Overview
This unit is the first of three work-integrated learning units within the Paramedic Course, comprising a total of five weeks of clinical placement at an urban station with an approved ambulance service. Student Paramedics will apply clinical knowledge, reasoning and practical skills at a novice level in the acute prehospital care environment, engaging in reflective practice activities to support self-directed learning. Preparation activities increase workplace literacy and provide guidance on navigating the student-mentor relationship, ensuring students enjoy a positive and successful first clinical placement.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
PMSC12001 Procedures and Skills in Paramedic Care
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 2 - 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 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 feedback.
Overall time cost of workbook completion. As students are completing all electronic ambulance report forms following each case, they still find the requirements to complete the logbook is demanding and diverts attention to being present for placement activities. Whilst these have been simplified already due to similar feedback last year this feedback remains consistent.
Redesigning the workbook tasks to reduce daily workload of keeping logs, instead moving to a weekly reflection model. Student feedback will be incorporated into this redesign process over term three (volunteers were sought during term two).
Feedback from Student feedback.
Timely return of assessment feedback.
The return timeframe incorporates the actual marking period, plus a time allowance for any industry feedback on specific students / issues to reach University staff. Whilst we must allow the opportunity for industry feedback, since professional performance is an assessable component of placement units, the structure and components of the current workbooks can however be revised to make marking more straightforward, and this will be considered during the workbook redesign for 2017.
- Demonstrate clinical reasoning and practical skills at a novice level within the acute prehospital care setting.
- Employ reflective practice principles to self-evaluate clinical performance and identify learning needs.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 - Portfolio - 0% | ||
| 2 - Professional Practice Placement - 0% | ||
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 - Portfolio - 0% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Professional Practice Placement - 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: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
l.hurring@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Orientation to Clinical Placement One:
- Unit structure and assessments.
- Placement policies and guidelines.
- Transition from classroom to clinical practice.
Chapter
Moodle Resources supplied.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Weekly forum posts - see Moodle for this week's question.
Non-standard placement dates for this unit? Use the assessment "Due Description" information in this course profile to determine your individual due dates and confirm with the Lecturer via email this week.
Module/Topic
Clinical & academic preparation:
- Pre-placement clinical knowledge & performance expectations.
- Improving clinical performance - tips & strategies.
- Performance goals for the end of Placement One.
- Self-assessment & Learning Needs Analysis.
Chapter
QAS Clinical Practice Manual.
Moodle Resources supplied.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Weekly forum posts - see Moodle for this week's question.
Module/Topic
Reflective practice and self-directed learning:
- Reflective practice for career paramedics – self-responsibility & professional development.
- Reflective practice for student paramedics – applying principles to your placement.
Chapter
Moodle Resources supplied.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Weekly forum posts - see Moodle for this weeks' questions.
Module/Topic
Professional preparation:
- Time management & academic workload during placement.
- Critical incidents, support services & networks.
- Expectations of the placement host.
- Workplace literacy: navigating the crew, the station, the Service, & all those abbreviations.
- Communication, teamwork, & creating a positive student-mentor relationship.
- Troubleshooting the clinical placement.
Chapter
Moodle Resources supplied..
Events and Submissions/Topic
Weekly forum posts - see Moodle for this week's question.
Module/Topic
PLACEMENT WEEK ONE:
- Complete your Placement Workbook as you go.
- Make notes and work on your Clinical Case Reviews.
- Work through your clinical procedures & skills sign-off sheet.
Chapter
Mixed readings relevant to improving clinical practice are provided within Moodle for reference during your placement period.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete PAPER1 with your Mentor at the end of this first placement week / the end of your first shift block.
- Weekly forum post - see Moodle for this week's question.
- Post about your on-road experiences on the forums!
Module/Topic
PLACEMENT WEEK TWO:
- Complete your Placement Workbook as you go.
- Make notes and work on your Clinical Case Reviews.
- Work through your clinical procedures & skills sign-off sheet.
Chapter
No new readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Weekly forum post - see Moodle for this week's question.
- Post about your on-road experiences on the forums!
Module/Topic
PLACEMENT WEEK THREE:
- Complete your Placement Workbook as you go.
- Make notes and work on your Clinical Case Reviews.
- Work through your clinical procedures & skills sign-off sheet.
Chapter
No new readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete PAPER2 with your Mentor at the end of your third placement week.
- Weekly forum post - see Moodle for this week's question.
- Post about your on-road experiences on the forums!
Module/Topic
PLACEMENT WEEK FOUR:
- Complete your Placement Workbook as you go.
- Make notes and work on your Clinical Case Reviews.
- Work through your clinical procedures & skills sign-off sheet.
Chapter
No new readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Weekly forum post - see Moodle for this week's question.
- Post about your on-road experiences on the forums!
Module/Topic
PLACEMENT WEEK FIVE:
- Check that your Placement Workbook is complete and that you have all necessary information and signatures before leaving placement.
- Ensure your Placement Attendance & Performance Evaluation Reports are complete before leaving placement.
Chapter
No new readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Complete PAPER3 with your Mentor at the end of this last placement week / the end of your last shift block.
- Weekly forum post - see Moodle for this week's question.
- Post about your on-road experiences on the forums!
Module/Topic
Placement review period:
- Ensure your Placement Attendance & Performance Evaluation Reports are complete with no blank fields.
- Scan all PAPERs as a single PDF document and submit by Friday evening.
- Work on completing Reflective Practice Portfolio.
Chapter
No new readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- Final weekly forum post - see Moodle for this week's question.
