MDWF14002 - Pharmacology for Midwifery Practice

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will have the opportunity to gain theoretical knowledge in pharmacology relating to maternal, fetal and neonatal physiology for midwifery practice. This will include the use and effect of over the counter and prescribed medications, and illicit substances upon the mother, placenta, fetus and neonate. You will develop your midwifery knowledge of pharmacotherapeutics and the quality use of medicines to inform effective care across the childbearing continuum.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 4
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites:  MDWF13003 Midwifery Practice 3, and MDWF13008 Foundations of Midwifery 3 and MDWF13007 Midwifery Practice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families

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 3 - 2024

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online

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. Online Quiz(zes) 40%
2. Case Study 60%

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

To view Past Exams,
please login
Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 90.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 37.04% 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 email
Feedback
Thank you for your assignment feedback and for getting the marks for the pharmacology assignment back so promptly Bridget. I have thoroughly enjoyed this subject
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will continue to provide timely, relevant and helpful assessment feedback. Unit learning and teaching materials will be updated with contemporary evidence for safe and relevant practice.
Action Taken
Continue to provide timely and meaningful feedback to students.
Source: Weekly student/unit coordinator zoom meetings
Feedback
Students raised concerns about ongoing technical glitches with the online quizzes.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator immediately addressed issues with the online quizzes by undertaking a review of the automatic grading and adjusting marks as required. Additionally, the unit coordinator worked closely with staff from the Learning and Teaching department who assisted them with building quizzes and adjusting them as required to improve student experience. Upon reflection, the unit coordinator has gained valuable insights into the design and construction of online quizzes, including aspects such as question construction and wording, as well as the appropriate types and styles of questions within the quizzes. Building on this newfound knowledge, the unit coordinator intends to further develop this form of assessment, aiming to optimise student learning and enhance their overall experience by streamlining this assessment process.
Action Taken
The quizzes were restructured with entirely new questions and consolidated into fewer quizzes. The question style and format were also altered to improve automatic grading. This reduction in technical glitches has minimised student anxiety, thus improving their learning and assessment experience.
Source: Student email
Feedback
Thank you so much for your support during our course and in Pharmacology. It has definitely been a challenging time but having the support of wonderful lecturers like yourself has been fantastic. Pharmacology was definitely a difficult course but your support made it a lot easier. Thank you.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will continue to assist students and provide them with support and targeted assistance.
Action Taken
The unit coordinator will continue to assist students and provide them with support and targeted assistance.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
There was information overload each week for each module. The word count for the case study was 3500 words (+/- 10%) which was not adequate for the depth of information
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will revise and streamline the 60% written assessment to improve clarity and efficiency.
Action Taken
The weekly study guides were restructured and streamlined. They were also arranged to provide weekly scaffolded activities that directly aligned to both the online quiz assessment and the written assessment.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
The expectation of inclusion into the assignment were huge and then tips were given at the end of the term.
Recommendation
This AQF 8 unit covers crucial pharmacological information for the midwife relevant across the childbearing continuum. This is reflected in the unit's learning outcomes aligned to this 60% weighted assessment. Consequently, the assessment task included aspects of pharmacokinetics, and dynamics, as well as psychological and physiological aspects of safe medication treatment, administration and evaluation for the mother, fetus and breastfeeding neonate by the midwife. Pertinent assessment information was provided from the beginning of the term, including accessibility to the unit coordinator for additional assistance. At the commencement of the term, the unit coordinator provided a highly structured and peer-reviewed assessment task with detailed step-by-step questions aligned with weekly content across the unit. This was coupled with additional resources, such as an essay guide and rubric, that were all available from the commencement of the term. The unit coordinator held weekly Zoom sessions for students to discuss queries related to content and assessment from the start of the term. Additionally, the unit coordinator held an assessment-specific recorded Zoom lecture explaining each step of the case study in detail, and this was given two and a half weeks before the due date.
Action Taken
The unit coordinator sent weekly emails summarising the learning goals and content for each week. These emails also guided students on how the content related to assessments, which were restructured and aligned with the weekly content. Additionally, weekly activities were provided to help students apply the theoretical content to midwifery practice in preparation for assessments.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
The course was too content-heavy. For assessment 2, it would have been more beneficial for hints and tips to be discussed earlier on
Recommendation
This unit is an AQF 8 level requiring advanced cognitive, technical and communication skills to select and apply methods and technologies to medication safety across the childbearing continuum. This unit directly aligns with the safety of the public and preparation for registered practice hence has greater complexity. The unit coordinator is empathetic to student concerns and will streamline content to improve user experience, enhance learner outcomes and support conducive learning. Pre-recoded assignment instructions and hints and tips will be made available from the commencement of the term.
