Overview
Within this unit, you will review the issues of substance abuse in Australia, considering at-risk patient groups, relevant sociocultural determinants of health, and the role of primary health services in treatment and rehabilitation. You will evaluate patient presentations, applying pathophysiological knowledge and critical thinking to differentiate between and diagnose complex multi-system presentations. This unit will assist you in building your clinical judgement and decision-making skills to develop and rationalise management plans for toxicological and toxinological cases, including chemical, biological, and radiological incidents, and environmental emergencies. In doing so, you will appraise and synthesise peer-reviewed literature reporting evidence-based management of toxicological, toxinological, environmental, chemical, biological and radiological cases and formulate recommendations for practice.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisites: PMSC12005 Paramedic Medical Emergencies 2. PMSC12004 Advanced Electrophysiology and Coronary Care.
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 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
Assessment Overview
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.
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 CQU Success; SUTE data.
Comments state that the volume of content is too high when students also have a five-week placement unit in the same term.
It is recommended that content is reviewed prior to next offering and that lectures are also streamlined and shortened when updated. The content volume this year was no different to last year, and remains within established time commitment expectations, yet this cohort made several comments that all invoked the fact that they had placement this term as a reason to reduce content volume in other units. It is therefore also recommended that study expectations are reiterated to students at the start of term so that they understand that workloads for one unit cannot be reduced simply because they have work-integrated learning in another unit that term.
Feedback from Verbal feedback; emails; SUTE data.
The residential school received excellent feedback, with students commonly stating that the scenario practice enabled them to translate theory into practice. Students stated that the practical scenarios helped them to better understand the theory, to the extent that they would have performed better on the quiz had they taken than after, rather than before, the residential school.
It is difficult to derive a recommendation from this feedback as the 2025 offering shall have its residential school removed, with the practical assessment replaced with another theoretical task. The strongly positive feedback is of course gratifying though, and whilst many students lamented the removal of the residential school there was also feedback expressing that the financial savings for future students would be welcomed. In lieu of a practical component the weekly tutorials will continue to discuss real-world management of cases, and I recommend that these are expanded to include a larger number of example cases beyond the one or two currently covered in tutorials. I am also designing a teaching component involving conversations with paramedics around real cases that they have attended that are relevant to and/or best representative of that week's topic. Whilst students will lack practical application of this unit in the lab, they can still learn skills and ponder considerations of practical case management from other experienced paramedics through applying social learning methodology.
Feedback from Verbal feedback; emails; SUTE data.
Many very positive comments were received around the quality of the lecture and tutorial content, and for the provision of the additional formative quizzes and formative feedback on the written task. Whilst many students noted correctly that this final PME unit is the most complicated of the group, they felt well-prepared for the quiz and practical assessment.
Content is due for redevelopment, so it is recommended that I continue to use the green screen when producing the new content and also that I explore the inclusion of polling technology available in Echo360 to create an interactive component that is value-added and engaging. This will bring a immediate knowledge check into the lecture instead of leaving it seperately in weekly learning objectives and the practice quizzes. I will continue to provide audio-only versions of all content, and will again provide the two large formative quizzes to help students revise and prepare for that assessment task.
Feedback from Self-reflection.
There remains an unacceptable level of poor paraphrasing and outright plagiarism in the written report assessment task that is far below the standard expected of third-year students.
The best recommendation is to directly include ALC and other resources on writing skills into this unit, and to produce a video for students talking through this issue and presenting examples of de-identified student submissions. I will discuss the issue with ALC staff and will consider embedding this content into the unit as mandatory tasks.
Feedback from SUTE data.
Students' perception of having learnt from their assessment tasks decreased this year from the 2023 unit evaluation. There was a decline also in student evaluation of the clarity of unit requirements.
For the 2025 offering it is recommended that short videos are produced that directly explain why each assessment task has been developed to further their learning and test their performance, and how students will learn from their assessments along the way. I do already provide videos explaining how to best complete these tasks and achieve a great mark, but these have not best explained the full value of these tasks for their learning and development. As aforementioned all tasks this year did again have videos explaining their relevant task requirements, but these should be reviewed to determine if I could better convey alginment to Learning Outcomes and to better explicate requirements.
