CQUniversity Unit Profile.

Staff workplace attendance and the ability to participate in rosters are critical to the success and morale of a medical imaging team, and therefore the quality of patient care provided by that team.

For this unit you must attend 5 weeks of full-time clinical placement (or the equivalent number of days through an alternative scheduling arrangement), excluding public holidays. The placement location(s) and timing are arranged to provide sufficient learning and assessment opportunities for students to meet the unit outcomes.

Your rostering, including daily start and end times, is determined by the clinical supervisor of the allocated placement site. The roster depends on the scheduling of imaging procedures that are relevant to your educational requirements, the typical hours of operation of the clinical facility and availability of sufficient supervision. You should not expect the roster to be modified to suit your personal life. There are no allocated personal leave days during this placement. You will not be permitted to work extra shifts to reduce the duration of placement.

You are required to achieve 100% attendance. This is defined as attending all hours relative to the quantity of time that you have been rostered by your clinical supervisor during the 5 week placement, minus any absence approved by both your clinical supervisor and unit coordinator. Other than for exceptional approved circumstances as stated above, all missed time must be made up. Any time to be made up is to be scheduled at the convenience of the clinical site. This may result in extension of the work day, work week or placement length, or may require you to attend placement at a different location. Note that not all facilities have extended hours of operation so opportunities to make up time are site-dependent. You are not required to attend on any public holidays that fall within your rostered weeks, nor are you required to make up those days.

If you need to be absent, you must inform both your clinical supervisor and unit coordinator as soon as possible, preferably in advance of the missed time. If you have justifiable grounds for having missed time, you may apply for special consideration of the missed time to the unit coordinator by providing supporting documentation. This may impact the quantity of time you are required to make up.

You will document your attendance relative to your rostered time each week in the weekly logbook file. You must include any episodes of absence, lateness or early departure in the comments section.

To attain a 'Pass' in this task, you must:

• complete 100% attendance as defined above, and
• have documented all attendance accurately and completely in your weekly log, and
• have submitted each week's completed log file within three days of completing your weekly shift.

The clinical logbook serves as a record of your depth and breadth of experience attained during the placement. It demonstrates the degree of progression of your skill development within and across procedure types. You should use this record to inform your reflection on learning and in formulating weekly learning goals that will support achievement of the unit outcomes.

You must record in the electronic log tool (the Excel spreadsheet file provided on the unit Moodle site) a weekly listing of every imaging examination in which you participate. Examination information is to be recorded in such a way as to maintain patient confidentiality. Your level of involvement in the examination is to be categorised as observed, assisted or performed, using the definitions provided. There are no minimum or maximum target numbers for any category of involvement, nor are there target numbers for any examination type.

You must also log any performance assessments you have attempted, whether passed or failed.  All completed assessment forms are an extension of your log documentation, as they provide further evidence of your clinical learning experiences. Log any meetings, image critique sessions or other feedback/learning activities with your clinical supervisor or other clinical educator.  Log your mid-placement and end-of-placement global assessments of professional attributes, including both the assessment results and summary of discussion with your supervisor.

The weekly log is a multi-sheet Excel workbook with built-in calculations to track your progress during the placement. You must use Microsoft Excel for your logbook updating (rather than any other spreadsheet-editing software). The reason for this is that when you switch the file from Excel to another format and then back to an Excel file, many calculations that span across worksheets disappear and the final unit tally page doesn't function. You must follow the log instructions provided on the unit Moodle site and within the log in order to ensure that tracking calculations are correct. This same master file must be updated weekly, so that each week’s submission contains a running tally of the entries from all weeks completed to date.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you have regular access to the technology needed to complete the spreadsheet each week. If you have a technical issue or personal circumstances that prevent you from being able to complete and upload your file by the weekly deadline, you MUST inform the unit coordinator of the situation, as this will require obtaining approval for an assessment extension. In the absence of an approved assessment extension, your failure to meet the weekly upload deadline will result in a Fail grade for this assessment item.

The logbook is assessed on accuracy and completeness of information entered and on timeliness of submissions. Should any week's upload have noticeable gaps, errors or omissions, you will be given one week to correct and resubmit that week's log.

In order to achieve a 'Pass' for this assessment task, you must:

• ensure that your logbook is complete and accurate with respect to attendance, participation in imaging examinations, assessments undertaken, supervisor meetings and any other educational activities, and
• submit your completed log book within 3 days of completing your last rostered shift of the week.

During the five weeks of clinical experience, you are expected to further develop proficiency in general radiography of the axial and appendicular skeleton (including craniofacial structures), chest and abdomen. Once you have performed a given examination type multiple times and are able to carry it out with a moderate amount of guidance and correction from the supervising radiographer (refer to table below in Assessment Criteria section), you are to request an assessment in that examination type.

