CQUniversity Unit Profile.

• Case Study Assessment: Critical Care Trauma Management
  Assessment Overview
  In this assessment, you will be presented with a simulated high-acuity trauma case and asked to write a critical care essay exploring the information provided. Your essay should demonstrate clinical reasoning by linking the patient’s mechanism of injury, clinical findings, likely pathophysiology, treatment priorities and anticipated response to management.

  This assessment requires more than a description of trauma care. You are expected to interpret the case information, identify the most likely and most dangerous clinical problems, justify your priorities, and explain how your management decisions are intended to influence the patient’s overall clinical trajectory.

  Your discussion should be specific to this patient, this mechanism of injury, this clinical presentation and the operational context provided.

  Case Description
  You are presented with a 40-year-old male patient following a motorcycle crash. The incident has occurred in a semi-rural setting, approximately 25 minutes by road from a regional trauma centre. On arrival, the patient appears to have veered off the road, struck a metal guard rail, and is located approximately 20 metres from the road down a moderately slanted gully.

  You are a newly qualified Critical Care Paramedic working with a qualified Paramedic. No other ambulance resources are available. Police and fire personnel are on scene and able to assist with scene safety, access and extrication.

  A rotary wing asset with a medical officer is available; however, it will be approximately 45 minutes from your first observations and situational report before arrival at your location.

  Initial Observations
  GCS: 13/15 — E3, V4, M6
  Pupils: equal and reactive, 6 mm bilaterally
  Respiratory rate: 26 breaths per minute
  Pulse: weak radial pulse, 120 beats per minute
  Blood pressure: 90/50 mmHg
  ECG: sinus rhythm at 120 beats per minute

  12 lead ECG as per Moodle
  Skin: pale and cool
  Oxygen saturation: 97% on room air
  Temperature: 35.4°C
  Blood glucose level: 7.1 mmol/L
  Past History
  Past medical history: nil stated
  Medications: nil stated
  Estimated weight: 80 kg
  Physical Examination
  No obvious external trauma to the head
  Helmet intact with considerable scuffing
  Minor blood loss from the oral cavity; teeth intact
  Thorax intact with minor abrasions
  Diminished air entry on the left side
  Abdomen soft in the upper quadrants, with significant left upper quadrant tenderness and distress on palpation
  Right lower limb angulated laterally at greater than 90 degrees, with gross tissue destruction to the upper and lower muscle masses
  No pedal pulse located in the right lower limb
  Highly suspected long bone injury to the left upper arm
  Essay Requirements
  You are required to write a 2500-word essay addressing the following components.

  1. Initial impression and provisional diagnosis
  Develop a concise initial impression of this patient. Your discussion should integrate the mechanism of injury, physiological observations, physical examination findings and operational context.

  You should identify and justify your provisional diagnosis and relevant differential diagnoses from a critical care perspective.
  
  Higher-level responses should move beyond listing injuries and provide a clear clinical problem representation of the patient.

  2. Pathophysiology and clinical interpretation
  Discuss the likely pathophysiological processes contributing to this patient’s presentation. You should link specific findings from the case to relevant injury patterns and physiological derangement.

  3. Treatment priorities and critical care reasoning
  Identify and justify your immediate treatment priorities from a critical care perspective.

  Students should avoid providing a generic state based trauma management plan. Each priority should be justified in relation to this specific patient and clinical context.

  4. Planned critical care management
  Discuss your planned management of this patient, including on-scene care, extrication, packaging, transport and pre-arrival notification.

  5. Anticipated impact, reassessment and escalation
  Explain how you anticipate your management will affect the patient’s clinical picture. This should include expected physiological responses, potential complications and reassessment priorities.

  6. Evidence-informed discussion
  Your essay must be supported by appropriate evidence-based material. This may include contemporary clinical guidelines, current primary research, trauma literature and critical care evidence.

  Evidence should be used to support your clinical reasoning, not simply inserted as isolated statements. Higher-level responses will use current and relevant evidence, including statistical evidence where appropriate, to justify clinical decisions and treatment priorities.