Placement Attendance & Performance Evaluation Reports Due: Week 9 Friday (15 Sept 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Placement review period:
- Ensure your Clinical Case Reviews are complete, with an appropriate amount of information for each section. See Moodle for example of a completed Clinical Case Review.
- Complete your post-placement self-review.
- Compile your forums posts into one document, and review for clarity and grammar.
- Scan all pages and save as a single PDF document and submit by Friday evening.
Chapter
No new readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- No new forum posts.
Reflective Practice Portfolio Due: Week 10 Friday (22 Sept 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
No further tasks.
Chapter
No new readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- No new forum posts.
Module/Topic
No further tasks.
Chapter
No new readings.
Events and Submissions/Topic
- No new forum posts.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
ALL assessment items must be submitted to achieve a PASS grade. You must pass all assessments to pass the unit.
Chapter
All assessment items will be sumitted via Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Portfolio
This unit is divided into three main phases: pre-placement preparation, the five-week clinical placement, and post-placement review. The activities of this assessment task span all three phases, and are designed to lead you confidently through your first paramedic clinical placement.
- The pre-placement activities ensure adequate preparation for all aspects of clinical placement, and establish performance goals and expectations. You will learn about the concept of reflective practice for paramedics, and through a process of self-assessment and planning will begin to proactively manage your own clinical learning and development. During this period you will complete readings and engage in forum discussions.
- During your five-week clinical placement you will respond to 000 cases with your paramedic crew, and during downtime complete a placement workbook. The workbook is designed to complement your professional experience by leading you through self-review tasks, including logs of clinical exposure and skills praxis, and completion of two Clinical Case Reviews.
- Finally, on completion of placement you will review your overall clinical development and placement outcomes this term. This involves reviewing the experiences and achievements that you have gained, and identifying what you must continue working upon to adequately prepare for Clinical Placement Two next year.
- At the end of term, your placement workbook, forum responses, and self-assessment tasks will be compiled as a single PDF document and submitted as your Reflective Practice Portfolio.
Week 10 Friday (22 Sept 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
23:45hrs on the second Friday following the completion of clinical placement.
Exam Week Friday (20 Oct 2017)
To pass the Reflective Practice Portfolio assessment you must complete your portfolio to the given instructions and include all listed documents:
- Your formatted complete set of forum post responses to the weekly prompt questions posted in Moodle.
- All components of your completed Placement Workbook, including Clinical Skills Validation sheet and two Clinical Case Reviews.
- Completed Submission & Marking Checklist.
Please see the unit Moodle for a complete description and discussion of this assessment task, including completion guidelines and examples.
Your Portfolio is due at 2345hrs on the second Friday following your final week of clinical placement.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Demonstrate clinical reasoning and practical skills at a novice level within the acute prehospital care setting.
- Employ reflective practice principles to self-evaluate clinical performance and identify learning needs.
2 Professional Practice Placement
During your first clinical placement you will enter the clinical environment as a novice clinician, and begin applying your clinical skills and judgement under the support and guidance of your supervising paramedic crew. A major aspect of your continued development is mentor feedback, providing you with independent commentary on your current clinical performance from the point of view of industry colleagues. The Placement Attendance & Performance Evaluation Reports (PAPERs) capture supervisor feedback on performance and attendance in written format for assessment and progress tracking.
This assessment task guides you and your crew through a review process designed to promote self-assessment on your part, and to prompt the most practical and useful type of feedback from mentors. You will complete these reports together with your supervising paramedic(s) so that you can discuss the feedback and grade choices. Your mentors or your OIC are also required to complete details of shift attendance and professional conduct for the purpose of academic verification. Students are expected to uphold the standards and requirements of the Clinical Placement Guidelines as provided within Moodle.
It is important to note that these documents are not solely to confirm your completion of unit requirements; they are equally valuable as evidence logs of your professionalism, conduct, and clinical performance that will support your future employment applications. For these reasons they are arguably the most valuable documents from your clinical placement, and it is imperative that you are diligent in completing them with your mentors as instructed.
Week 9 Friday (15 Sept 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
2345hrs on the first Friday following your final week of clinical placement.
Exam Week Friday (20 Oct 2017)
- You must attend all scheduled shifts. Minimum placement hours apply.
- You will complete three PAPERs across the five weeks of your clinical placement according to the stated schedule.
- You will submit all three PAPERs together on the first Friday following completion of clinical placement.
- All fields must be completed in full according to directions on the Information Sheet at the front of the document.
- Your shift attendance log must be verified as true and correct by either one of your mentors or your station OIC.
- You must complete the Submission & Marking Checklist prior to submission of the PAPER assessment.
- Notify the placement host by phone asap of any unplanned absenteeism; next notify the Unit Coordinator via email with Absenteeism Report attached. Absences must be logged on the shift log, and arrangements made to complete missed hours.
- Minimum expectations of clinical performance grades are detailed within the assessment rubric on Moodle.
- Minimum expectations of professional conduct grades are detailed within the assessment rubric on Moodle.
- Students are expected to uphold the standards and requirements of the Clinical Placement Guidelines as provided within Moodle.
- Direct reports from industry of student misconduct, or of significant concerns regarding clinical performance, are investigated fully and may impact successful completion of this assessment task.
- Please scan all pages of your PAPERs, and compile into ONE SINGLE PDF file. Instructions for this process are provided on Moodle.
- Further information and examples of completed documentation are provided on Moodle.
- Attendance and mentor reports are subject to random validity checks with placement hosts.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
- Demonstrate clinical reasoning and practical skills at a novice level within the acute prehospital care setting.
- Employ reflective practice principles to self-evaluate clinical performance and identify learning needs.
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?
