MEDS12001 - Physics of Ultrasound

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will be introduced to the principles of ultrasound physics and instrumentation. Ultrasound safety, quality assurance and recognition of artifacts will also be covered. The knowledge and skills learnt from this unit are integral to all concurrent and subsequent sonography and echocardiography units and forms the foundation from which you will build your image acquisition, recognition and assessment skills. You will apply your knowledge and skills of physics principles in the laboratory setting using ultrasound equipment.

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

 

Prerequisite

MEDI11002 Physics for Health Sciences

Co requisite

MEDS12003 Superficial Structures in Ultrasound or ECHO12006 Cardiac 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 No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2025

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Sydney

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. Laboratory/Practical 0%
3. Online Test 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 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 20.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 24.32% 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 Teacher Evaluations
Feedback
Students reported issues with the time limit and certain question types not functioning as expected on specific electronic devices in the redesigned Assessment 1.
Recommendation
Reconsider number of questions from a timing perspective. Limit question sub-parts and drag and drop style questions as these may be unreliable on some electronic devices, such as tablets, further exacerbating the time limit concerns.
Action Taken
The number of questions in Assessment 1 was decreased significantly. Additionally, the specific type of questions ("drag and drop") were amended to make them easier to navigate.
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations
Feedback
Students found the Kahoot interactive platform used during tutorials to be effective for both engagement and retaining knowledge.
Recommendation
The Kahoot tutorials should continue next year, with an increase in interactive content during tutorials.
Action Taken
Kahoot tutorials were continued, but were limited by the number of tutorial participants as the coordinator was using the free version. Online polling systems were attempted in the Zoom tutorials, but they were not as successful due to lack of interaction.
Source: MEDS12001 Q&A forum
Feedback
Practice questions and quizzes in a similar format to the assessments would be useful.
Recommendation
Consider developing more practice quizzes and questions in the same format as the online assessments.
Action Taken
Practice questions were reviewed in more detail through the tutorials. A variety of question styles were provided to better prepare the students.
Source: SUTE Feedback
Feedback
Assessment 1 (mid-term quiz) was not allocated adequate time based on the number of questions. Additionally, the question format was difficult to maneuver on some devices.
Recommendation
Review assessment timing and the use of ‘drag and drop’ questions to reduce student stress and improve quiz accessibility across devices.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Feedback
Feedback
Lab manual 3 has too many tasks for the two-hour session, and this causes students to feel rushed. Clearer passing criteria are also needed given the absence of a marking rubric.
Recommendation
Lab manual 3 has already been amended in previous offerings to include less tasks. Tasks cannot be moved to lab 2 as the concepts are not delivered at that time in the learning journey. However, increasing the lab session time or providing additional lab time elsewhere can be reviewed to alleviate student stress. Additionally, create a marking rubric to provide students with specific requirements regarding achieving a passing grade.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Feedback
Feedback
The Moodle site was difficult to navigate in the table format as tasks could not be "checked off". This also made it difficult to determine if content had been released on time and if all links were working appropriately.
Recommendation
Investigate options to improve Moodle layout and navigation.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Feedback
Feedback
Tutorials should review lecture content at the beginning, then review questions using Kahoot.
Recommendation
Consider splitting tutorial time between content review and a Kahoot session to keep students engaged.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Apply the physical principles of diagnostic ultrasound to practical problems
  2. Evaluate the components and performance of diagnostic ultrasound equipment
  3. Apply knowledge of ultrasound physics and practical skills to acquire optimal ultrasound images, with due regard of safe practices
  4. Discuss the principles of ultrasound techniques, Doppler ultrasound and its application in medical ultrasound including safety issues
  5. Interpret the causes of, and apply problem solving skills to reduce, sources of artifacts on an ultrasound image.

The learning outcomes for this unit relate to the requirements of general sonography courses under the Australasian Sonography Accreditation Registry (ASAR), Standards for the Accreditation of Sonographer Courses (SASC):

Foundation Units of Competence 1-5

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
2 - Laboratory/Practical • • • • •
3 - Online Test • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • • • • •
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