CQUniversity Unit Profile.

The purpose of this practical assessment is to evaluate student performance when completing an echocardiographic ultrasound examination within the clinical environment, and to evaluate the student’s professionalism and attitudes to their echocardiographic practice.

The practical assessment requires students to perform all tasks associated with echocardiographic investigation of known or suspected valvular heart disease and to demonstrate use of the non-imaging Doppler (PEDOF) probe. The echocardiogram must take place within the clinical placement environment, within a typical daily caseload, and under supervision of the clinical supervisor or delegate sonographer, unless otherwise arranged in consultation with the clinical supervisor, unit coordinator and Head of Course. 

The practical assessment must be performed on a patient (not a peer) and must be video recorded. Patients must provide written consent by completing the consent form (available on Moodle). Video recordings should focus on visualisation of the student's dynamic image optimisation attempts and aspects of knobology, and must not show the patient's identity in any form. Please refer to the Practical Assessment Video Recording Guidelines (available on Moodle).

The scanned patient must have known valvular pathology, or there must be high clinical suspicion for valvular pathology. Students must complete a comprehensive protocol. In addition, no matter the valvular pathology evident, PEDOF acquisition of the systolic aortic signal must be attempted from all available windows. To demonstrate a typical caseload, students must also submit DICOM imaging and departmental reports from the echocardiograms performed before and after the practical assessment scan.

There are three (3) components to the marking tool for this assessment:

• Section A is completed by the clinical supervisor. The clinical supervisor or delegate will provide authentic observations and feedback relating to student performance. The assessor may pose questions to the student prior to, during or after the echocardiographic examination, to clarify understanding of any of the assessment criteria.
• Section B is completed by the student. Students must provide a written reflection on their own sonographic practice (minimum 200 words). Further details relating to this section can be found on the practical assessment marking tool and the unit Moodle site.
• Section C is completed by the unit coordinator or nominated academic staff member. Final moderation for this assessment is aligned against competency expectations as detailed in the marking tool.

The practical assessment marking tool details criterion that students must demonstrate to pass this assessment task, including:

• Pre-examination tasks (including professional behaviour and instrumentation).
• Examination tasks (including scanning technique and protocol, two-dimensional/colour/spectral Doppler optimisation, and measurement technique).
• Post examination tasks (including documentation, interpretation and communication, professionalism and additional tasks). 

Submission for this assessment task must consist of:

• Completed Practical Assessment Marking Tool (uploaded to Moodle in pdf format).
• Signed patient consent forms – for video recording and sharing of echocardiographic images for education purposes (uploaded to Moodle in pdf format).
• Departmental TTE reports for all three echocardiograms performed (uploaded to Moodle in pdf format).
• Video recording (uploaded to Echo360 with link shared in the 'online text' section of the Moodle submission).
• DICOM images including: the TTE performed for the practical assessment, the TTE performed prior to the practical assessment, and the TTE performed after the practical assessment (uploaded to Google Drive or OneDrive with link shared through the 'online text' section of the Moodle submission).

Confidentiality standards must be adhered to throughout all components of this assessment. Video recordings should focus on visualisation of the student's dynamic optimisation attempts and aspects of knobology, and must not show patient identity in any form. Advice on video recordings is available on the unit Moodle site. The student must request permission from the patient to provide their images and information to CQUniversity for educational purposes. Patients must provide written consent by completing a consent form (available on Moodle).

This assessment task must take place in the 11th week of placement, thus allowing sufficient time for improvement before a second attempt (if required) prior to completion of the clinical placement block. The final submission of all components is then due on Monday of week 12. If the first attempt at this assessment task is deemed unsatisfactory by the unit coordinator, only one re-attempt will be permitted. Students that fail the first attempt at this assessment should discuss their strategy for performance improvement with both their assessor and unit coordinator. The re-attempt practical assessment must be scheduled prior to the completion of the clinical placement block and may require supervision from the unit coordinator or nominated representative, in conjunction with the clinical supervisor. In some instances, students may be required to attend their local campus to complete the re-attempt.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment. CQUniversity Assessment Policy and Procedure guidelines apply to assessments for work integrated learning units. Students are responsible for meeting published or advised submission dates. Any delays in assessment submissions, in the absence of an approved extension or extenuating circumstances, may result in a fail grade and will be brought to the attention of the Deputy Dean of Learning and Teaching. Students are advised to refer to the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework) document for additional university guidelines regarding assessments.