- Review the issues of substance abuse in Australia, considering at-risk patient groups, relevant sociocultural determinants of health, and the role of primary health services in treatment and rehabilitation
- Evaluate patient presentations, applying pathophysiological knowledge and critical thinking to differentiate between and diagnose complex multi-system presentations
- Build clinical judgement and decision-making skills to develop and rationalise management plans for toxicological, toxinological, environmental, chemical, biological and radiological cases
- Synthesise the peer-reviewed literature around the evidence-based management of toxicological, toxinological, environmental, chemical, biological and radiological cases and formulate recommendations for practice.
The Paramedicine Board of Australia requires that units align with the Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics, which consist of five (5) domains. The below section aligns the proposed learning outcomes with these domains. In addition, the learning outcomes have been aligned with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.
Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics
| Standard/Attribute/Criteria | Learning Outcome |
| Domain 1: The professional and ethical practitioner 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.4, 1.1.8, 1.1.9, 1.1.10, 1.1.11, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.5, 1.2.5, 1.3.1, 1.3.3, 1.4.1, 1.4.2 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 2: The communicator and collaborator 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.1.5, 2.1.6, 2.1.7, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.5, 2.2.6 | LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 3: The evidence-based practitioner 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.2.4, 3.2.5, 3.2.6, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 4: The safety and risk management practitioner 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.3 | LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 5: The paramedicine practitioner 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.4, 5.2.5, 5.3.1, 5.3.4, 5.3.6, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.4.3, 5.4.4, 5.4.5, 5.4.6 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards
| Standard | Learning Outcomes |
| Clinical Governance | LO3, LO4 |
| Partnering with Consumers | LO1, LO3, LO4 |
| Preventing and Controlling Infections | LO3, LO4 |
| Medication Safety | LO3, LO4 |
| Comprehensive Care | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Communicating for Safety | LO1, LO3, LO4 |
| Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration | LO2, LO3, LO4 |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||
| 2 - Research Assignment - 35% | ||||
| 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 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Textbooks
Textbook of Adult Emergency Medicine
- Edition: 5 (2019)
- Authors: Peter Cameron
- Elsevier
- ISBN: 9780702076244; 0702076244
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
l.hurring@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 10 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Overview and approach to toxicological cases.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle for full reading and supplementary resources. This information applies to all content weeks:
The eReading List provides all of your readings for each week, with direct links to online and web-based resources, and details of prescribed textbook and digitised readings. The eReading List link is located within the top toolbar in Moodle.
Your reading and supporting material for each week shall comprise some or all of the following resources:
- Chapters from the prescribed textbook
- Chapters from various supplementary textbooks (provided)
- Chapters of the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) Digital Clinical Practice Manual (dCPM)
- Peer-reviewed literature
- Online resources including web-based videos, website and news links, etc.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Refer to the Virtual Classes tile in Moodle for information on weekly tutorials. This information applies to all content weeks:
Your weekly tutorials feature case-based learning and discussion of important content. Some of these tutorials will be live, whilst others will be pre-recorded. Tutorial dates, times, and recording links are updated within the Virtual Classes tile in Moodle.
Week 2
Begin Date: 17 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Poisonings and overdoses, at-risk populations, and substance dependence.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 24 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Clinical and diagnostic reasoning, and clinical decision-making in complex cases.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 31 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Cardiovascular medication toxidromes.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 07 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Neurological and psychological medication toxidromes.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 14 Apr 2025Module/Topic
No content during vacation week.
Chapter
No readings during vacation week.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 21 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Common prescription and over-the-counter medication toxidromes.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 28 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Illicit drugs and other substances of dependence and abuse.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 05 May 2025Module/Topic
Common and industrial poisons.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 12 May 2025Module/Topic
Chemical, biological, and radiological agents.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 19 May 2025Module/Topic
Terrestrial toxinology.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 26 May 2025Module/Topic
Marine toxinology.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 02 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Content consolidation and review.
Chapter
Refer to the eReading List in Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 09 Jun 2025Module/Topic
No further content; preparation time for Assessment Three: Online Test
Chapter
No further readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 16 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
Substance abuse has long been an important public health issue in Australia, with profoundly negative implications for individuals, families, communities, and healthcare systems. Whilst no community or population group is spared from the risks of addiction and abuse, some groups are notably more at-risk than others. The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care has determined several at-risk populations as experiencing disproportionate harms from substance abuse, and make particular reference to these priority populations in policy responses such as the National Drug Strategy 2017-2026.
