PMSC20004 - Advanced Clinical Care of Special Populations

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit will provide students with the ability to analyse, critically evaluate and generate advanced management plans through enhanced clinical knowledge of associated common anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology, signs and symptoms interpretation and investigatory processes for special and at risk populations

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level Not Applicable
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites: PMSC20001 Advanced Clinical Assessment and Decision Making AND PMSC20002 Advanced Critical Skills Application

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).

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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).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate 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. On-campus Activity 50%
2. 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

Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2017 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 100% 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: Have you say
Feedback:
 One student stated that he felt mentally drained before the start of the Residential School for PMSC20004 as he/she had attended two previous Residential Schools that week. This impacted on his overall experience, which otherwise had been "fantastic".

Recommendation:
 This would be last time that this unit offered and thus will not have the same impact next year.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Informal student feedback
Feedback:
 The students were in full support of the area of Special Populations having a more distinct role throughout the Graduate Diploma following the removal of this unit. The knowledge that they had gained was invaluable and should be covered in detail by all critical care students, not just the students enrolled in PMSC20004, especially in the areas of Neonates and Paediatrics.

Recommendation:
 From 2018 all areas in Special Populations will be expanded upon, which are presently covered thoughout the course, to ensure that the students have the required knowledge and practical underpinnings to succeed as a Critical Care Paramedic in the management of Special Populations.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

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

  1. Discuss anatomical, physiologically and pathophysiological differences within special populations
  2. Predict the actions of pharmacological interventions within special populations in extreme situations
  3. Identify and implement best practice and interventions of necessity to special populations
  4. Implement appropriate care pathways and evidence based practice to special populations
  5. Apply Critical Care Practice knowledge of culturally and linguistically diverse and special needs groups or individuals, including barriers to accessing appropriate health care and mitigation strategies.
  6. Employ the appropriate clinical assessment and management of a patient who is experiencing a behavioural disturbance including the management of any underlying pathological cause.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - On-campus Activity • • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Knowledge • • • • • •
2 - Communication • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • •
4 - Research •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • •
7 - Leadership • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8
1 - On-campus Activity • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • •