where you will scan normal abdomens, but also for clinical placement, where patients' pathologies need to be detected by the sonographer. This unit will also allow you to develop the skills required to read and understand patient request forms, including what clinical tests have been done on the presenting patient, and what these tests and results are indicating in terms of areas of concern the referring doctor is looking for in the patient.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite MEDS11001 Fundamentals of Sonographic Practice AND Prerequisite MEDS11002 Relational Anatomy and Image Recognition
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 - 2027
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).
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
- Academic Progression Policy and Procedure
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- 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 UC observation, student feedback.
Extended focus was placed on teaching the importance of correct measurements, and this was reflected in high marks most students got for measurement questions.
Extended focus on teaching correct measurements will continue in future deliveries of the unit.
Feedback from UC observation, SUTE data.
Some students have challenges with differentiating descriptive sonographic terms up until late in the term. SUTE data indicated some students thought this was the first time they had learned this information.
Investigate the use of Moodle interactive games to engage students in learning descriptive sonographic terms.
Feedback from SUTE data, student feedback via email.
Students find the interactive tutorials fun and very beneficial for their learning as they help to scaffold their learning within the unit. Use of real-world analogies and "everyday props" for understanding complex concepts or knowledge has been much appreciated.
Tutorials will continue in the same format as this year's delivery of the unit.