Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will have the opportunity to practice fundamental nursing care in the clinical environment. You will apply the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) registered nurse standards for practice (2016). You will continue to explore the importance of the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards (2017) to all nursing practice in Australia and use the Patient Safety Competency Framework (PSCF) (Levett-Jones et al., 2017) in your practice as a nursing student. You will be expected to identify risk and recognise and respond appropriately to the older adult who is a deteriorating patient in the simulated and clinical environment. You will review the concept of scope of practice using the Decision-making framework (DMF) (NMBA, 2020). You are required to participate in a compulsory four (4) day residential school prior to attending professional experience placement for this unit. This unit includes a 240-hour block professional experience placement in a clinical environment. This must be undertaken in a fulltime capacity. You must meet specific mandatory health, safety and security requirements to be eligible to attend each professional experience placement. Professional experience placements may be limited in your community, and you may be placed in other locations. Please be prepared financially and personally to cover the costs to relocate for placements. Due to the limited availability of placements, some block placements have start and/or end dates that fall outside standard term dates. You must be physically and mentally well and meet the inherent requirements of the course to undertake this unit in the simulated and clinical environment. To be successful in this unit you must pass both assessment items.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 9 |
| Credit Points | 12 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.25 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisites: NURS28008 Nursing Foundations
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 3 - 2027
Term 3 - 2027 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 12-credit Postgraduate 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
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.
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: Feedback collected from students, teaching staff and clinical placement hosts through Unit Coordinator contact sessions and communication with clinical facilitators.
Feedback from students undertaking six-week continuous clinical placements indicated a need for structured feedback earlier in the placement. Students reported that formal feedback at approximately Week 2, followed by another structured review later in the placement, would better support their learning, confidence and clinical skill development before the final summative assessment. Clinical facilitators also identified that the current assessment structure may delay recognition of learning needs or performance concerns, limiting opportunities for timely support and intervention. An inequity was also identified between placement structures. Students undertaking two separate three-week placements receive a formative and summative ANSAT during each placement, whereas students undertaking one continuous six-week placement receive only one formative ANSAT at Week 3 and one summative ANSAT at Week 6.
Revise the assessment structure for six-week continuous placements to include formative ANSATs at approximately Weeks 2 and 4, followed by the summative ANSAT at Week 6. This would enable earlier identification of learning needs, provide structured monitoring of student progress and improve consistency across placement models.
In Progress
Source: Feedback collected from students and clinical facilitators, together with consideration of the NMBA Registered Nurse Standards for Practice and the Australian Nursing Standards Assessment Tool (ANSAT). These frameworks emphasise safe, evidence-based practice, capability for practice and the early identification of learning needs.
Student and clinical facilitator feedback identified variation in students’ preparedness for higher-risk clinical activities, particularly intravenous medication administration. This may contribute to placement difficulties, delayed identification of support needs and potential risks within the clinical environment.
Introduce a mandatory Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) assessing intravenous medication administration during Residential School Day 4, before students commence clinical placement. This would confirm baseline clinical readiness, enable early identification of students requiring additional support and allow targeted intervention before placement.
In Progress
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.