Unit Synopsis
This unit advances your preparation for the clinical workplace through the development of ultrasound scanning skills in the areas of lower extremity veins, carotid artery and transvaginal female pelvis. Psychomotor skills and professional behaviour techniques gained in previous scanning skills units and during clinical placement will be built upon, with an emphasis on problem solving techniques required to produce appropriate clinical outcomes. You are required to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and professional behaviours needed to work in a clinical setting, and will be assessed within a simulated environment.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 12 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 3 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.25 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisites: MEDS12004 Sonographic Skills Development 1 AND MEDS12006 Ultrasound of Obstetrics and Gynaecology AND MEDS13008 Vascular Sonography 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 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | 0% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 0% |
| 3. Online Quiz(zes) | 0% |
| 4. On-campus Activity | 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 comments
Some students were dissatisfied with the timing and format of practical assessments during the term, in particular with the OSCE assessment format (Assessment 1 Part A).
Consider alternative ways to timetable assessments within the constraints of available resources and university term calendar whilst still maintaining appropriate assessment of unit learning outcomes.
The OSCE assessment (Assessment 1 Part A) was restructured into two separate assessments, Assessment 1 Part A and Assessment 1 Part B, to reduce pressure on students and better manage cognitive load. Assessment 1 Part A consisted of an OSCE assessing two of the three modules (Module 1: Carotid and Module 2: DVT), while Module 3 (Transvaginal Ultrasound) was assessed separately through a standalone Assessment 1 Part B.
Source: Zoom Polling SUTE comments Unit Coordinator reflection
Live tutorials were introduced in 2025 in a travelling roadshow style to include all campuses. There was mixed student feedback on these sessions with some highly valuing them whilst others felt they were not useful.
Continue offering live tutorials across the different campuses, but explore ways to improve their delivery. In particular, IT resource limitations created challenges, so potential workarounds should be investigated.
Live tutorials were maintained across all campuses; however, they were no longer livestreamed by the Unit Coordinator. Instead, the Unit Coordinator travelled to each campus to deliver a live tutorial during each module whilst the Co-Unit Co-ordinators delivered the live tutorial at the remaining sites. To support consistency in delivery, co-unit coordinators were provided with comprehensive teaching resources, and planning meetings were conducted prior to each module.
Source: SUTE comments
Some students felt that completing Quiz 4 in the available time frame was too great a challenge.
All of the four quizzes in the unit underwent editing and creation of new questions for 2025 delivery. Suggest revisiting Quiz 4 in particular to ensure that timing is appropriate for the questions posed and expected answers.
The timing was increased for Assessment 3 Quiz 4 from 20 minutes to 22 minutes.
Source: SUTE data
Some students commented that some of the videos throughout the unit were outdated. Comments were also made with regard to current protocols aligning with video content
Consider updating video resources throughout the unit and check that practical scanning videos align with the protocols
In Progress
Source: SUTE data
Many students commented on inconsistency and discrepancies between tutor feedback and the UC
Consider including more examples of critical/non-critical errors in the tutor meeting and in a document tutors can refer to throughout the term.
In Progress
Source: SUTE data, student surveys after live tutorial, UC reflection
Live tutorials were well received and more clinical question practice was requested to be included in these.
Continue Live tutorials at each campus and increase the amount of time spent on role play with clinical questions.
In Progress
Source: UC Reflection
The implementation of the revised Assessment 1 into three parts (OSCE, Transvaginal assessment, and Reassessment) reduced the available laboratory teaching time for the Transvaginal Module and created a significant increase in marking workload between Weeks 8 and 14.
Consider streamlining Assessment 1 into fewer components to increase available laboratory time in each module and allow sufficient time for marking alongside other assessment items in the unit.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Complete sonographic examinations of the lower extremity veins, carotid arteries, and transvaginal female pelvis
- Critically reflect and improve upon own professional practice and sonographic psychomotor skills to integrate new learning and experiences with the goal of improving your pratice
- Formulate problem-solving and critical-thinking strategies to appropriately address patient presentation
- Display professional behaviour, teamwork, and communication skills consistent with safe sonographic practice, the profession's Code of Conduct, and CQUniversity's graduate attributes.
Australasian Sonography Accreditation Registry Standards for the Accreditation of Sonographer Courses (SASC):
Foundational Units of Competence 1-5
Critical Practice Units of Competence 9, 10 & 13
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | |||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | ||
| 4 - On-campus Activity | • | |||
| 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 | • | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |