Unit Synopsis
You will develop an evidence-based and patient-centred approach to physiotherapy management of the complex adult and paediatric patient across a range of clinical areas. Topics may include: orthopaedics, amputees, mental health, oncology, men's and women's health, burns and plastics, transplantation and palliative care. Your focus will be on establishing the connections between physiological capacity for improvement and symptomology, while considering all relevant domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework.
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 |
To enrol in this unit you must be enrolled in the CB85 Course and meet the following pre-requisites: PSIO12002 - Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy PSIO12005 - Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy 2 MPAT12001 - Medical Pathophysiology PSIO12004 - Neurological Physiotherapy 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 | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
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. In-class Test(s) | 20% |
| 2. In-class Test(s) | 30% |
| 3. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | 50% |
| 4. On-campus Activity | 0% |
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 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 85.71% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 17.95% 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: Email
The external lecturers were excellent and made the unit really interesting.
It is recommended that external (specialist physiotherapist) lecturers continue to be scheduled into the teaching timetable for this unit.
Guest specialist physiotherapists continued to provide lectures, tutorials and practical sessions in this unit in 2025. This is proposed to continue in future offers of this unit.
Source: Email
It would be useful to have more cardiorespiratory paediatric teaching in this unit.
It is recommended that more paediatric content is included in this unit.
A 6-hour paediatric cardiorespiratory package was introduced to this unit in 2025 and was received well by students.
Source: Student Feedback
Students felt that some topics that were assessed in in-class tests were not consistent with what was taught or outlined would be included.
It is recommended that the teaching team review provided content, pre-readings, expectations, assessment guide and lectures to ensure that all content assessed is clearly outlined to students.
In Progress
Source: Teaching team reflection and Student Feedback
Equipment and resources sourced for teaching of practical skills in this class are fantastic and up-to-date with current clinical practice.
It is recommended that the unit continues to maintain the currency of equipment and resources.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Apply and demonstrate knowledge of pathological processes, symptomology, medical and pharmacological management, clinical course and prognosis for complex clinical conditions and pathologies
- Develop, apply, demonstrate and evaluate an evidence-based assessment and treatment for clients with complex clinical conditions and pathologies across all domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework
- Design and demonstrate a safe rehabilitation program for a specific complex clinical scenario that applies a variety of exercise techniques with appropriate progression and modification for that scenario
- Relate the role of physiotherapy to the management of complex conditions and pathologies using both an inter-professional and client-centred approach
- Demonstrate acceptable professional and ethical behaviours consistent with a physiotherapy practitioner.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - In-class Test(s) | • | ||||
| 2 - In-class Test(s) | • | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - On-campus Activity | • | ||||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • | • |
| 5 - Team Work | • | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • | • |
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | • | • | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |