Unit Synopsis
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
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | Not Applicable |
| Credit Points | 18 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.375 |
| 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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 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% |
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.
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.
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 feedback.
Students reported that balancing full-time placement with full-time study is exhausting, and they found it challenging to manage the unit's assessment workload.
Transitioning the case study assessment from a written format to a presentation format may reduce the overall workload commitment for students while maintaining academic rigor. This approach aligns with the communication skills required in clinical practice and may enhance learning outcomes and student satisfaction.
The case study assessment was transitioned to a presentation format. Students responded well to this change and performed well overall.
Source: SUTE feedback.
Students requested additional learning resources and revision materials to support theory retention and its clinical application.
Whilst unit priority is coverage of occupational safety and health and quality assurance content, additional learning resources will be incorporated to support echocardiography and cardiac physiology theory retention and clinical application. A digital repository of case-based questions and answers that students can access for self-paced revision will be developed over subsequent unit deliveries.
Students were provided with resources similar to the previous delivery.
Source: Student feedback.
Students appreciated the pastoral care element incorporated into Zoom meetings.
In addition to continuation with individual Zoom meetings, wellbeing check-ins will be incorporated into group tutorial discussions through structured prompts such as informal opening questions, quick polls or emoji responses. These strategies will aim to foster open dialogue, promote peer support, and embed wellbeing as a valued part of the learning experience.
Pastoral care activities continued throughout this delivery.
Source: UC reflection.
Some students struggled with the submission process for assessment items that included video recording and echocardiographic study DICOM files.
Provide an instructional video on the most efficient method to submit assessments that include large video files and echocardiographic study DICOM files.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Useful learning materials is an area that was highlighted for improvement.
A review of the learning materials provided will be conducted. Content refreshing and provision of additional learning resources will considered to enhance the usefulness of learning materials.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- 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
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment | • | • | ||||
| 2 - Performance | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Professional Practice Placement | • | • | ||||
| 4 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books | • | • | ||||
| 5 - Case Study | • | |||||
| 6 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | |||||
| 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 | • | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |