Overview
This unit provides an introduction to the medical science specialisations of medical laboratory science, clinical measurement, nutrition and biotechnology. An inter-disciplinary, integrated approach will be provided so that you will also understand the relationships of the disciplines with one another. You will develop an understanding of the key roles of each discipline, professional practice, investigative procedures and application of medical sciences in modern health care. This will also allow you to make an informed choice about which specialisation to study in subsequent years.
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 Unit Evaluations
Despite a written introduction to each activity in the Residential School Manual, and the new manual being made available on the Moodle site well before the residential school, a number of students indicated they would like more verbal explanations before they undertake an activity.
Before the start of each activity a brief verbal explanation could be provided by the supervisor or demonstrator, with an opportunity for questions.
Feedback from Unit Evaluations
Students were pleased with the prompt return of marked assessment items and the feedback.
Continue with prompt return of marked assessment items with useful feedback.
Feedback from Discussion with students; Assessment Committee discussion
The question was raised about the degree of contribution of each student in a group work assessment item.
If a group assessment item is to be used again next year the Unit Coordinator could consider incorporating a system where students anonymously peer review the degree of contribution of other students in the group.
- Relate historical evidence and global perspectives to the application of medical science in modern healthcare
- Evaluate standards of professional practice in medical science
- Perform investigative procedures used in medical science
- Develop communication skills used in professional practice.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
1 - Group Work - 50% | ||||
2 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
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 | ||||
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 - Group Work - 50% | ||||||||||
2 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
r.vella@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Infectious and non-infectious disease
Chapter
Please note there is no prescribed textbook for this unit. All required readings and activities will be uploaded to the unit moodle page.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Communication skills for medical scientists - part 1
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Communication skills for medical scientists - part 2
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ethical practice in medical sciences
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Health and safety in medical sciences
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Students are required to nominate which residential school they will be attending and what disease they would like to report on for assessment 2 by 1700 AEST on Friday the 6th of April 2018. For more information about how to nominate a residential school or a disease please see the unit moodle page.
Assessment 1: Evaluating sources of information and understanding the fundamentals of ethical practice. Due: Week 5 Friday (6 Apr 2018) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Socioeconomic factors and their impact on health
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Genes and cellular biology, the underlying basis for disease - Part 1
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Genes and cellular biology, the underlying basis for disease - Part 2
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
A day in the life of a medical scientist
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment item 2 Group work. Due: Week 9 (Tuesday 8 May 2018) 5:00 pm AEST for any students who completed residential school on Monday the 23rd and Tuesday the 24th of April.
Module/Topic
Work integrated learning
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Planning your study load
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
No lectures this week - you are to complete any outstanding work for this unit and any others you are enrolled in.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment item 2 Group work. Due: Week 12 (Tuesday 29 May 2018) 5:00 pm AEST for any students who completed residential school on Monday the 14th and Tuesday the 15th of May.
Module/Topic
No lectures this week - you are to complete any outstanding work for this unit and any others you are enrolled in.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
No lectures this week - you are to complete any outstanding work for this unit and any others you are enrolled in.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Please note the following two points -
There are no prescribed textbooks for this unit - all of the weekly readings and activities will be uploaded to the unit moodle site.
There is a compulsory residential school associated with this unit and with assessment item 2. You must register which residential school dates you will be attending prior to showing up. Students who show up to a residential school without registering into these sessions will not be guaranteed entry (if the residential school is at capacity, students who have not registered will be turned away for safety reasons). To ensure you can secure your preferred attendance dates it is recommended you register into a residential school session at the start of term. More information about registering into residential schools can be found on the moodle site under the "essential information" tab. Please note that registering for residential school is different to enrolling into this unit. Enrolling into the unit means you have nominated to study this content. Registering for a residential school can only happen after enrollment has occurred and is when you nominate what days you will undertake the laboratory component associated with this unit.
1 Written Assessment
In your professional role as a medical scientist, you will spend considerable time evaluating sources of information and making ethical choices. This assessment task is designed to enable you to begin developing evaluation skills and professional codes of ethics.
