Unit Synopsis
In this unit you will apply your foundation knowledge of haematology to the study of how haematological disorders manifest and are diagnosed through changes in number, cytogenetics and morphology of cells. Diseases of haemostasis including therapeutic management with anticoagulants will also be discussed. This advanced unit builds on the knowledge and skills taught in previous units and will prepare you for work as a Medical Laboratory Scientist in Haematology. You will be required to attend a compulsory residential school in Rockhampton and an assessment task will be completed on campus during this residential school.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisites: BMSC12003 Haematology and Transfusion Science
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 |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Presentation | 20% |
| 2. Laboratory/Practical | 0% |
| 3. Practical Assessment | 30% |
| 4. Examination | 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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 42.86% 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: Student feedback
Students appreciated the format and content of the Residential School as it allowed them to put theory into practice.
Continue to run residential school in the same format.
Residential school was run in the same format.
Source: Reflection
The provision of additional virtual tools to aid in the understanding of cell morphology will improve performance
Begin to provide students with the use of virtual morphology through Cellavision.
Cellavision was incorporated into the unit as a formative assessment.
Source: Student feedback and self reflection
Increase the case studies in tutorials.
Design more case studies to go along with the morphology sessions.
Further case studies were designed and discussed in tutorials.
Source: Reflection
Update some content with current research and new recordings
Record some new lectures for some content.
Lectures were enhanced with some new content and recordings. Weeks 1,3, 6 and 9 were updated with new resources and new recordings.
Source: Student feedback in person.
Students enjoyed the enhancements to interaction from the projector screens and blood film morphology at Residential school.
Maintain this form of teaching to continue to engage students.
In Progress
Source: SUTE, Student feedback in person and self reflection.
Some students found the number of case studies discussed were too many as they took longer than expected to discuss.
Promote the significance of preparation for Residential school and pre-lab learning to ensure the Case studies process is understood before residential school commences, and they can be completed more efficiently. A pre- residential school tutorial will ensure all students have this knowledge of case study structure prior to attending residential school. The residential school will also be increased to run for an extra day.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Students enjoyed the way that tutorials were interactive and presented case studies.
Continue to run the tutorial session in this manner.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Distinguish benign from malignant haematological disorders based on numerical, cytogenetic and morphological changes in the cells.
- Discuss the detection and monitoring of blood diseases using laboratory tests appropriate to the patient's clinical condition.
- Discuss disorders of haemostasis and the use of anticoagulant therapies.
- Analyse results of hematological tests and provide provisional and differential diagnoses with suggested further testing to support and confirm the diagnosis.
- Perform morphological analysis of peripheral blood smears to make a differential diagnosis.
Competency Based Standards for Medical Scientists, December 2009.
Unit 1: Collection, preparation and analysis of clinical material - Elements 1.1.1 - 1.1.3; 1.1.6 - 1.1.8; 1.2.4; 1.3.1 - 1.3.5; 1.5.1 - 1.5.5 & 1.6.1 - 1.6.8;
Unit 2: Correlation and validation of results of investigations using knowledge of method(s) including analytical principles and clinical information - Elements 2.1.1 - 2.1.2; 2.2.1; 2.3.1 & 2.3.2
Unit 3: Interpretation, reporting and issuing of laboratory results - Elements 3.1.1; 3.2.1 - 3.2.3; 3.2.6 - 3.2.7 & 3.3.1 - 3.3.2
Unit 4: Maintenance of documentation, equipment, resources and stock - Elements 4.2.1 - 4.2.6
Unit 5: Maintenance and promotion of safe working practices - Elements 5.1.3; 5.2.1; 5.3.4; 5.3.9; 5.4.1 - 5.4.5
Unit 6: Professional accountability and participation in continuing professional development - Elements 6.5.6 & 6.5.7
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Presentation | • | • | |||
| 2 - Laboratory/Practical | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Examination | • | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |