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 - 2024
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 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 Student emails.
Students appreciated the videos that demonstrated real time ultrasound imaging and how this can be performed.
Continue with the provision of videos to demonstrate real time ultrasound usage.
- 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
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Vancouver
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
k.russo@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to POCUS and the FAST scan.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ultrasound of the lungs and the E-FAST scan.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ultrasound of the abdominal aorta and IVC.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ultrasound in shock (Rush protocol).
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ultrasound of the scrotum and testes.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ocular ultrasound.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
No new content.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
No new content.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Abdominal ultrasound: Kidneys and bladder.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Abdominal ultrasound: Liver and gallbladder.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Abdominal ultrasound: Spleen and pancreas.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Basic soft tissue ultrasound.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Infection control and relevance to sonography.
Chapter
Lectures and notes provided
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Revision.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Your unit coordinator for this unit is Dr Kate Russo (k.russo@cqu.edu.au).
Online zoom tutorials will be offered to support your learning (dates to be negotiated after the start of term, to ensure most can attend).
There is a residential school - the location and date of this is to be determined once the term starts, to identify where most students are based.
1 Written Assessment
In this assessment task, you will develop an educational e-poster outlining the use of a specific component of point of care sonography.
The poster is limited to eight (8) slides excluding the title and reference slides. An abstract is required to accompany the e-poster but is not included within the poster.
The e-poster should be written at a level suitable for presentation at a conference to your professional peers.
The poster will consist of:
Slide 1: Title slide - containing the title of the presentation, your name and qualifications.
8 content slides: Each content slide is required to have a clear heading. The e-poster must be organized cohesively and coherently, and use images to help reader interpretation. You will need to research, critically analyse and synthesize current medical literature from peer-reviewed sources to assist you to complete this e-poster. A clear take-home message should be provided at the conclusion of your poster.
Last slide: References.
Slides are required to be submitted in 'landscape' format.
Week 8 Friday (10 Jan 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
via Moodle
Week 10 Friday (24 Jan 2025)
via Moodle
The e-poster should contain relevant, organized, logical and coherent content with a clear and concise message relevant to your selected audience.
The purpose of the poster should be clear and relevant to the field of point of care ultrasound.
In-text references and the reference list must be accurate, complete and high quality and appropriate sources utilized to support your statements.
A marking rubric is available on Moodle.
- 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
You are required to develop and submit a portfolio consisting of 3 POCUS examinations performed by yourself. This will assist you to develop proficiency in performing point of care ultrasound, including defining an appropriate indication for the sonographic imaging, imaging obtained, image optimization performed, recognition of anatomy and any pathology if demonstrated appropriate documentation of the results of the sonographic examination, and integration of findings into patient management.
A portfolio of examinations that you have conducted or observed in clinical practice, or at residential school is required to be submitted.
The portfolio will consist of:
1. Introduction to cases
2. Outline of each case including:
- Clinical indications for the examination
- Description of the sonographic protocol used, and an outline of the ultrasound imaging obtained (real-time scanning and stored static images and cine clips for documentation). Static images will be labelled to identify structures for educational purposes. The acquisition plane of the image must be described. All sonographic imaging must be de-identified.
- Justification for the extent of sonographic imaging performed and what anatomy and pathology (if present) was demonstrated
- Critique of the imaging
- Report of the sonographic findings using correct sonographic terminology
- Patient management post sonographic imaging
- Reflection on what went well, how the sonographic imaging may have been improved, what you could have done to improve the quality of the imaging produced (if needed) and what you may do differently in future studies to aid a diagnosis
3. Summary and learning points from the portfolio
4. References
Exam Week Friday (14 Feb 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
via Moodle
via Moodle
Your portfolio will be assessed on:
* Academic writing including the layout and flow from beginning to end, succinct and relevant descriptions of the patient history, sonographic imaging and findings, critique of imaging performed and identification of areas for improvement if required and impact of imaging of patient management
* Use of evidence based information to support statements used
* Inclusion of images which are de-identified and labelled. All images must be referred to in-text and figure numbers provided
* Insight must be demonstrated with self-reflection and identification of learning points to enhance future practice.
- 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?