Performance assessments will be conducted by your clinical supervisor or a radiographer designated as an assessor by your supervisor. The assessor will observe you as you perform one radiographic examination. Your assessor will use the assessment tool provided on the unit Moodle site to document the level of independence, completeness and correctness you have demonstrated in each of the required tasks. The assessment is formative as well as summative in that it provides you with feedback on your relative strengths and areas for improvement. Should you not attain the minimum required score, you should create a remediation plan based on the feedback. Once you have carried out that remediation you may re-attempt the assessment.

Over the course of the placement, you must pass five performance assessments in general radiography. All five assessments must be completed on different regions of the body as classified below. Three of the five must be from the regions of the spine, craniofacial, bony thorax, shoulder girdle or pelvic girdle. The fourth and fifth assessments may be on any other region of the body not assessed within the first three performance assessments. 

• upper extremities
• lower extremities
• shoulder girdle
• pelvic girdle
• bony thorax
• spine
• chest
• abdomen
• craniofacial
• dental

You need to ensure that each completed assessment form has all required information, including the name, dated signature and MRPBA registration number of your assessor, as well as your dated signature. This is the case whether you have passed or failed the assessment. You are responsible for ensuring that your supervisor knows the outcome of each attempted assessment and that he/she is provided with the original of the completed assessment form. Your supervisor will provide you with a copy of the completed assessment form. You will then scan it and upload each form into the course Moodle site using the link provided.

There is no limit to the number of attempts you may make at any performance assessment. However, you must recognise that the clinical site staff's first priority is patient care. Opportunities for assessment are limited by the time available as well as the availability of suitable patients and suitable examinations. You need to take initiative in starting the assessment process in a timely manner in order to ensure you will complete the assessments in the placement time available. If there are extenuating circumstances at the clinical facility that limit your ability to access radiographic examinations to undergo assessments, then you must discuss this with your clinical supervisor AND contact the unit coordinator in a timely manner. In the absence of an approved assessment extension, if you have not met all of the minimum criteria for achieving a score of 'Pass' on this assessment, you will receive a Fail grade for the unit.

Meet the minimum requirements for each assessment, as detailed above in the Assessment Criteria. Each performance assessment measures your ability to carry out the core tasks of a radiographic imaging examination. These twelve tasks are detailed on the assessment form. Two tasks are 'critical' and the others are 'non-critical'. The assessor will score your observed performance of each listed task using the 1 - 6 scale:

To achieve a 'Pass' score on an individual general radiography performance assessment, you must achieve the following scores:

• a minimum score of 5 on both critical tasks
• zero tasks scored at 1 or 2
• no more than 2 non-critical tasks scored at 3
• at least 2 non-critical tasks scored at 5 or better
• all remaining non-critical tasks scored at 4 or better

In order to achieve a grade of 'Pass' in this assessment task, you must:

• by the final scheduled day of the clinical placement, achieve a 'Pass' score (as detailed above) in five general radiography assessments (on body regions as detailed in the Task Description above);
• ensure the documentation of each assessment is complete (as detailed in the Task Description above); and
• upload each completed assessment form into Moodle within three days of the last rostered shift of the week in which the assessment was completed.

Clinical placement occurs in the professional workplace. As a clinical student you are provided access to that workplace on the condition that you demonstrate behaviours and attributes of a healthcare professional and present a positive image to the clinical facility's staff and clients. As a student in a regulated healthcare profession in Australia, you are also required to be working toward consistent compliance with the Code of Conduct for regulated health professionals.

Your clinical supervisor will be working in the imaging areas with you, directly observing your day-to-day performance, and/or obtaining feedback from supervising radiographers who are doing so. These observations and collected feedback relate to your demonstrated knowledge, skills and behaviours over a span of time, not limited to a particular examination type or patient case. The observations and feedback are then used to complete the Global Assessment of Professional Attributes (GAPA) form provided.

There are three main sections to the assessment form:

• Section 1: initiative and communication
• Section 2: responsibility and demeanour
• Section 3: overall technical knowledge and skill

In each section there are multiple observable behaviours that are required. Your assessor will score your performance based on how frequently and to what extent you demonstrate each of the listed behaviours. Your assessor is also encouraged to provide comments to expand on the scoring feedback.

This assessment occurs twice during the placement. The first occurs during the third week of the placement. The second occurs toward the end of the final (fifth) week of the placement. The mid-placement assessment is formative, meaning its only function is to provide you with formal documented feedback on your performance. You are expected to use that feedback to reflect on your performance, 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. For any behaviour that you score well on at the mid-placement assessment, it is expected that you will continue to meet that level of performance or surpass it for the remainder of the placement.

The end-of-placement is summative, in that its primary use is to evaluate and document your performance relative to the stated performance targets, and your grade in the assessment depends on where you stand relative to those performance targets. As this placement is only the second of five in the course, you should use this end-of-placement assessment as formative as well, to help inform your plans for improvement that you can implement in future placements.

Your clinical supervisor (or designated assessor) will meet with you after completing each assessment to discuss it with you. This is your opportunity to get clarification on any score or comment on the assessment. Once you have had that discussion, you both need to sign and date the assessment. You need to ensure that each completed assessment form has all required information, including the name, dated signature and MRPBA registration number of your assessor as well as your dated signature. Your supervisor will provide you with a copy of the completed assessment form.

