PMSC13017 - General Paramedicine A

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit extends your clinical reasoning and decision-making skills in managing diverse patient presentations across acute, chronic, and palliative care contexts. You will integrate pathophysiological knowledge with comprehensive patient assessment to develop accurate diagnostic reasoning and safe, evidence-based practice. Teaching emphasises culturally safe, ethical, and patient-centred care that supports shared decision-making and upholds patient dignity, values, and autonomy. Clinical foci include chronic pain, endocrinology, bariatrics, toxicological presentations, and palliative and end-of-life care. Interprofessional education (IPE) is embedded throughout, with specialised nursing and allied health clinicians contributing expertise across key content areas, including interprofessional teamwork. IPE is further enriched through involvement of the patient perspective, deepening your knowledge of and capacity in collaborative, person-centred care.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite:

  • PMSC12001 Applied Paramedic Practice.

Co-requisite:

  • PMSC13016 Integrated Cardiac and Respiratory Care in Paramedicine or PMSC12004 Advanced Electrophysiology and Coronary Care.

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).

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. Presentation 25%
2. Case Study 35%
3. Written Assessment 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

Previous Feedback

No previous feedback available

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.

Unit Learning Outcomes

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

  1. Integrate professional, ethical, and culturally-safe practices to ensure patient-centred care that respects patient dignity, values, and autonomy
  2. Formulate comprehensive patient assessments and integrate clinical findings with pathophysiological knowledge to rationalise provisional diagnoses
  3. Implement evidence-based decision-making to manage acute and chronic conditions, ensuring safe interventions and appropriate pharmacological treatments
  4. Synthesise strategies to manage clinical deterioration or barriers to treatment, adapting plans in accordance with paramedic duty of care, legal standards, and patient-centred priorities
  5. Develop knowledge and skills in effective communication and interprofessional collaboration to support shared decision-making, ensure continuity of treatment, and mitigate clinical risks.

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 Registered Paramedics

Domain Learning Outcomes

The professional and ethical practitioner: 1.1.1, 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.1.7, 1.1.8, 1.19, 1.1.10, 1.1.11, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.5, 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 1.4.1, 1.4.2

 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
The communicator and collaborator: 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.7, 2.1.8, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.5, 2.2.6 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
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, 3.2.6, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
The safety and risk management practitioner: 4.1.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4, 4.3.3, 4.4.4, 4.5.3, 4.6.6, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.7.3, 4.7.5, 4.7.7, 4.7.8 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
The paramedicine practitioner: 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, 5.4.3, 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, LO5

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards

Standard Learning Outcomes
Clinical Governance: 1.01b, 1.27a, 1.27b LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
Partnering with Consumers: 2.01a, 2.08 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
Preventing and Controlling Infections: 3.01a, 3.01b LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
Medication Safety: 4.01a, 4.01b, 4.03a, 4.03b, 4.03c, 4.05, 4.07 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
Comprehensive Care: 5.03, 5.13, 5.30, 5.33, 5.35 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
Communicating for Safety: 6.01, 6.03, 6.07, 6.08,  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration: 8.01a, 8.01b, 8.03a, 8.03b, 8.03c, 8.06, 8.09, 8.10 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Presentation • •
2 - Case Study • • • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
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 • • • • •
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 10