Overview
This unit expands your paramedic skills by enabling you to evaluate and integrate advanced clinical assessment findings to provide evidence-based care tailored to diverse populations. You will consider complex clinical findings with an understanding of individual patient needs, including social, cultural, and personal factors, to deliver comprehensive, patient-centred care. Core to this unit is a thorough appraisal of patient safety and quality improvement as it applies to paramedicine, highlighting the critical importance of continuous improvement in professional practice. You will build your ability to perform comprehensive risk assessments in the pre- and out-of-hospital environment to identify potential hazards and implement appropriate strategies to mitigate risks to patient safety. Finally, you will reflect on primary health care and the paramedic's role in facilitating referral pathways.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisites: PMSC13002 Clinical Paramedic Practice 2 PMSC13014 Paramedic Trauma and Emergency Management Co-requisite: PMSC13013 Transition to Paramedic Practice and Professionalism
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 - 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 Unit comments
Students thought the unit was informative and well delivered. They suggested enhancements such as including more videos of specific interventions and ensuring a more balanced distribution of content across weeks, particularly with additional focus on patient cohorts in the later weeks of the term.
Review and enhance multimedia resources by incorporating additional videos of specific interventions and patient cohort scenarios, particularly those referenced in the later weeks of the term. Ensure content distribution across weeks is balanced to support progressive learning and engagement.
Feedback from SUTE Unit comments & direct student feedback
Students found the revision questions, case studies, and formative quiz useful. They suggested adding more quizzes and revision materials specific to paramedic practice to further support learning.
Expand formative assessment opportunities by incorporating additional quizzes, targeted revision resources, and interactive H5P activities focused on paramedic-specific content. These enhancements will reinforce key concepts, improve engagement, and support student preparedness for summative tasks.
Feedback from SUTE Unit comments
Students indicated that the marking criteria could be clearer, and that Assessment 2 was challenging to relate to and understand.
Enhance clarity of marking criteria and assessment guidelines, and provide additional resources to better support students in completing the assessment tasks.
- Evaluate and integrate advanced clinical assessment findings to provide evidence-based care while accommodating a patient’s needs and preferences, including social, cultural and personal factors
- Appraise patient safety and quality improvement as it applies to paramedicine
- Perform comprehensive risk assessments in the pre-and out-of-hospital environment to identify potential hazards and implement appropriate strategies to mitigate risks to patient safety
- Reflect on primary health care and the paramedic's role in facilitating referral pathways.
The Paramedicine Board of Australia requires that units align with the Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics, which consist of five (5) domains. The below section aligns the proposed learning outcomes with these domains. In addition, the learning outcomes have been aligned with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.
Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics
| Standard/Attribute/Criteria | Learning Outcomes |
| Domain 1: The Professional and Ethical Practitioner 1.1.4, 1.1.6, 1.1.8, 1.1.9, 1.1.10, 1.1.11, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.4, 1.2.5, 1.2.6, 1.2.7, 1.2.8, 1.2.9, 1.2.10, 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 1.4.1, 1.4.2 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 2: The communicator and the collaborator 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.1.5, 2.1.6, 2.1.7, 2.1.8, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.5, 2.2.6 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 3: The evidence-based practitioner 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.2.4, 3.2.5, 3.2.6, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 4: The safety and risk management practitioner 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.5, 4.2.1, 4.2.3, 4.3.1, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.3, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.5.3, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.6.3, 4.6.5 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Domain 5: The Paramedicine Practitioner 5.1.1, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3, 5.2.4, 5.2.5, 5.3.3, 5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.3.6, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.4.3, 5.4.4, 5.4.5, 5.4.6, 5.6.1, 5.6.2, 5.6.3, 5.6.4 | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Standard | Learning Outcomes |
| Clinical Governance | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
| Partnering with Consumers | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Preventing and Controlling Infections | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
| Medication Safety | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
| Comprehensive Care | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Communicating for Safety | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
| Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 60% | ||||
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 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||