Level of GenAI use allowed is Level 1: You must not use Al at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

To pass this assessment, students must pass ALL criterion descriptors as specified on the marking tool, in accordance with the unit-specific competency level descriptor. Expected levels of competency are determined by industry standards¹ and are detailed in the practical assessment marking tool (available on the unit Moodle site). ECHO20005 students must address all criterion descriptors to a 'competent' level.

¹ Childs, Jessie; Thoirs, Kerry; Osborne, Brooke; Halligan, Toni; Stoodley, Paul; Quinton, Ann; et al. (2021): Professional Competency Framework for Sonographers. figshare. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17148035.v2.

Clinical sites mention professional behaviour, particularly team work and empathy, as paramount in their decision to employ a sonographer. This assessment considers the ability of the student to communicate professionally with a diverse cultural audience of patients, staff and the general public, demonstrate professional respect for all, and function as a reliable, well organised member of the health team.

The clinical supervisor, or delegate, will be working in the echocardiography lab with the student, directly observing day-to-day performance. These observations and collective feedback will relate to the student's demonstration of knowledge, skills and behaviours over a span of time, not limited to a particular scan type or patient case. The observations and feedback are then used to complete the Global Assessment of Professional Attributes (GAPA) form.

There are three main sections to the GAPA form:

• Section 1: Applied Knowledge.
• Section 2: Psychomotor skills and Standard of Work.
• Section 3: Professionalism.

In each section there are multiple observable behaviours that the student is required to demonstrate throughout the placement. The assessor will score the performance of the student based on how frequently, and to what extent, each of the listed behaviours are demonstrated. The assessor is also encouraged to provide comments to expand on the scoring feedback.

This assessment is performed TWICE during the placement – at the midpoint (week 8) and at the completion of placement (week 16).

The mid placement GAPA is formative. At the mid placement GAPA, the student should be given sufficient feedback to improve their behavioural performance as required. Any significant issues should be brought to the attention of the unit coordinator following the mid placement GAPA (or earlier if required).

The end-of-placement GAPA assessment is summative. For any behaviour that the student scores well on at the mid-placement assessment, it is expected they will continue to meet that level of performance or surpass it for the rest of the placement.

Clinical supervisors are urged to contact the unit coordinator immediately for guidance if:

• Student behaviour is identified as ‘inappropriate and beyond acceptable risk’ to clinical site staff, patients and/or reputation.
• Student skill progression is deemed insufficient despite documented constructive feedback, support, and intervention.
   

The unit coordinator may request performance of a GAPA assessment at any time during a student placement. If the outcome of this GAPA is unsatisfactory, and/or site feedback indicates they can no longer host the student due to the risk incurred, lack of skill progression or unprofessional behaviour, this singular GAPA result may result in a FAIL grade and immediate clinical placement termination (prior to student completion of the allocated practicum block).

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment. CQUniversity Assessment Policy and Procedure guidelines apply to assessments for work integrated learning units. Students are responsible for meeting published or advised submission dates. Any delays in assessment submissions, in the absence of an approved extension or extenuating circumstances, may result in a fail grade and will be brought to the attention of the Deputy Dean of Learning and Teaching. Students are advised to refer to the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework) document for additional university guidelines regarding assessments.

Level of GenAI use allowed is Level 1: You must not use Al at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

To pass this assessment, students must pass ALL criterion descriptors as specified on the marking tool, in accordance with the unit-specific competency level descriptor. Expected levels of competency are determined by industry standards¹ and are detailed in the GAPA marking tool (available on the unit Moodle site). ECHO20005 students must address all criterion descriptors to a 'competent' level.