Action Taken
The weekly study guides were restructured and streamlined without compromising the AQF level 8 standard required for the unit. Additional scaffolding of weekly activities aligned directly with both the online quiz assessment and the written assessment. These structured teaching strategies were designed to enhance comprehension of theory into practice, making the content more user-friendly.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
I found a lot of the rounding of drug calculations confusing.
Recommendation
Students were given rounding instructions for medication calculations at the beginning of the term and a practice quiz to familiarise themselves with this skill. Additionally, they were provided with weekly quiz preparation worksheets and enrolled in the Maths Central platform for additional support. The unit coordinator will remove the rounding component of the quiz in future.
Action Taken
Rounding was eliminated from the quizzes during the restructuring of the quiz question style and format, which helped to eliminate students' confusion. Given that rounding is an important skill for midwives and for the prevention of medication errors, we will reconsider including rounding questions in future online quizzes. Given that rounding is an important skill for midwives due to the prevention of medication errors, we will consider including rounding questions in future online quizzes.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
I found that the first quiz was not so much related to the study guide and the answer sheets but more so to the weekly content that had been covered.
Recommendation
The study guide and the answer sheets constituted the weekly content. Quiz questions were derived from this material. The unit coordinator will review and revise quiz questions to clarify their alignment with unit material.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
My feedback was extremely concise and clear. I am grateful for the knowledge and expertise of my teaching staff.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will endeavour to continue providing meaningful assessment feedback to students.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Great lecturer. Very clear about she expects from our assignments. I really enjoyed pharmacology, throughout the course she is very supportive and encouraging to the students and to reach out if we needed. Loved her emails at the beginning of every week, it really helped.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will continue to do their best to provide students with encouragement, support and guidance to enhance their learning experience and continued engagement.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
I found the course to be overall good. However, I did think that the marking of assessments and the lecturer was quite harsh.
Recommendation
This unit is the first and only AQF level 8 unit in the Bachelor of Midwifery (graduate entry) program, as all other units are AQF 7. The marking is done with this higher level in mind. The unit coordinator provides honest feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of assessments to give quality guidance to students. The feedback is meant to be honest and constructive, not punitive. In the future, the unit coordinator will strive to find ways of conveying this guidance that are not perceived as harsh.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Definitely my favourite subject by far.
Recommendation
Continue to provide quality teaching and learning experiences to students.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
This was the best course in term 4. The overall course layout was very cleverly created, with activities included in weekly content and regular exams to keep learning motivation levels high. I also really appreciated the answer sheets that came out at the end of the week so I could see if my learning was on the right track. Bridget was very engaged in the course and provided great feedback on assessments. This was a very engaging course and promoted my learning. Thank you
Recommendation
Continue to provide quality teaching and learning experiences to students.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Demonstrate a sound understanding of pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, inclusive of over the counter and prescribed medications and illicit substances, as related to maternal, placental/fetal and neonatal physiology for midwifery practice
  2. Demonstrate sound numeracy and mathematical calculation skills to correctly administer and critically evaluate medication orders for women and their infants
  3. Critically evaluate the physiological and psychological effects of medication administration on the maternal, fetal or neonatal wellbeing to determine the effectiveness of treatment
  4. Critically appraise the role of the midwife in the use of pharmacological therapies during the childbearing continuum.

Draft ANMAC Midwifery Education Standards.

Standard 3: Program of study.

NMBA Code of Conduct.

Principle 1: Legal compliance.

Principle 2: Woman centred practice.

Principle 3: Cultural practice and respectful relationships.

Principle 4: Professional behaviour.

Principle 6: Research in health.

Principle 7: Health and wellbeing.

NMBA Standards for Practice.

Standard 1: Promotes health and wellbeing through evidence based midwifery practice.

Standard 2: Engages in professional relationships and respectful partnerships.

Standard 3: Demonstrates the capability and accountability for midwifery practice.

Standard 4: Undertakes comprehensive assessments.

Standard 5: Develops a plan for midwifery practice.

Standard 6: Provides safety and quality in midwifery practice.

Standard 7: Evaluates outcomes to improve midwifery practice.

ICM code of Ethics.

1. Midwifery relationships

2. Practice of midwifery.

3. Professional responsibilities of midwives.

4. Advancement of midwifery knowledge and practice.

NPS Competencies Required to Prescribe Medicines: All competency areas apply.

NSQHSS: All standards apply.

National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • • •
2 - Case Study • • • •
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 • • • •
5 - Team Work • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • •
8 - Ethical practice • • • •
9 - Social Innovation •
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