In Progress
Please note that this Unit Profile is still in progress. The content below is subject to change.Overview
In this unit, you will be introduced to the principles of ultrasound physics and instrumentation. Ultrasound safety, quality assurance and recognition of artifacts will also be covered. The knowledge and skills learnt from this unit are integral to all concurrent and subsequent sonography and echocardiography units and forms the foundation from which you will build your image acquisition, recognition and assessment skills. You will apply your knowledge and skills of physics principles in the laboratory setting using ultrasound equipment.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite MEDI11002 Physics for Health Sciences Co requisite MEDS12003 Superficial Structures in Ultrasound or ECHO12006 Cardiac Science
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 - 2026
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 SUTE Feedback
Assessment 1 (mid-term quiz) was not allocated adequate time based on the number of questions. Additionally, the question format was difficult to maneuver on some devices.
Review assessment timing and the use of ‘drag and drop’ questions to reduce student stress and improve quiz accessibility across devices.
Feedback from SUTE Feedback
Lab manual 3 has too many tasks for the two-hour session, and this causes students to feel rushed. Clearer passing criteria are also needed given the absence of a marking rubric.
Lab manual 3 has already been amended in previous offerings to include less tasks. Tasks cannot be moved to lab 2 as the concepts are not delivered at that time in the learning journey. However, increasing the lab session time or providing additional lab time elsewhere can be reviewed to alleviate student stress. Additionally, create a marking rubric to provide students with specific requirements regarding achieving a passing grade.
Feedback from SUTE Feedback
The Moodle site was difficult to navigate in the table format as tasks could not be "checked off". This also made it difficult to determine if content had been released on time and if all links were working appropriately.
Investigate options to improve Moodle layout and navigation.
Feedback from SUTE Feedback
Tutorials should review lecture content at the beginning, then review questions using Kahoot.
Consider splitting tutorial time between content review and a Kahoot session to keep students engaged.
- Apply the physical principles of diagnostic ultrasound to practical problems
- Evaluate the components and performance of diagnostic ultrasound equipment
- Apply knowledge of ultrasound physics and practical skills to acquire optimal ultrasound images, with due regard of safe practices
- Discuss the principles of ultrasound techniques, Doppler ultrasound and its application in medical ultrasound including safety issues
- Interpret the causes of, and apply problem solving skills to reduce, sources of artifacts on an ultrasound image.
The learning outcomes for this unit relate to the requirements of general sonography courses under the Australasian Sonography Accreditation Registry (ASAR), Standards for the Accreditation of Sonographer Courses (SASC):
Foundation Units of Competence 1-5
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 40% | |||||
| 2 - Laboratory/Practical - 0% | |||||
| 3 - Online Test - 60% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||