Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will apply evidence-based knowledge of pathophysiology to identify and differentiate between a broad range of cardiovascular conditions. You will learn to accurately interpret electrocardiographs (ECGs) and diagnose coronary conditions including dysrhythmias and acute coronary syndromes. In addition, you will integrate knowledge of current evidence-based practice to articulate and undertake appropriate clinical assessments, skills and interventions in the management of cardiovascular conditions. In doing so, you will incorporate the principles of safe, professional, ethical and culturally safe practice as it relates to paramedicine.
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:
Please note: Any student who has not successfully completed a PMSC residential school within the preceding 12 months should consult with the Head of Course to discuss completing a PMSC12001 Procedures & Skills refresher. This ensures currency with all contemporary skills and procedures in line with industry standards and professional capabilities. 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 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 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. Written Assessment | 50% |
| 2. In-class Test(s) | 20% |
| 3. Practical Assessment | 0% |
| 4. Online Test | 30% |
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%).
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 .
Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 95.74% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 28.31% 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
The online quiz ECG required scrolling to see and they needed more time to complete the quiz.
Re-format online quiz ECGs so the student doesn't need to scroll to see the whole ECG.
This remains difficult to achieve as often ECGs are used from real patient tracings. I have a couple of ECG online platforms that have generated rhythms which are higher quality which are used frequently, especially for assessments.
Source: SUTE
Multiple staff providing lectures was confusing and lacked consistency
Some lectures will need to be re done to provide lecturer consistency and limit confusion
I re-wrote and recorded most of the lecturers for Electrophysiology as I wanted consistency in how a challenging subject was taught. This also assisted in the scaffolding approach to the content that I took. This was received well by students who expressed their satisfaction at having new, up-to-date and relevant content produced throughout the semester.
Source: SUTE
Provide more practices quizzes
Add multiple practice quizzes and case studies throughout the weekly content.
I created practice quizzes for the first five weeks of the semester where the key focus was on ECGs. Several other quizzes were produced including a final practice exam that mirror the timeframe and level of expectation necessary for students to be successful.
Source: SUTE
The content was too heavy in the beginning weeks
The residential schools will be moved to later in the term which will allow the content to be spread across the term better.
Restructuring the content doesn't change the complexity but the restructure enabled greater focus on the challenging concepts without adding in any other information on treatment, management, etc.
Source: SUTE
I strongly recommend that the training ambulance is bought out each week for residential schools as it is a great learning resource.
Set the use of the ambulances across the three campuses as a standard scenario format moving forward.
The training ambulance was used throughout residential school for students to undertake simulations in an environment that is commonplace to paramedics.
Source: SUTE
Students reported satisfaction with the clear and concise manner of the course content.
Continue to produce content with the same style of presentation to ensure the material is accessible and straightforward for all students.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Students complained about not having enough hands-on experience at residential school.
Ensure teacher student ratios are 1:6 to ensure the students have plenty of hands-on practice.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Students felt like they didn't get to showcase their ECG interpretation skills in the exam to their best ability due to short timeframe.
Review the ECG exam and adjust the times accordingly to allow more time for students to undertake the exam.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Some students felt they didn't have adequate exposure to some of the assessable scenarios during residential school.
Implement greater structure into the residential school, to ensure all students are exposed to the same scenarios themes to ensure preparation for the assessment task
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Students asked for videos as an example of expected level of simulation to use for preparation prior to attending residential schools.
Provide exemplar videos of common cardiac presentations for students to use as part of their preparation for residential school.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Apply evidence-based knowledge of pathophysiology to identify and differentiate between a broad range of cardiovascular conditions
- Accurately interpret electrocardiographs (ECGs) and diagnose coronary conditions including dysrhythmias and acute coronary syndromes
- Integrate knowledge of current evidence-based practice to articulate and undertake appropriate clinical assessments, skills and interventions in the management of cardiovascular conditions
- Incorporate the principles of safe, professional, ethical and culturally safe practice as it relates to paramedicine.
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, 1.1.3, 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.1.9, 1.1.10, 1.1.11,1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.4, 1.2.5, 1.2.6, 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 1.4.1, 1.4.2 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 2: The communicator and collaborator 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, 2.2.6 | LO1, 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, 3.2.5, 3.2.5, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4, 3.4.4 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 4: The safety and risk management practitioner 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3,4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.3, 4.5.2, 4.5.3, 4.6.6, 4.7.2, 4.7.4, 4.7.8 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 5: The paramedicine practitioner 5.1.1, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3, 5.2.4, 5.2.5, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.3.6, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.4.4, 5.4.5, 5.4.6, 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 |
| Partnering with Consumers | LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Preventing and Controlling Infections | LO3, LO4 |
| Medication Safety | LO3, LO4 |
| Comprehensive Care | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Communicating for Safety | LO3, LO4 |
| Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration | LO3, LO4 |
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 2 - In-class Test(s) | • | |||
| 3 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Online Test | • | • | • | |
| 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 | |