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PMSC11002 - Foundations of Paramedicine A

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will explore core healthcare principles including fitness to practice, quality healthcare, and cultural competence. You will learn that effective communication is crucial for patient and team interactions and that implementing safe clinical practices ensures proper care in paramedicine. You will explore appropriate communication strategies to engage with patients and healthcare teams effectively. You will learn how to implement a safe clinical approach, incorporating clinical assessments, skills, and the safe use of medications in paramedic practice. Additionally, you will consider sociocultural influences on health and explore strategies to support at-risk patients, addressing their unique needs. These principles collectively enhance patient care and outcomes.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

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 2 - 2025

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton

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. Annotated bibliography 25%
2. On-campus Activity 35%
3. Case Study 40%

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

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 93.94% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 16.92% 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: Moodle Unit Evaluations
Feedback
Students enjoyed the exemplar video that demonstrated systematic approach.
Recommendation
The video will remain and additional exemplar videos will be created to help with contextualising the practical components of this unit.
Action Taken
The video remained and additional videos and demonstrations of the practical elements were introduced.
Source: Informal Email
Feedback
The students enjoy the residential schools; however, they mention that there is a lot of information to cover in a short amount of time.
Recommendation
Increasing the duration of the residential school will be discussed with the team with a proposed change from four days to five days duration.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Describe the principles of fitness to practice, quality healthcare, and cultural competence and their impact on patient care and outcomes
  2. Explore communication strategies to engage with patients and healthcare teams effectively
  3. Implement a safe clinical approach, incorporating clinical assessments, skills, and the safe use of medications in paramedic practice
  4. Identify sociocultural influences on health and explore strategies to support at-risk patients, addressing their unique needs.

The Paramedicine Board of Australia requires that units align with the Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics, which consist of five (5) domains. The below section aligns the proposed learning outcomes with these domains. In addition, the learning outcomes have been aligned with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.

Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics

Standard/Attribute/Criteria Learning Outcome
Domain 1: The professional and ethical practitioner 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.1.8, 1.1.11, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.4, 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 1.4.1 LO1, LO3, LO4
Domain 2: The communicator and collaborator 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.6, 2.1.7, 2.1.8, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.6 LO2, LO3, LO4
Domain 3: The evidence-based practitioner 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.2.4, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Domain 4: The safety and risk management practitioner 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4, 4.3.1, 4.5.1, 4.6.1 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Domain 5: The paramedicine practitioner 5.1.3, 5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.2.4, 5.3.2, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.6.1, 5.6.2, 5.6.4  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards

Standard Learning Outcomes
Clinical Governance LO1, LO2, LO4
Partnering with Consumers LO2, LO3, LO4
Preventing and Controlling Infections LO2, LO3, LO4
Comprehensive Care LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Communicating for Safety LO2, LO3, LO4
Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration LO2, LO3

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Annotated bibliography •
2 - On-campus Activity • •
3 - 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 • • • •
5 - Team Work •
6 - Information Technology Competence • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • •
8 - Ethical practice •
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures •
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