For both GAPA's, prior to meeting with your supervisor, you must also use the assessment tool to self-assess your behaviours. Take this form with you to your meeting with your supervisor to aid in the discussion of your progress. This form must also be initialed and dated by your supervisor and yourself. You must then scan the supervisor-assessed and self-assessed GAPA forms and upload the files into the unit Moodle site using the link provided.

You are also required to log these two assessment meetings in Section 3 of your relevant weekly logs, including the meeting date and a brief summary of the discussion plus the overall score of each assessment.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you remind your clinical supervisor at least a week prior to the assessment that it needs to be done, and book a meeting with him/her toward the end of the week that the assessment is due. This gives your supervisor the opportunity to collect feedback and to designate an alternate assessor if he/she will not be available. If there are extenuating circumstances at the clinical facility that prevent you from being assessed during the required weeks, you must contact the unit coordinator in a timely manner. It is also your responsibility to ensure regular access to the technology needed to upload your assessment files by the submission due dates. In the absence of an approved assessment extension, if you have not met all of the requirements listed in the Assessment Criteria section by the stated due dates, you will fail this assessment, and because this is a pass/fail unit that means you will receive a Fail grade for the unit.

The criteria for assessment are detailed on the Global Assessment of Professional Attributes form in the form of required behaviours and attributes. The assessor will use the stated 1 - 6 scale to indicate the frequency and extent to which you demonstrate each of those.

The required behaviours and attributes are grouped into 3 sections, each with its own minimum required scores.

For Section 1: Initiative and Communication, which has nine required behaviours, the minimum required scores are:

• no scores of 1 or 2
• no more than 3 scores of 3
• no more than 1 score of NA
• the remainder of behaviours scored at 4 or higher

For Section 2: Responsibility and Demeanour, which has ten required behaviours, the minimum required scores are:

• no more than 1 score of NA
• the remainder of behaviours scored at 4 or higher

For Section 3: Overall Technical Knowledge and Skill, which has three required behaviours, the minimum required scores are:

• no scores of NA
• all behaviours scored at 3 or higher

In order to achieve a grade of 'Pass' in this assessment task, you must:

• undergo both the mid-placement and end-of-placement GAPA assessments by the due dates listed;
• on the end-of-placement supervisor-assessed GAPA, meet the minimum required scores in all three sections;
• ensure the documentation of each assessment is complete;
• upload each completed supervisor-assessed and self-assessed GAPA form into the course Moodle site by the due date.

Reflection on your clinical practice, and the process of goal setting, are necessary skills for your professional development, not only as a student, but also once qualified. This assessment further develops your skills of reflection on your development as an imaging professional and your goal-setting to improve your practice.

In order to complete this task, you must keep a note of either your technical skills using the technical reflective flow chart or a note of your skills in communication using the interaction reflective flow chart (flow charts can be found on the unit Moodle site). You would have reflected on one of these topics in your first clinical placement, MEDI12004. You MUST reflect on the other topic on this placement.

Part A: By week 3, use the relevant flow chart to assess your skills in the required area (technical or interactive).  Having assessed your skills, and received your GAPA feedback, by the end of week 3 you must reflect on one aspect of your skill set in that area. This part should be approximately 300-500 words.

Part B: Using the deeper understanding you have obtained from your reflection, develop one (1) "SMART" goal to address this particular aspect of your performance - that is, the goal must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-specific. Ensure that any goal you set is able to be completed within the final two weeks of your clinical unit. Use the SMART goal template provided on the unit Moodle site.

Part C: At the end of your clinical unit, reflect on your SMART goal and describe if you reached your goal, what you did to achieve this, or why you did not and what you could and should have done to ensure success. Describe how these goals have assisted in your continuing development as an imaging professional. Aim for approximately 500 words for Part C.

As this is reflective writing, it is acceptable to write in first person, but all external sources must be correctly referenced in the Harvard style.

This reflection is scored on a Pass/Fail basis.

You must reflect on the topic (interactive or technical) that you did not reflect upon in your first clinical placement. The reflection submission will be assessed for:

• depth of reflection regarding your perceived gaps in knowledge, technical abilities or professional behaviour;
• creation of a goal that explicitly meets the SMART criteria;
• depth of reflection regarding the achievement of your SMART goal;
• identification of how this reflection and goal setting experience has affected your development and your own learning journey; and
• clarity and format of writing (including logical flow, spelling, punctuation, grammar and correct use of Harvard system in citing external sources).

A marking rubric will be posted on the unit Moodle site. You are required to achieve a 'requirements met' score in all areas of the marking rubric. In the event that the first submission does not meet minimum requirements as per the rubric, you will be provided detailed feedback and guidance by the unit coordinator. You will then have an opportunity to revise and resubmit the report within one week of receiving feedback.

Because this is a pass/fail assessment item, in the absence of an approved extension, failure to submit by the due date will result in a 'Fail' score for this assessment, and that will result in a 'Fail' grade for the unit.