Overview
In this unit, you will develop essential knowledge and clinical skills required to recognise, diagnose and manage patients experiencing acute and life-threatening medical conditions. This unit integrates pathophysiology, patient assessment, and clinical history-taking to support the formulation of provisional diagnoses and the implementation of treatment plans. An emphasis is placed on procedural competence, including the indications, contraindications of core paramedic interventions used to manage neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine and gastrointestinal presentations. These skills are taught and reinforced through hands-on practice on campus, where you will implement these newly acquired skills into simulated patient scenarios of a broad range of clinical presentations guided by National Safety and Quality Health Services (NSQHS) standards and Quality Use of Medicines framework. Case-based learning and simulations will assist you in contextualising your clinical skills and decision-making to ensure you meet the Paramedic Board of Australia’s registration requirements.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisites: PMSC11002 Foundations of Paramedicine A BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 or BMSC11001 Human Body Systems 1
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 Verbal feedback within virtual tutorials.
Students expressed high satisfaction with the quality of learning material and the learning and teaching approach.
The learning material will continue to use the same learning and teaching approach within future offerings of this unit.
Feedback from Verbal feedback within virtual tutorials.
Some of the learning material is outdated, with referenced guidelines no longer available.
This unit will be redesigned for the 2026 offering, with new learning material reflective of the curriculum enhancements.
- Articulate the theoretical underpinnings, including the anatomical and pathophysiological reasons, for the application of advanced care skills and interventions in the management of a critically ill or injured patient relevant to paramedic practice
- Identify and interpret the indications, precautions, risks and contraindications of using specific paramedic interventions involved in advanced care prehospital practice
- Employ critical thinking and clinical reasoning for using specific paramedic interventions involved in advanced care prehospital skills and interventions
- Apply and explain the application of paramedic advanced care prehospital interventions, guided by standards such as National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards and Quality Use of Medicines framework, in a safe, ethical and professional manner.
| Standard/Attribute/Criteria | Learning Outcomes |
| Domain 1: The professional and ethical practitioner 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.9, 1.1.10, 1.1.11, 1.2.2, 1.2.4, 1.2.5, 1.3.2, 1.3.3 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 2: The communicator and collaborator 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.2.4, 2.2.5 | LO1, LO2, LO3 LO4 |
| Domain 3: The evidence-based practitioner 3.1.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.2.5, 3.2.6, 3.3.3 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 4: The safety and risk management practitioner 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 4.2.4 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 5: The paramedic practitioner 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3, 5.2.4, 5.2.5, 5.3.1, 5.3.3, 5.3.4, 5.3.6, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.4.3, 5.4.4, 5.4.5, 5.6.1, 5.6.2, 5.6.3, 5.6.4, | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards
| Standard | Learning Outcomes |
| Clinical Governance: 1.01b, 1.27a, 1.27b | LO3 |
| Partnering with Consumers: 2.01a, 2.04, 2.05a, 2.05b, 2.06, 2.10a, 2.10b, 2.10c, 2.10d | LO2, LO4 |
| Preventing and Controlling Infections: 3.01a, 3.01b, 3.02b, 3.06, 3.07b, 3.10a, 3.11a, 3.12 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Medication Safety: 4.03a, 4.03b, 4.03c, 4.11, 4.15a | LO2, LO4 |
| Comprehensive Care: 5.03, 5.04a, 5.04b, 5.04c, 5.04d, 5.06, 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.11, 5.14a 5.14b, 5.14c, 5.14d, 5.21, 5.22, 5.24a, 5.24b, 5.24c, 5.25 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Communicating for Safety: 6.03, 6.04 | LO2, LO4 |
| Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration: 8.03, 8.06, 8.10, 8.13 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 0% | ||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 50% | ||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 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 | ||||
Information for Textbooks and Resources has not been released yet.
This information will be available on Monday 16 February 2026As 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?