If minimum scores in the mid-placement (formative) GAPA are not met, a student may be regarded as a 'Student at Risk' of failing the clinical unit overall.

• The unit coordinator will contact the student to advise of the risk of failing the unit and provide formative feedback via email.
• The student is required to respond to this email to show they understand the implications of this information.
• The student must reflect on their performance and the feedback provided, and develop an action plan to address any areas of performance that are not yet at the target level for this placement, and use the remaining weeks to achieve those targets.
• Review of the student’s progress may be completed a short time after the mid placement GAPA, at any time as requested by the clinical supervisor or unit coordinator.
   

If behavioural attributes within any section of the GAPA are deemed a 'patient safety risk', student placement may be cancelled immediately, prior to completion of the allocated clinical placement block.

Unsatisfactory scores obtained at the second GAPA attempt, will result in a FAIL grade for the unit overall.

¹ Childs, Jessie; Thoirs, Kerry; Osborne, Brooke; Halligan, Toni; Stoodley, Paul; Quinton, Ann; et al. (2021): Professional Competency Framework for Sonographers. figshare. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17148035.v2.

This assessment tracks clinical experience. The clinical case log provides insight into progression of the student's skill development within and across examination types during their placement block. All observed, partially completed or fully completed echocardiography cases a student is exposed to during clinical placement attendance must be documented in this log. All log entries must be verified by the clinical supervisor or delegate. 

Maintenance of the clinical case log helps to ensure that an acceptable volume of clinical work is achieved, exposure to a reasonable case variety is obtained, and key practical skills are developing. The clinical case log documents weekly case volume and includes:

• Date of each examination
• Unique identifier (ensuring anonymised patient details)
• Referral indication/s
• Type of echocardiogram performed (adult, paediatric, stress, TOE)
• Student level of participation (observed, partially completed or fully completed)
• Case findings summary
• Case category (ventricular, valvular, congenital, other)
• PEDOF probe use (only PEDOF performed by the student should be logged here)
• Statistics on scan completion, PEDOF use and valvular pathology encounters

The Clinical Case Log will be available as a cloud-based file (Google Sheets). Every four weeks, the clinical supervisor must review and approve case log details, then sign the relevant section on the Clinical Attendance Log. Logs must be exported from the cloud-based system and uploaded to Moodle every four weeks.

While weekly case numbers may fluctuate due to variability in case complexity and service demands, a gradual upward trajectory is expected as the placement progresses, reflecting the development of student competence and proficiency. In preparation for work readiness and graduation, it is reasonable to expect that by the end of this clinical placement block, students will be capable of managing an average daily caseload of approximately 8–10 scans per day. If clinical exposure, supervision, or individual progression is not supporting skill development at an appropriate rate, students are required to contact the unit coordinator promptly for guidance and support.

Students should be engaging in learning opportunities and gaining exposure to a variety of pathologies and scan types during their clinical placement block. To ensure key areas of knowledge and clinical experience are reflected on, students are required to organise caseloads according to echocardiographic outcomes. Note that ‘ventricular function’ may include diastolic dysfunction as well as systolic; ‘valvular’ should include significant valvular pathology, where quantitative investigation has been performed; ‘congenital’ may include any previously repaired congenital anomalies; ‘other’ pathologies include masses, effusions, aortopathies etc.; and ‘PEDOF’ imaging should include investigation from multiple acoustic windows and identification of multiple waveforms (not simply AS).

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment. CQUniversity Assessment Policy and Procedure guidelines apply to assessments for work integrated learning units. Students are responsible for meeting published or advised submission dates. Any delays in assessment submissions, in the absence of an approved extension or extenuating circumstances, may result in a fail grade and will be brought to the attention of the Deputy Dean of Learning and Teaching. Students are advised to refer to the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework) document for additional university guidelines regarding assessments.

