Overview
This unit will introduce you to the principles of evidence-based practice (EBP) and develop your key skills for conducting EBP within clinical settings as an Allied Health Professional. You will be introduced to models of EBP that can be used to guide clinical decision making at an individual patient level and also at a service delivery level. During this unit you will gain experience in developing clinically answerable questions, performing information searches, undertaking critical appraisal and synthesising information.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
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).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2018
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.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
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.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
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.
Feedback from 'Have your Say' Student Satisfaction Survey
Students felt it is unfair that they are required to pass all assessment tasks to be eligible to pass this unit
The link between the assessment tasks and the necessity of being able to perform these skills as a practitioner should be more clearly communicated to students. This communication should occur in Week 1 when the assessment tasks are explained, as well as on the task sheets for each of the assessment tasks as a 'rationale'. It is important that students understand that all assessment tasks mirror essential EBP skills required to be a successful practitioner. However, if a student were to fail one assessment task, yet meet university policy for supplementary assessment, the student would be still be eligible to pass this unit. This communication should help to provide the rationale that students should be expected to pass all assessment tasks to pass this unit, and further clarity around assessment requirements.
Feedback from Student email correspondence and 'Have your Say' Student Satisfaction Survey
Unit was well organised, the Moodle page was easy to navigate, the weekly lectures were engaging and delivered in an energetic manner. The assessment tasks were clearly defined, assessment feedback was provided in detail and in a timely manner.
This feedback is reflective of the commitment to good learning and teaching practices that the unit coordinator participates in. It is recommended that these practices continue, whilst continuing to work toward improving student satisfaction through improved clarity around assessment tasks and requirements and greater communication of the link between assessment tasks and essential practitioner skills.
Feedback from Student email correspondence and 'Have your Say' Student Satisfaction Survey
The break down of the weekly lectures into a series of shorter lectures was really beneficial and convenient
It is recommended that this learning and teaching practice continue as research suggests that a series of shorter lectures help to improve student engagement, retention of content, and satisfaction, as well as accommodating for diversity in learning styles.
- Apply key concepts related to evidence-based practice
- Formulate a clinical research question using the PICO (Population-Intervention-Comparison-Outcome) format
- Plan, carry out and evaluate information searches to address specific clinical questions
- Critically appraise and evaluate the quality of original research within health professions using established critical appraisal tools
- Present a synthesised evaluation of a clinical topic using information acquired from multiple sources.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | |||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| 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 | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Endnote (available through Library - see Moodle link)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
m.j.hayman@cqu.edu.au
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Contact hours for Unit Coordinator Dr Melanie Hayman: Monday and Wednesday (open door policy) and Fridays (via email or phone)
1 Written Assessment
This task requires you to:
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Develop an answerable clinical research question that is consistent with the PICO format.
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Carry out an information search using at least 3 electronic academic databases.
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Review and refine your articles using the PRISMA Flow Diagram Information Search template.
Week 5 Friday (6 Apr 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Late submissions will be penalised in accordance with university policy (5% per day).
Week 7 Friday (27 Apr 2018)
This assessment task, complete with detailed individual feedback, will be returned within 2 weeks from the date of submission.
This assessment task will be graded on the following criteria:
- Background of the research topic - Review of past literature related to the research topic and development of the rationale / justification for the proposed topic
- PICO Research Question - Identification of PICO elements, development of research question
- Information Search - Selection of academic databases and search strategy
- Formatting and writing style - Spelling, grammar, formatting and referencing (APA)
Please refer to Moodle for a detailed criteria sheet.
- Apply key concepts related to evidence-based practice
- Formulate a clinical research question using the PICO (Population-Intervention-Comparison-Outcome) format
- Plan, carry out and evaluate information searches to address specific clinical questions
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Written Assessment
This task requires you to:
- Critically appraise one journal article reporting a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), using the appropriate critical appraisal form.
- Provide an evaluative summary for your critically appraised article.
Week 8 Friday (4 May 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Late submissions will be penalised in accordance with university policy (5% per day).
Week 10 Friday (18 May 2018)
This assessment task, complete with detailed individual feedback, will be returned within 2 weeks from the date of submission.
This assessment task will be graded on the following criteria:
- Critical Appraisal Tool - Complete all sections of the appropriate Critical Appraisal Tool in detail
- Executive Summary - Written summary of the research topic including research design, methodology and results
- Formatting and writing style - Spelling, grammar, formatting and referencing (APA)
Please refer to Moodle for a detailed criteria sheet.
- Apply key concepts related to evidence-based practice
- Critically appraise and evaluate the quality of original research within health professions using established critical appraisal tools
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Written Assessment
This task requires you to:
- Synthesise information from a variety of sources based on an allied health topic.
- Present this synthesis as a perspective piece.
Week 12 Friday (1 June 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Late submissions will be penalised in accordance with university policy (5% per day).
Exam Week Friday (15 June 2018)
This assessment task, complete with detailed individual feedback, will be returned within 2 weeks from the date of submission.
This assessment task will be graded on the following criteria:
- Skill in writing an introductory and concluding sentence
- Paragraph structure
- Skill in developing recommendation / justification throughout
- Language
- Control of sentence structure
- Formatting and writing style - Spelling, grammar, formatting and referencing (APA)
Please refer to Moodle for a detailed criteria sheet.
- Present a synthesised evaluation of a clinical topic using information acquired from multiple sources.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
- Social Innovation
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
