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PMSC12001 - Applied Paramedic Practice

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will develop essential knowledge and clinical skills required to recognise, diagnose and manage patients experiencing acute and life-threatening medical conditions. This unit integrates pathophysiology, patient assessment, and clinical history-taking to support the formulation of provisional diagnoses and the implementation of treatment plans. An emphasis is placed on procedural competence, including the indications, contraindications of core paramedic interventions used to manage neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine and gastrointestinal presentations. These skills are taught and reinforced through hands-on practice on campus, where you will implement these newly acquired skills into simulated patient scenarios of a broad range of clinical presentations guided by National Safety and Quality Health Services (NSQHS) standards and Quality Use of Medicines framework. Case-based learning and simulations will assist you in contextualising your clinical skills and decision-making to ensure you meet the Paramedic Board of Australia’s registration requirements.

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

Pre-requisites:

  • PMSC11002 Foundations of Paramedicine A
  • BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 or BMSC11001 Human Body Systems 1

 

 

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
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Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026

Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton
Townsville

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. Practical Assessment 0%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 50%
3. Written Assessment 50%

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 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 14.29% 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 Unit and Teaching Evaluation.
Feedback
Students enjoyed the subject and the delivery style of the lecturer.
Recommendation
Continue to create lectures with the green screen and present in an engaging format to share enthusiasm for the teaching of skills and procedures.
Action Taken
The 2024 learning material was reused for the 2025 offering of this unit, that was well received by students.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation.
Feedback
There was a lot of content to cover prior to residential school, but felt it was structured logically and explained to convey understanding.
Recommendation
Continue to deliver content in manageable lectures and explain to support students understanding. Consider placement of residential schools within the term.
Action Taken
The 2024 learning material was reused for the 2025 offering of this unit, that was well received by students.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation.
Feedback
Academics and sessional academics across all campuses made the residential schools enjoyable experience and enhanced their learning.
Recommendation
Continue to use academics and sessional academics who teach to a high standard and are well received by students.
Action Taken
High standard casual academics were engaged for supporting the facilitation of the residential school.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation.
Feedback
The combination of four-day residential schools for both PMSC12001 and PMSC11004 was too long.
Recommendation
Consult with HOC and consider how the duration of these residential schools can be adjusted to assist with a positive student experience.
Action Taken
The 2025 residential school was reduced to three days. This created L&T challenges due to the amount of learning material required for these three days.
Source: Verbal feedback within virtual tutorials.
Feedback
Students expressed high satisfaction with the quality of learning material and the learning and teaching approach.
Recommendation
The learning material will continue to use the same learning and teaching approach within future offerings of this unit.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Verbal feedback within virtual tutorials.
Feedback
Some of the learning material is outdated, with referenced guidelines no longer available.
Recommendation
This unit will be redesigned for the 2026 offering, with new learning material reflective of the curriculum enhancements.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Articulate the theoretical underpinnings, including the anatomical and pathophysiological reasons, for the application of advanced care skills and interventions in the management of a critically ill or injured patient relevant to paramedic practice
  2. Identify and interpret the indications, precautions, risks and contraindications of using specific paramedic interventions involved in advanced care prehospital practice
  3. Employ critical thinking and clinical reasoning for using specific paramedic interventions involved in advanced care prehospital skills and interventions
  4. Apply and explain the application of paramedic advanced care prehospital interventions, guided by standards such as National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards and Quality Use of Medicines framework, in a safe, ethical and professional manner.

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) Ambulance Health Service Standards. 
 
Professional capabilities for a registered paramedic
 
Standard/Attribute/Criteria Learning Outcomes
Domain 1: The professional and ethical practitioner 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.9, 1.1.10, 1.1.11, 1.2.2, 1.2.4, 1.2.5, 1.3.2, 1.3.3 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Domain 2: The communicator and collaborator 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.2.4, 2.2.5 LO1, LO2, LO3 LO4
Domain 3: The evidence-based practitioner 3.1.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.2.5, 3.2.6, 3.3.3 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Domain 4: The safety and risk management practitioner 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 4.2.4 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Domain 5: The paramedic practitioner 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3, 5.2.4, 5.2.5, 5.3.1, 5.3.3, 5.3.4, 5.3.6, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.4.3, 5.4.4, 5.4.5, 5.6.1, 5.6.2, 5.6.3, 5.6.4, LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
 

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards

Standard Learning Outcomes
Clinical Governance: 1.01b, 1.27a, 1.27b  LO3
Partnering with Consumers: 2.01a, 2.04, 2.05a, 2.05b, 2.06, 2.10a, 2.10b, 2.10c, 2.10d LO2, LO4
Preventing and Controlling Infections:  3.01a, 3.01b, 3.02b, 3.06, 3.07b, 3.10a, 3.11a, 3.12  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Medication Safety: 4.03a, 4.03b, 4.03c, 4.11, 4.15a LO2, LO4
Comprehensive Care: 5.03, 5.04a, 5.04b, 5.04c, 5.04d, 5.06, 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.11, 5.14a 5.14b, 5.14c, 5.14d, 5.21, 5.22, 5.24a, 5.24b, 5.24c, 5.25 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Communicating for Safety: 6.03, 6.04 LO2, LO4
Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration: 8.03, 8.06, 8.10, 8.13 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4

 

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Practical Assessment • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
3 - Written Assessment • •
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 • • •
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