Level of GenAI use allowed is Level 1: You must not use Al at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

To pass this assessment, students must log caseloads appropriately, ensuring documentation is complete, true and accurate. Logs must be reviewed and approved every four weeks, by the clinical supervisor or delegate, and then exported and submitted to Moodle by the published due dates.

CQUniversity Assessment Policy and Procedure guidelines, including academic integrity standards, apply to this assessment task. Random audits of data may be undertaken by the unit coordinator in consultation with clinical supervisors or other clinical placement staff.

Case study submissions support the development of clinical reasoning, prompt student reflection, and encourage self-improvement of technical and research skills, pathology knowledge and assessment strategies.

Students are required to submit two (2) pre-recorded case study presentations, accompanied by supporting documentation and DICOM imaging. Each echocardiographic study must have been completed by the student within this placement block (students must have acquired at least 80% of the images; any images acquired by the clinical supervisor must be labelled or identified accordingly). In previous clinical units, case study submissions involved evaluation of ventricular function and valvular pathologies. In this final clinical unit:

• One case study must evaluate congenital pathology; this may include previously repaired congenital conditions.
• One case study must evaluate any 'other' pathology of the student's choosing; this may include pericardial disease, aortopathies, pulmonary disease, masses etc.
• Students who do not encounter a suitable case in clinical practice should contact the unit coordinator in advance of submission dates.

There are multiple components to each case study assessment, which must be submitted through Moodle as follows:

• The video recording of the presentation must be uploaded to Echo360 with the link shared through the 'online text' section in the Moodle submission. The recording must include audio and video of the presenting student and must not exceed 25 minutes duration.
• The presented slide deck and script must be uploaded in pdf format, to allow Turnitin evaluation.
• The departmental TTE report (anonymised unless patient consent is provided) must be uploaded in pdf format.
• The patient consent form (where imaging cannot be anonymised) must be uploaded in odf format.
• The DICOM set of the case study scan itself (anonymised unless patient consent is provided) must be uploaded to Google Drive or OneDrive, with the link shared through the 'online text' section in the Moodle submission. File types other than DICOM are not an acceptable format for viewing diagnostic imaging and will not be accepted for submission.

Students are required to participate in one case study discussion meeting (via Zoom) with the unit coordinator or academic staff member, 2 weeks prior to their first case study submission date (this falls around week 4 in a standard clinical practicum schedule). These meetings are formative and will not contribute to the final case study marking, but discussions may support student skill development, provide timely feedback to enable any refinements to be made, and ensure DICOM images are accessible and appropriate. Students may choose to engage in another case study discussion prior to their second case study submission but this is not mandatory. Students must contact the unit coordinator to arrange these meetings.

Students may be required to participate in an additional follow-up question and answer session after they have submitted their presentation, if the unit coordinator (or assessor) requires further information to ascertain competency.

Maintenance of patient confidentiality must be adhered to throughout both imaging and presentation components of the case study. If all attempts to de-identify echocardiographic images or reports have failed, the student must request permission from the patient to provide their images and/or information to CQUniversity for educational purposes. The patient must provide written consent by completing the form provided on the unit Moodle site and this patient consent form must be submitted with the case study.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment. CQUniversity Assessment Policy and Procedure guidelines apply to assessments for work integrated learning units. Students are responsible for meeting published or advised submission dates. Any delays in assessment submissions, in the absence of an approved extension or extenuating circumstances, may result in a fail grade and will be brought to the attention of the Deputy Dean of Learning and Teaching. Students are advised to refer to the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework) document for additional university guidelines regarding assessments.

Level of GenAI use allowed is Level 3: You may use AI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify any AI-generated content you use.

To pass this assessment, students must pass ALL criterion descriptors as specified on the marking rubric, in accordance with the unit-specific competency level descriptor. Expected levels of competency are determined by industry standards¹ and are detailed in the case study rubric (available on the unit Moodle site). ECHO20005 students must address all criterion descriptors to a 'competent' level.

