Overview
This unit aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of point of care ultrasound (PoCUS) to provide information to assist patient management. To enrol in this unit you must be a graduate of a science or health / medical course. To successfully complete all assessments, you must be able to undertake ultrasound scans in a clinical environment with appropriate supervision. You will use PoCUS to identify anatomical structures and rule out pathology. You will learn transducer manipulation techniques and skills to optimise ultrasound images for documentation.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Co-requisite:MEDS20009 Science and Instrumentation of Ultrasound
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 3 - 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).
Residential Schools
This unit has a Compulsory Residential School for distance mode students and the details are:
Click here to see your Residential School Timetable.
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate 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 pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.
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 In Class
Residential School was helpful and well organised.
The Residential school is to be continued and expanded as the student numbers increase.
Feedback from In Class
More opportunities for live scanning should be available
As the student numbers increase, more residential schools with increased time for live scanning will be arranged.
- Evaluate the benefits and limitations of using medical ultrasound for diagnosis in emergency or point of care (PoC) medicine
- Apply safe medical ultrasound techniques to generate optimised diagnostic images of regions of interest (ROI)
- Integrate diagnostic medical images into the clinical decision making process and patient management.
The International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM) Point of care curriculum guidelines
3.3 Demonstration of how to generate and optimise an image- 2 and 3
3.4 Demonstration of good practice in point-of-care ultrasound- 1.2 and 3
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 0% | |||
| 2 - Portfolio - 0% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||
| 2 - Communication | |||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||
| 4 - Research | |||
| 5 - Self-management | |||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||
| 7 - Leadership | |||
| 8 - 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 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 0% | ||||||||
| 2 - Portfolio - 0% | ||||||||
Textbooks
Manual of Emergency and Critical Care Ultrasound
Edition: 2nd (2011)
Authors: Vicki E. Noble & Bret P. Nelson
Cambridge University Press
New York New York , New York , United States of America
ISBN: ISBN 978-0-521-17091-8
Binding: eBook
Additional Textbook Information
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Microphone and camera to attend the Zoom sessions
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Vancouver
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
a.aziz@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Chapter
Readings and lectures posted on Moodle.
(You may have already completed this test if you have taken MEDS20015. If you have completed this test you are still required to take this test for this unit (MEDS20013)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom tutorial Tuesday 6/11/2018 - 7:00 pm AEST (for students in other time zones please convert this to your local time)
Infection control online Quiz (Compulsory)
Module/Topic
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading AAA
Chapter 5 of the textbook:
Noble V & E. & Nelson B. Manual of Emergency and Critical Care Ultrasound 2nd Ed. 2011.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST)
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading - FAST and Patient in Shock
FAST: Chapter 2 of the textbook.
Patient in Shock: Chapter 14 of the textbook.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom tutorial Tuesday 20/11/2018 - 7:00 pm AEST (for students in other time zones please convert this to your local time)
Module/Topic
Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading - DVT.
Chapter 8 of the textbook
Events and Submissions/Topic
Residential school Thursday 29th and Friday 30th November 2018 9:00 am to 3:30 pm - CQUniversity Brisbane campus
Module/Topic
Break Week:
Don't forget to revise the material from weeks 1 to 4.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Kidneys and Bladder
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading - Renal and Bladder.
Chapter 6 of the textbook
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Gallbladder
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading - Gallbladder Ultrasound.
Chapter 7 of the textbook
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom tutorial Tuesday 18/12/2018 - 7:00 pm AEST (for students in other time zones please convert this to your local time)
Module/Topic
A week for you to relax but don't forget to keep revising and work on your assessment items
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
First Trimester Ultrasound
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading - First Trimester Ultrasound.
Chapter 4 of the textbook
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Lung
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading Lung Ultrasound.
Chapter 4 of the textbook
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom tutorial Tuesday 08/01/2019 - 7:00 pm AEST (for students in other time zones please convert this to your local time)
Module/Topic
Eye
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading Eye Ultrasound.
Chapter 10 of the textbook
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Musculoskeletal
Chapter
Readings and lectures on the Moodle
Textbook Reading - MSK Ultrasound.
Chapter 11 of the textbook
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom tutorial Tuesday 22/01/2019 - 7:00 pm AEST (for students in other time zones please convert this to your local time)
Module/Topic
Residential School
Chapter
Review of learnt skills
Events and Submissions/Topic
Residential school Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd February 2019 9:00 am to 3:30 pm - at CQUniversity Brisbane Campus
Practical Competency Assessments Due: Week 11 Friday (1 Feb 2019) 5:00 pm AEST
Portfolio of clinical cases. Due: Week 11 Friday (1 Feb 2019) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Work on the portfolio
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Two compulsory residential schools
Chapter
More information about the residential schools will be provided on Moodle site and during zoom tutorials
Events and Submissions/Topic
Residential School 1: Week 4 - Thursday 29th November and Friday 30th November 2018 from 9 am to 3:30 pm at the sonography labs in CQUniveristy Brisbane campus
Residential School 2: Week 11 - Saturday 2nd February and Sunday 3rd February 2019 9:00 am to 3:30 pm - at the sonography labs in CQUniversity Brisbane Campus
The unit coordinator for MEDS20013 is Dr. Aamer Aziz
The best way to contact Aamer is by email at a.aziz@cqu.edu.au.
Aamer's CQU telephone number is 07 4940 7478.
Aamer's office hours are Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm. Please use email whenever possible.
Access to the internet is required to undertake this unit, as unit materials, tutorials and updates will be provided via Moodle, email and Zoom.
Resources will include access to relevant websites, activities and readings provided. To give yourself the best chance of success with this course please ensure that you undertake all the readings and activities.
