BMSC12014 - Pharmacology for Health Professionals

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will develop an understanding of the fundamental principles of pharmacology and pharmacotherapy relevant to your health profession. You will explore the mechanism of action of major drug classes used in pharmacological interventions or procedures in patient management relevant to your profession. You will be required to demonstrate critical analysis of this content and align this with current practice in your respective professions.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites:

Pre-requisite for all courses except CV69 and CB86: BMSC11005 Foundations of Biochemistry

Pre-requisite for CV69: ECHO11004 Biochemistry for Cardiac Pharmacology

Pre-requisite for CB86: MPAT12001 Pathophysiology

Co-requisite for CB86: MBIO12013 Microbiology for Health Professionals

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2025

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Rockhampton
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Online
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).

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 30%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 20%
3. Online Test 50%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 95.83% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 26.67% response rate.

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.

Source: SUTE; Unit coordinator
Feedback
The written assignment was overwhelming due to the large number of questions. Students valued the knowledge they gained from completing the task but found it tedious.
Recommendation
Consider reducing the number of questions in the written assignment to streamline the assessment task, enhance learning, and prevent student fatigue.
Action Taken
The written assignment has been overhauled and streamlined, with emphasis now placed on quality of critical thinking rather than a large quantity of "knowledge-based" questions. This has made the task more manageable, and more academically rigorous.
Source: SUTE; Unit coordinator
Feedback
Additional resources or links to short videos on the mechanisms of action of complex drugs could be beneficial for students.
Recommendation
Consider adding supplementary resources, such as short videos, to enhance student understanding of complex drugs.
Action Taken
The “Mechanism of Action” slides in the Lecture materials now include links to supplementary resources -- including short videos, journal articles and relevant websites -- to enhance student understanding.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Students found the unit material engaging, accessible and easily navigable.
Recommendation
Continue using engaging teaching methods and clear presentation of information to maintain accessibility and student interest.
Action Taken
The delivery style remains the same overall but has been enhanced. Lecture materials, previously presented as pages of textbook-style notes, have been condensed and reformatted into a dual-purpose 2-in-1 lecture notes and slides format to improve engagement and accessibility.
Source: SUTE; Unit coordinator
Feedback
Students generally feel confident in their learning from assessments; however, the purpose of each assessment task and/or the concepts being assessed could be more clearly articulated.
Recommendation
Review assessment resources. Introduce additional worked examples or guided explanations to help students clearly understand what they are expected to learn from each assessment task.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Students commented positively on the engaging lecture delivery but noted that some lectures are long, which can make sustained attention difficult.
Recommendation
Maintain the current engaging style in the lectures with stories, analogies and interactive elements. Review lecture length to ensure it is manageable while acknowledging that additional explanations are included to enhance student understanding, and this naturally adds to lecture duration.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE; Student performance; Unit coordinator
Feedback
Students value the detailed feedback and support provided for the written assignment but would benefit from additional guidance to further develop higher-order critical thinking skills.
Recommendation
Provide additional exemplars and resources for the written assignment to help students better understand how to demonstrate higher-order critical thinking skills while maintaining academic rigour.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Discuss the basic principles of pharmacology, including pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and drug design.
  2. Discuss the indications, pharmacological action, routes of administration, contraindications, side effects and precautions of the major medication groups used in your health profession.
  3. Discuss pharmacological applications associated with common procedures undertaken with your health profession.
  4. Critically analyse the scientific literature relating to drugs and medicines within your health profession.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) •
3 - Online Test • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication • • • •
2 - Problem Solving •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • •
4 - Information Literacy •
8 - Ethical practice • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10