Within this report you will examine issues of substance abuse in an at-risk population of your choice. You will review the sociocultural determinants influencing substance use in this population, and report upon the most prevalent forms of dangerous substance abuse. In addition to considering prehospital treatment of emergency presentations, you will assess the collaborative approaches necessary for effective intervention and rehabilitation.
Your report will have a word count of 1,800 words (+/- 10%). Structure your report around the following key questions, using your own headings and observing the required word counts for each section.
Identify and describe your selected population and their relevant sociocultural determinants of health:
- Introduce your chosen at-risk population, and explain the relevant sociocultural determinants of health influencing substance abuse in this group
- This section should be ~600 words (+/- 10%) in total.
Report upon substance abuse within your selected population:
- What are the most prevalent forms of substance abuse within this population?
- For one of the more acutely dangerous substances, explain the acute and chronic physical and psychosocial effects of abuse
- This section should be ~600 words (+/- 10%) in total.
Assess the collaborative approaches available for effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of substance abuse:
- What health services exist for the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of substance abuse in Australia? Are any of these specific to your chosen population?
- Evaluate the availability of these services in your local area, and identify any shortfalls or issues that may impact patient uptake, treatment, and long-term rehabilitation
- If you suspect that any patient is struggling with substance misuse, what can you do for them?
- This section should be ~600 words (+/- 10%) in total.
Cover page and reference list:
- Include a cover page as stipulated within the Moodle page for this task
- Include a complete reference list as stipulated within the Moodle page for this task
- Neither the cover page nor the reference list are included within the overall word count.
The report comprises just three sections as described above, plus the cover page and a reference list section. There is no need to include an introduction or a conclusion, and subheadings relating to specific questions are not required.
Vacation Week Monday (14 Apr 2025) 9:00 am AEST
Due 0900hrs AEST on Monday, Vaction Week.
Week 8 Monday (5 May 2025)
Returned Monday, Week Eight.
This task is worth 25% of your overall mark. You must attain a minimum mark of 50% for this task to pass, and you must pass this task to pass the unit.
The assessment tool for this task is a rubric, available from the Moodle page for this task. The rubric assesses your submission on the following main assessment criteria:
- Presentation, formatting, and completion
- Content depth, detail, and critical insight
- Use of peer-reviewed and other relevant and appropriate literature sources
- Academic writing clarity, organisation, and style.
Instructions provided within the Moodle page for this task include video guidance, writing support documents, and reference material. You must refer to the Assessment Tile in Moodle for the Generative AI Permission document and further guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI and writing assistance apps (e.g. Grammarly) in this unit.
- Review the issues of substance abuse in Australia, considering at-risk patient groups, relevant sociocultural determinants of health, and the role of primary health services in treatment and rehabilitation
2 Research Assignment
Your station holds regular continuing professional development (CPD) sessions for all paramedics, during which any member is invited to present a clinical topic for discussion and review. You are contributing to the next session by creating a report on new developments in management of your favourite toxidrome. Your audience is a mix of Advanced and Critical Care Paramedics, who will receive your report one week before the CPD session and then discuss your findings within the session.
Within the report you will first introduce your choice of toxidrome and report purpose, and describe the pathophysiology and clinical features. You will then review peer-reviewed literature to report best practice management of a toxidrome presentation, and then compare this best practice with existing ambulance guidelines to identify any differences. You will conclude by providing two discussion prompts for the CPD session.
Your report will have a word count of 1,800 words (+/- 10%). Structure your report around the following sections, using the headings provided and observing the required word counts for each section.
Introduction:
- Introduce your chosen toxidrome, and state the report purpose
- This section should be ~180 words (~10% of total report length).
Pathophysiology:
- Describe the systemic effects of this toxic substance upon organs and organ systems, and explain the clinical progression from onset to life-threatening
- This section should be 450-540 words (25-30%).
Current best-practice in literature:
- Review current recommendations for clinical management of this toxidrome in peer-reviewed literature, and explain treatment effects
- Your sources must comprise three appropriate peer-reviewed papers of no more than five to ten years old
- This section should be 720-810 words (40-45%).
Recommendations:
- Analyze whether your research findings support current guidelines from the statutory ambulance service in your own State or Territory
- Are any new developments suitable for prehospital implementation? Develop and rationalise recommendations to maintain or alter management plans for this toxidrome
- This section should be 270-360 words (15-20%).