This task is a written assignment which will enable you to demonstrate your understanding of different forms of communication in the medical sciences and also allow you to identify what constitutes standards of ethical practice. You are to complete Part A to D of this assessment.
Part A) Listed below are two sources of information on the sexually transmitted disease, syphilis. One of these information sources is a peer reviewed journal article and the other is a publicly available website. You are to read both documents and in no more than 500 words, compare and contrast the format, style, content, and intended audience of these sources of information.
When compiling your response you need to provide justification for your points of similarity or difference. For example, if you were to say “the peer reviewed publication is a more reputable sources of information”, you would need to justify this comment by using examples from either or both of the documents as to why you feel this is the case. You may choose to present your responses to part A as dot points or in a table, if you feel this helps with making your communication more succinct. Sentences and paragraphs are also acceptable ways to present your response. You do not need to insert any references in your response to part A.
Peer review source of information
Source – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999316/?report=printable
Non-peer reviewed source of information
Source - https://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/syphilis#1
Part B) In no more than 200 words, explain why peer reviewed journal articles are a preferred source of information in comparison to publicly available websites (for example – Wikipedia, webMD, livestrong) when preparing assessments and other scholarly documents. You should present this response as full sentences. Dot points and tables are not acceptable presentation styles when answering this question. You do not need to insert any references in your response to part B.
Part C) In no more than 200 words, explain the differences and similarities between primary and secondary literature. Provide by way of references, one example of a primary journal article and one secondary journal article. Ensure the references you provide are presented in the Harvard format. It is not suitable to use any of the given information sources (either those given in Part A of this assessment or those contained on the unit moodle page / in lecture slides) as your examples. You must find your own examples of primary and secondary literature when responding to this question.
Part D) The Tuskegee syphilis study was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S. Public Health Service. The study involved monitoring the natural progression of untreated syphilis in African-American men who were under the guise they were receiving free health care from the government. In your own words identify the unethical issues associated with this study, the impact it had on the participants and the long term impact it has had on the participation of African-American people in medical research. Your response should be no more than 750 words, written in full sentences / paragraphs and reference a minimum of 3 peer-reviewed journal articles. Make sure to include a full reference list at the end of your response. The reference list is not included in the word count. Also note that, whilst a discussion about the Tuskegee study was presented during lectures, it is advisable you undertake further review of literature on this topic before compiling your response so you are fully informed of details and events which are associated with this study.
Week 5 Friday (6 Apr 2018) 5:00 pm AEST
Students are required to upload their assessments to the moodle page prior to the submission deadline. Submission of work after this deadline will incur a 5% penalty per day or part there of.
Week 7 Friday (27 Apr 2018)
Feedback for this assessment task will be uploaded to the moodle page.
A detailed criteria sheet can be found on the unit moodle page, however assessment will be based on knowledge of theory, rationalization and justification of your arguments/ideas, presentation and referencing.
The division of marks for each question on this assessment is as follows:
- Part A 20%
- Part B 20%
- Part C 20%
- Part D 30%
- Spelling / grammar and presentation 10%
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Evaluate standards of professional practice in medical science
- Develop communication skills used in professional practice.
2 Group Work
This task is a written, group work assignment centred on one of the following diseases – asthma, type 2 diabetes mellitus, tuberculosis or hepatitis B. There are four parts to this assessment (Part A to D). Working in small groups, you are to provide responses for both Part A and Part B as they relate to your chosen disease and submit one completed copy of your lab manual as Part C. Part D is completed individually and allows you the opportunity to evaluate the contribution made by each group member towards your final submission. More detailed information about the requirements for each part are outlined below.
The groups will be assigned by the unit coordinator, however in doing so, consideration will be given for what disease you wish to report on. You can specify what disease you wish to report on before the allocation of groups has been made by completing the survey located on the unit moodle site (the survey can be located under “Essential information” tab). You have until 5:00pm AEST on Friday the 6th of April to specify what disease you wish to report on, after this time groups will be assigned. If you have not nominated which disease you wish to report on by the aforementioned deadline, you will be randomly assigned one.