There will be Zoom tutorials in Weeks 1, 3, 6, 8 and 10. These will be recorded and available for review.
The residential clinical skills labs are in Weeks 5 (10th and 11th December 2018) and 11 (28th and 29th January 2019) at the CQUniversity Brisbane campus sonography labs. Please make travel and accommodation arrangements well in advance.
The residential clinical skills labs are mandatory. Non-attendance must be documented with a Medical Certificate or equivalent.
Dr. Aamer Aziz (MBBS, MSc (Nuc Med), PhD (Radiology), GradDipMedSonography, AMS) has worked extensively as a radiologist, nuclear medicine specialist and sonographer in Australia and internationally. He holds a PhD in medical imaging as well. He is a Senior Lecturer in Medical Sonography at CQU and is the Head of Course for postgraduate sonography. He is also a supervisor for higher education degrees. His areas of interest include developing new technologies in augmented and virtual reality, developing intelligent radiology systems and remote radiology teaching. His hobbies include playing tennis and cricket, riding motorbikes, flying and travel.
Ms. Saheeda Zotter will be the tutor in the unit. She is a senior sonographer working in Wollongong. She has a background of radiography as well. She has extensive experience as a PoCUS tutor with many years of teaching at various institutions. She will supervise the teaching, Zoom tutorials and residential schools. Email is the best way to contact her saheeda.zotter@gmail.com
1 Written Assessment
As a clinician you come across difficult decision making in your everyday professional life. Ultrasound is a modality that aids your clinical decision making as it is readily available, cheap, accessible and portable, with fairly good diagnostic accuracy. However, it is operator dependent and training in adequate use of this technology is of paramount importance.
Practical competency assessments will be performed during week 1 (infection control) and the residential practical skills labs in Weeks 11.
You will have the opportunity to receive formative feedback and attempt summative assessments at the residential labs.
There are two competency assessments:
Assessment 1.
There is one (1) infection control online quiz. The quiz will be open from Monday 5th November 2018 at 9 am and close on Friday 8th February 2019 at 5 pm.
The questions are a mixture of short answer, matching, drag and drop, and true/false.
Learners must obtain 100% marks in this quiz to PASS this assessment.
Multiple attempts are allowed. A Fail grade in this assessment will result in a Fail grade for the unit.
Assessment 2.
You will attempt the following four regions of interest. You must PASS these regions of interest to acquire COMPETENCY to meet the minimum requirements to pass this assessment.
- AAA
- DVT
- FAST
- Lung
The assessment criteria and standards for attainment of competency are outlined in documents available on the unit Moodle site and will be demonstrated / practiced during the first residential school.
Practical assessment of competency skills will take place at the second compulsory residential school. These residential school skills labs will be delivered on Brisbane campus in weeks 5 and 11.
Please note the following excerpt from the University Assessment of Coursework Procedures:
'...students who fail a single assessment task in a pass-fail unit, or who fail a pass-fail component of a graded unit will be deemed to have failed that unit'
(https://staffnet.cqu.edu.au/tools-resources/policies/Documents/Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework) (current version - from Term 1, 2018).pdf)
Non-attendance will need to be supported by a Medical Certificate or equivalent.
A Pass/ Fail grade will be given.
A Fail grade in this assessment will result in a Fail grade for the unit.
Week 11 Friday (1 Feb 2019) 5:00 pm AEST
Completed during second residential school
Week 12 Friday (8 Feb 2019)
Immediate written and verbal feedback will be provided.
For the online quiz of infection control module, the answers will be tabulated as correct or incorrect by computer system.
A PASS grade for the summative assessments of any region will be based on competency criteria developed at CQU by experienced clinical sonographers.
Detailed competency criteria documents are provided on the unit Moodle site.
- Evaluate the benefits and limitations of using medical ultrasound for diagnosis in emergency or point of care (PoC) medicine
- Apply safe medical ultrasound techniques to generate optimised diagnostic images of regions of interest (ROI)
- Integrate diagnostic medical images into the clinical decision making process and patient management.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
2 Portfolio
Ultrasound is a practical health profession, hence practical experience is vital to being able to develop the skills required to acquire and optimise an image. The clinical portfolio serves as a record of the experience that students have obtained during the unit.
You will collect twelve (12) sets of documentation for an ultrasound study either done by yourself in clinical practice or acquired during the residential practical skills labs.
Each set will contain:
- Ultrasound images
- Formal report
- Self evaluation of performance
- Self reflections must be informed by the literature
- Each set of documents should be created in a unique folder on a USB
- NO video files of any sort should be uploaded.
Week 11 Friday (1 Feb 2019) 5:00 pm AEST
Exam Week Monday (11 Feb 2019)
Portfolios will be marked by Friday of exam week
By the second residential school, each student will have a minimum of twelve (12) cases in their portfolio. This will include a mix of cases to ensure exposure to a range of studies and enhance understanding of role of ultrasound in point of care patient management and its limitations. Each case must be reviewed and signed by your clinical supervisor.
Students will bring their clinical portfolio with them to the second residential school for review. This will include a hard copy of the portfolio template duly filled in and signed by the student and the supervisor, and a USB thumb drive containing images obtained in each study. The USB thumb drive will be retained for marking. Please make sure that patient privacy is adhered to by de-identifying all images.
Each case should address the following:
- A brief demographic of patient
- Clinical context
- Description of the study performed and findings
- Most appropriate images
- Self reflection
- Evaluate the benefits and limitations of using medical ultrasound for diagnosis in emergency or point of care (PoC) medicine
- Apply safe medical ultrasound techniques to generate optimised diagnostic images of regions of interest (ROI)
- Integrate diagnostic medical images into the clinical decision making process and patient management.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
- Leadership
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.
What can you do to act with integrity?
