Overview
This unit builds upon your prior knowledge in research to allow you to apply previously learned key aspects of research in relation to your field of study. Using previously learned content and developing these within this unit, you will evaluate an element of clinical practice and consider how the results compare to Evidence Based Practice and published standards.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-Requisites: MEDI13005 Medical Imaging Clinical Course 3 and ESSC11004 Study and Research Skills for Health Science and ALLH12006 Evidence Based Practice for Allied Health OR NURS13117 Research in Healthcare
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 - 2017
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 course evaluation
more interaction between lecturer and students required
review what additional strategies can improve engagement of students and improve interaction in this distance run course
Video recording of lectures and regular email/forum communication from the unit coordinator enabled better interaction and engagement with students.
Feedback from course evaluation and course coordinator review
content of course better aligned with previous course content
review course content and assessments to build on previous study and extend learning
Course content was reviewed and adjusted to focus more on evidence based practice and clinical audit and research. This extended the learning beyond that studied in prior units and allowed for the application of content from this and prior units.
Feedback from course evaluation
marking rubric and assignment feedback more timely and useful
review content of assignment marking rubrics and marking feedback methods to ensure feedback is timely and effective in improving student learning
The marking rubric was reviewed and adjusted where necessary. Marking and feedback for assessment task one was completed quickly so that students were able to use the feedback to help with the production of the second task, which was closely related to the first.
Feedback from student feedback and medical imaging team discussions
creation of a research question and development of a research proposal to be isolated from clinical practice, and thus low to no value in their degree studies.
consider modification of learning goals and assessments to more evidence-based practice for quality improvement and action research
Learning goals and assessment tasks were adjusted and the focus became more on evidence based practice, quality standards and clinical audit and research
- Create a valid tool to measure clinical performance accurately
- Evaluate clinical practice using principles of quality assurance, risk management and evidence based practice.
Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia Accreditation Standards:
6.3 - Evidence Based Practice and Professional Learning
Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia Professional Capabilities for Medical Radiation Practice:
Domain 3
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |
---|---|---|
1 | 2 | |
1 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||
2 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |
---|---|---|
1 | 2 | |
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 - 50% | ||||||||||
2 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
This unit will use resources in the form of articles and related information. Students must access the unit Moodle site regularly to ensure that all relevant reading is completed.
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.
k.finlay@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Review of research basics
Evidence Based Practice
Chapter
See required and suggested reading list on course Moodle site
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Audit and audit tools
Standards
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Start thinking about what area of your own practice you wish to assess.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Do any of these issues apply to your choice of clinical audit? Start your literature review and determine how to proceed with your audit.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Develop your test tool using evidence from your literature review. Consider how much data is required to give valid results
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Consider running a short "test" of your audit tool to test its effectiveness and find any problems.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Start your clinical audit. Remember to gather reliable data and enough of it for your audit.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Keep gathering your data. Are any patterns emerging yet?
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Have you changed your practice just because you know that you are auditing yourself? How will that effect your data?
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Data, data, data...
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
You should be starting to analyse your data, seeing patterns and beginning to see answers. Be reflective and think critically about the results
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
How does your performance compare with published data? Were there any issues with data collection, analysis or any biases evident?
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
The coordinator for this unit of study is: Karen Finlay
I can be contacted on 07 49407818 or k.finlay@cqu.edu.au
During the term I may be teaching or off campus. For this reason, the preferred method of contacting me is via email initially.
Since much of this term is used for data collection and report writing, the teaching portion of this unit is during the first part of the term, allowing you to spend time researching your tasks, performing the data collection and completing your report.
1 Written Assessment
Task:
Develop a test tool with which to assess one element of clinical practice.
Choose one of the options listed below to assess in your clinical practice. Develop a test tool in order to assess this. This must be completed individually, using evidence based practice. Interrogate current literature to determine best practice in your chosen area, the breakdown of assessment criteria and the required population size in order to make this a valid test tool.
Submit your test tool as part of an essay which details your interrogation of the literature, your findings and your justification for the test tool. The interrogation of the literature must take the form of a literature review, using at least five relevant papers. Use this review to determine the form of your test too, the population size of your assessment and any biases which may be an issue.
You should aim for approximately 2000 words for this assessment piece.
Options:
Choose one of the following to assess:
Reject/repeat analysis in general radiographic examinations
Analysis of the Exposure Index (EI) or other equivalent vendor-specific digital radiography exposure metric for one examination type across different patient categories (adult/paediatric/mobile) and habitus
Correct placement of gonad shielding
Correct placement of anatomical (right/left) markers
Week 6 Friday (21 Apr 2017) 4:00 pm AEST
within two weeks of the due date or submission date if extension approved
This task will be graded on the following criteria:
- Selection and use of peer reviewed publications to support the discussion
- Identification and analysis of major themes in the literature as they relate to your topic
- Development of a valid test tool for performance of clinical practice
- Clear and concise justification for the design of the test tool and population size or time span of the audit
- Referencing, structure and format of the essay.
Please see the marking rubric provided in Moodle for further information.
- Create a valid tool to measure clinical performance accurately
- Evaluate clinical practice using principles of quality assurance, risk management and evidence based practice.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
2 Written Assessment
Task:
Assessment of Clinical Performance
Using the previously developed test tool (amended if requested by the unit coordinator), assess your performance in the chosen practice area for a period of time. You must decide upon and justify that test period using the evidence collated during your development of the test tool.
When you have completed the data collection, you must create a report on your findings, detailing the results and any observations you have made regarding data collection, anomalies within the data or other relevant details. Within this report you must reflect upon your performance and compare it with published best practice, standards or other published data such as local guidelines or requirements.Your conclusion must detail any evidence as to any performance issues found within the data and recommendations for future practice.
You should aim for approximately 2000 words for this assessment task. It is acceptable to tabulate your results if the table demonstrates the results clearly and accurately.
Exam Week Friday (16 June 2017) 4:00 pm AEST
within two weeks of the due date or submission date if extension approved
This task will be assessed upon the following criteria:
- Valid results
- Comparison of own results with any published data
- Reflection on validity of the results
- Reflection on own results compared with published data
- Valid conclusion
- Referencing, structure and format of the essay.
Please see the marking rubric provided in Moodle for further information.
- Evaluate clinical practice using principles of quality assurance, risk management and evidence based practice.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
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.