Part A)
In no more than 750 words, relate historical evidence and global perspectives to the diagnosis, treatment and management of your chosen disease. In completing part A you need to -
- Identify the medical professionals who were historically responsible for diagnosing, treating or managing this condition (were doctors the only ones responsible for this process or were other medical professionals also involved) and compare this to the people who are involved in the diagnosis, treatment or management of the condition today (are there new or emerging medical professions which assist in this process).
- Identify what impact the advancement of technology has had on procedures and processes used to diagnose, treat or manage this condition.
- Identify one important event that has impacted on diagnosing, treating or managing this condition.
Part B)
In no more than 500 words, outline how one of the following medical science disciplines - clinical measurement, medical laboratory sciences, nutrition or biotechnology, can assist in diagnosing, treating or managing your chosen disease. In completing part B you need to –
- Provide an overview of how one of the medical science disciplines can diagnose, treat or manage this condition.
- Provide a specific example of how one of the techniques or experiments performed at residential school can assist in the diagnosis, treatment or management of this condition.
Part C)
You are to submit a copy of the laboratory manual which contains your results, answers and calculations from residential school. You may choose to submit a scanned copy of your laboratory manual with handwritten responses or a copy which contains typed responses. Please note there are two copies of the laboratory manual uploaded to the unit moodle page. One copy contains background information, instructions, questions and spaces for answers/responses for each practical, the second only contains the questions and spaces for answers/responses. To reduce the size of the files being submitted you should submit the second version of the laboratory manual (the one which only contains the questions and answers).
Part D)
You are required to provide feedback on the contribution each group member made during the preparation and submission of your assessment. You will assess your fellow group members based upon attitude and willingness to contribute to the groups goal, timeliness in completing the nominated tasks and quality of the work they delivered. You will provide feedback using an online system and links to this activity can be found under the "Essential information" tab on the unit moodle page. As you will need to submit your assessment before evaluating your group members contribution, Part D is to be completed no later than one week after the submission date for Parts A to C.
Important considerations when preparing and submitting your assessment –
- Groups will be assigned by the unit coordinator. Students will be assigned to a group based upon the residential school they attend and the disease they wish to report on. More information about nominating a residential school and disease is available on the unit moodle page under the “essential information” tab.
- Your responses to part A and part B should be written as full sentences and paragraphs. Dot points are not an acceptable format when providing these responses.
- As this is a group assessment item, only one person within your team needs to submit Part A to C on behalf of everyone. However all group members should list their name and student number at the top of the first page, along with which disease you have chosen to report on. You may find it useful to present this information in a table like the one below. It should also be noted that only one copy of the laboratory manual needs to be submitted for this task. The responses to Part A, Part B and Part C (answers to the laboratory activities) should be submitted by the same group member.
- Part D is to be completed individually and all group members are required to provide feedback.
First name | Last name | Student number | |
Group member 1 | |||
Group member 2 | |||
Group member 3 | |||
Group member 4 | |||
Disease this assessment is based upon |
This assessment is due two weeks after attending residential school (for those students who attend residential school on Monday the 23rd and Tuesday the 24th of April, you must submit your work by 5:00pm AEST Tuesday the 8th of May, for those students who attend residential school on Monday the 14th and Tuesday the 15th of May you must submit your work by 5:00pm AEST Tuesday the 29th of May). Submission of work after these deadlines will incur a 5% penalty per day or part there of.
Feedback for this assessment task will be uploaded to the moodle page, on certification of grades.
A detailed criteria sheet can be found on the unit moodle page, however assessment will be based on knowledge of theory, rationalization and justification of your arguments/ideas, presentation, referencing and correctness of calculations. Your fellow group members
The division of marks for each questions / criteria on this assessment is as follows:
- Part A 20%
- Part B 20%
- Part C 48%
- Part D 12%
- Communication
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
- Relate historical evidence and global perspectives to the application of medical science in modern healthcare
- Evaluate standards of professional practice in medical science
- Perform investigative procedures used in medical science
- Develop communication skills used in professional practice.
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.