There are two components to each case study assessment: the presentation component and the imaging component. Both components must be passed to pass the case study overall. Case studies that do not achieve a pass grade will be returned to the student with appropriate feedback. Students are permitted one re-submission opportunity for each case study (imaging component and/or written component as required). Any re-submission attempt will be due within two (2) weeks of receiving feedback.

The case study rubric details criterion that students must demonstrate to pass this assessment task:

• Patient presentation and clinical interactions
• Formulation of differential diagnoses and/or expected TTE findings
• Assessment strategy
• Critique of imaging and scan limitations
• Interpretation and supporting rationale
• Clinical reasoning
• Reflective practice
• Professionalism and academic standards
• Scanning technique
• Measurement technique

¹ Childs, Jessie; Thoirs, Kerry; Osborne, Brooke; Halligan, Toni; Stoodley, Paul; Quinton, Ann; et al. (2021): Professional Competency Framework for Sonographers. figshare. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17148035.v2.

This assessment tracks clinical attendance during the ECHO20005 placement block. All hours dedicated to echocardiography must be documented in this log, including those experienced ‘outside of clinical placement’ as approved by the unit coordinator. All hours of attendance must be approved by an ASAR registered clinical supervisor or appropriately qualified medical practitioner. Students must complete a minimum of 640 hours Echo-related clinical attendance during this unit, to contribute to the mandatory hours of clinical experience as required by the Australian Sonography Accreditation Registry (ASAR).

The Clinical Attendance Log will be available as a cloud-based file (Google Sheets). Every four weeks, the clinical supervisor must review and approve attendance log details, then sign the relevant section on the Clinical Attendance Log. Logs must be exported from the cloud-based system and uploaded to Moodle every four weeks.

Students must consult the 'Bachelor of Echocardiography and Cardiac Physiology Student and Clinical Supervisor Handbook' and the 'Work-Integrated Learning Policy and Procedure' documents (available on the unit Moodle site and the CV69 portal) to understand clinical attendance requirements. If disruption to usual attendance occurs, the student must contact the unit coordinator immediately. Where unexpected absences occur and are documented appropriately, the WIL team will endeavour to provide additional scheduled placement time to make up attendance hours. However, this scheduled time may not necessarily follow the original placement dates and may occur at a different placement site. Inappropriate or undocumented absences may not be eligible for WIL negotiation to contracts. In this instance, students may not achieve the minimum requisite hours and may score a fail outcome for this assessment item.

• Students must not organise holidays, recreational leave or personal appointments during clinical placement periods, in the absence of prior written approval.
• Students must notify the clinical placement site PRIOR to their scheduled start time if they will be late arriving to the clinical placement site for any individual day throughout the clinical placement.
• Students who are absent from clinical placement due to illness or injury must contact their clinical supervisor and email their unit coordinator PRIOR to the scheduled start time for that day. Any clinical placement hours missed due to illness or injury must be made up and students must provide the clinical supervisor and unit coordinator with supporting documentation (medical certificate or statutory declaration).
• Any injury that occurs while on placement must be reported immediately to the clinical supervisor and unit coordinator. Medical clearance may be required before returning to placement. For more information, please refer to the Clinical Placement Attendance Guidelines available through SONIA or the unit Moodle site.
• Public holidays recognised by CQUniversity are outlined on the academic calendar. When a public holiday falls during a clinical placement block, public holiday dates can be entered as 8 hours for each day into the Clinical Attendance Forms and hours are not required to be made up. If a designated University student vacation period coincides with the clinical placement period, students are expected to attend during this time.
• Students must be aware that the attendance of clinical placement takes precedence over any personal work commitments.
• In the event of illness and/or injury, students may be permitted to supplement up to 25% of required unit hours from 'outside of clinical placement'. These hours must be documented within three (3) months prior to unit enrolment and approved by the unit coordinator. Outside of clinical placement hours may not be utilised for personal leave requests.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment. CQUniversity Assessment Policy and Procedure guidelines apply to assessments for work integrated learning units. Students are responsible for meeting published or advised submission dates. Any delays in assessment submissions, in the absence of an approved extension or extenuating circumstances, may result in a fail grade and will be brought to the attention of the Deputy Dean of Learning and Teaching. Students are advised to refer to the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework) document for additional university guidelines regarding assessments.