Discussion prompts:
- Provide two discussion prompts in the form of questions
- A prompt could relate to prehospital implementation of any new developments you discovered in the literature
- Prompts can also relate to any part of your research findings or related topics, e.g. at-risk populations, differentiatial diagnoses, or challenges in clinical management. Think broadly about sparking discussion!
- This section should be no more than 90 words (5%).
Cover page and reference list:
- Include a cover page as stipulated within the Moodle page for this task
- Include a complete reference list as stipulated within the Moodle page for this task
- Neither the cover page nor the reference list are included within the overall word count.
Week 11 Monday (26 May 2025) 9:00 am AEST
Due 0900hrs AEST Monday, Week Eleven.
Exam Week Monday (16 June 2025)
Returned Monday, Week Fourteen.
This task is worth 35% of your overall mark. You must attain a minimum mark of 50% for this task to pass, and you must pass this task to pass the unit.
The assessment tool for this task is a rubric, available from the Moodle page for this task. The rubric assesses your submission on the following main assessment criteria:
- Presentation, formatting, and completion
- Content depth, detail, and critical insight
- Use of peer-reviewed and other relevant and appropriate literature sources
- Writing clarity, organisation, and academic style.
Instructions provided within the Moodle page for this task include video guidance, writing support documents, and reference material. You must refer to the Assessment Tile in Moodle for the Generative AI Permission document and further guidelines on the acceptable and unacceptable use of generative AI and writing assistance apps (e.g. Grammarly) in this unit.
- Build clinical judgement and decision-making skills to develop and rationalise management plans for toxicological, toxinological, environmental, chemical, biological and radiological cases
- Synthesise the peer-reviewed literature around the evidence-based management of toxicological, toxinological, environmental, chemical, biological and radiological cases and formulate recommendations for practice.
3 Online Test
The test incorporates a mix of questions requiring brief, medium-length, and long responses to assess your theoretical knowledge of unit content related to Learning Outcomes Two and Three. You have 25 questions for a maximum of 100 marks.
The test covers relevant content from weeks one through twelve. Where questions require detailed clinical management, this must be in accordance with relevant and current components of the Queensland Ambulance Service Digital Clinical Practice Manual.
You must have a Javascript-enabled browser to access and complete this test. Please click here for instructions on how to enable Javascript for your browser.
A walkthrough video presents the nature and type of questions, and instructions on how to best answer questions and work through the overall test. Formative tests with complete worked answers are provided to support self-review of content and familiarity with the online test format and setting.
Exam Week Monday (16 June 2025) 9:00 am AEST
Closes 0900hrs AEST Monday, Week Fourteen.
Returned Friday, 27 June (twelve day turnaround).
This task is worth 40% of your overall mark. You must attain a minimum mark of 50% for this task to pass, and you must pass this task to pass the unit.
- The test becomes available at 0900hrs on Saturday, Week Twelve (0900hrs AEST 07 June 2025), and remains open for nine calendar days
- You must have a Javascript-enabled browser to access and complete this test
- You have one attempt for this test
- You have a strict time limit of 90 minutes to complete the test; there is no facility to save progress and return to complete it later
- Once started, do not press BACK on your browser or REFRESH the page at any time; your work will be lost as responses are not saved until the test is submitted
- When the time limit expires, open attempts are automatically submitted
- The test closes at 0900hrs on Monday, Week Fourteen (0900hrs AEST 16 June 2025)
- When the test closes, open attempts are automatically submitted; you must therefore start the test more than ninety minutes before the closure deadline to receive your full time period
- For this assessment task no late submissions will be accepted and the test will close and become unavailable after the due date and time
- In the absence of an approved extension, there will be no opportunity to complete the task after this date
- If you experience a technical issue you must notify the Unit Coordinator immediately
- This is an INDIVIDUAL TASK and must not be collaboratively completed. Test submissions are scrutinised to identify instances of collusion between students, and all such instances are reported to the Academic Misconduct Board.
- Evaluate patient presentations, applying pathophysiological knowledge and critical thinking to differentiate between and diagnose complex multi-system presentations
- Build clinical judgement and decision-making skills to develop and rationalise management plans for toxicological, toxinological, environmental, chemical, biological and radiological cases
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?