Level of GenAI use allowed is Level 1: You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

To pass this assessment, students must attend clinical placement for the minimum required hours (640 hours) and log attendance appropriately, ensuring documentation is complete, true and accurate. Logs must be reviewed and approved every four weeks, by the clinical supervisor or delegate, and then exported and submitted to Moodle by the published due dates.

CQUniversity Assessment Policy and Procedure guidelines, including academic integrity standards, apply to this assessment task. Random audits of data may be undertaken by the unit coordinator in consultation with clinical supervisors or other clinical placement staff.

This assessment task is designed to moderate clinical competence, to ensure safe practice upon graduation. The demonstration of echocardiography and cardiac physiology knowledge, skills and attitudes at a graduate level will be assessed using an OSCE— Objective Structured Clinical Examination— format.

The OSCE consists of two (2) components. Together, these tasks simulate clinical practice and evaluate key requirements for an entry-level (accredited) cardiac sonographer. The components of the OSCE assessment are:

• Clinical Decision-Making and Professional Standards (Component A)
• Theory and Interpretation (Component B)

In the OSCE Part A (Clinical Decision-Making and Professional Standards):

• Students will participate in viva discussions with the unit coordinator or nominated academic staff member.
• Students will be presented with mock patient referrals and hypothetical clinical scenarios, and will be assessed on a variety of aspects of clinical practice which may include: professional behaviour and communication, clinical presentations and common pathophysiology, and differential diagnoses.
• Discussions will occur via Zoom and will be recorded for moderation purposes. Video display must be activated at all times during these Zoom meetings.

This component must be conducted prior to completion of the placement block and will be scheduled during placement hours in consultation with the student, clinical supervisor and nominated academic staff member. It is recommended this task be attempted in week 14 of clinical placement. Should students fail the OSCE component part A, they will be afforded two (2) opportunities to re-attempt this component.

In the OSCE Part B (Theory and Interpretation):

• Students will be required to interpret and evaluate a range of clinical images, encompassing evaluation of key knowledge criteria required for competence as an entry-level (accredited) cardiac sonographer.
• Images will be provided in slide deck format, organised into four categories (Ventricular, Valvular, Congenital and Other).
• Assessable content is covered in detail within the CV69 Bachelor of Echocardiography and Cardiac Physiology / Graduate Diploma of Echocardiography curriculum.
• The question paper will provide space for written responses. Writing implements and a simple (non-programmable) calculator will be required.
• Students will be provided with a paper copy of the 'TTE Reference Guide' document (available on the unit Moodle site). Students should familiarise themselves with this document, which includes industry-recognised reference ranges and generic prompts for haemodynamic formulae. This is otherwise a closed book assessment.
• Total time allocation for this component is 90 minutes.

This component will be invigilated on campus, unless otherwise arranged in consultation with the clinical supervisor, unit coordinator and Head of Course. Should a student fail this assessment task, one (1) re-attempt will be permitted.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment. CQUniversity Assessment Policy and Procedure guidelines apply to assessments for work integrated learning units. Students are responsible for meeting published or advised submission dates. Any delays in assessment submissions, in the absence of an approved extension or extenuating circumstances, may result in a fail grade and will be brought to the attention of the Deputy Dean of Learning and Teaching. Students are advised to refer to the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework) document for additional university guidelines regarding assessments.

Level of GenAI use allowed is Level 1: You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

To pass this assessment, students must pass ALL criterion descriptors as specified on the marking tool, to an 'entry-level' competency. Expected levels of competency are determined by industry standards¹ and are detailed in the OSCE marking tool (available on the unit Moodle site).

¹ Childs, Jessie; Thoirs, Kerry; Osborne, Brooke; Halligan, Toni; Stoodley, Paul; Quinton, Ann; et al. (2021): Professional Competency Framework for Sonographers. figshare. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17148035.v2.