  All claims, arguments and clinical decisions must be substantiated with appropriate academic sources.

  Presentation and Referencing Requirements
  Your essay should be written in a clear academic style with logical structure, appropriate headings and professional clinical terminology.

  Harvard referencing must be used throughout. A complete reference list must be included.

  Please save and upload your file in Word format, either .doc or .docx.

  Word Limit
  2500 words.

  Minimum Pass Requirement
  You must achieve a minimum mark of 50% to pass this assessment.

  Level of GenAI Use Allowed

  Level 3: You may use AI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify any AI-generated content you use.

  AI-generated material should not replace your own clinical reasoning, interpretation of the case, use of appropriate evidence, or understanding of critical care practice. You remain responsible for the accuracy, quality and academic integrity of your submitted work.

The case study will be assessed using the rubric provided on the unit Moodle page, covering the following areas:

• Presentation and layout – presentation of material, word count etc.
• Content-based on the set questions provided and the use of supportive evidence-based material
• Referencing – use of Harvard referencing, reference list
• Please save/upload your file in a Word format (.doc or .docx).
   

You must achieve a minimum mark of 50% to pass this assessment.

AI Assessment Scale=3 Collaboration.Please refer to the Moodle sight for information regarding the use of AI.

Assessment Overview
You are required to present a trauma or environmental case that you have personally attended. The presentation will occur via Zoom with the Unit Coordinator and will include both a structured case presentation and a question-and-answer discussion.

This assessment requires an in-depth analysis of the patient journey from initial presentation through to delivery into tertiary care. Your presentation should demonstrate clinical reasoning, critical care synthesis, evidence-informed decision-making and reflective practice.

Your case must be de-identified. Do not include patient names, dates of birth, addresses, identifying images, location-specific details or other identifiable information in your PowerPoint or verbal presentation.

Presentation Requirements
You will be allocated 30 minutes to complete both your presentation and the Q&A session. You should structure your presentation to allow adequate time for assessor questions.

An electronic copy of your PowerPoint presentation must be submitted via Moodle at or before the scheduled presentation time.

Required Presentation Content
Your PowerPoint and verbal presentation should address the following components.

1. Initial case details
Provide a concise overview of the case, including case type, scene context, mechanism of injury or environmental exposure, available resources, transport considerations and relevant operational factors.

2. Presenting complaint and history
Discuss the patient’s chief complaint and history of presenting illness or injury, including relevant scene information and history obtained from the patient or other sources.

3. Relevant patient history
Present relevant allergies, medications, past medical history, social history and other patient factors that influenced your clinical reasoning or management decisions.

4. Assessment findings
Discuss your initial, general and focused assessment findings, including relevant clinical observations, examination findings and diagnostic values obtained.

Higher-level presentations should interpret these findings rather than simply list them.

5. Clinical impression, differential diagnoses and main diagnosis
Present your initial clinical impression, relevant differential diagnoses and main diagnosis. Explain how the patient’s history, mechanism, assessment findings and diagnostic values supported or challenged your clinical impression.

6. Overview of the main diagnosis
Provide an overview of the main diagnosis, including relevant pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and how your patient’s presentation fits the diagnosis.

7. Epidemiology and clinical significance
Discuss the epidemiology and clinical significance of the main diagnosis or presentation type. This should be relevant to the case and supported by current evidence where appropriate.

8. Management and treatment
Discuss the planned and actual management of the patient. This should include treatment priorities, clinical interventions, escalation decisions, transport decisions, handover priorities and whether a Critical Care Paramedic was involved.

You should explain the rationale for key management decisions and link these decisions to the patient’s presentation, suspected pathophysiology and relevant evidence.

9. Critical reflection and continuous improvement
Reflect on whether you would now choose to do anything differently. This is a crucial component of the assessment and must be supported by evidence.

Your reflection should consider the quality of your assessment, clinical reasoning, treatment decisions, escalation, communication, teamwork and opportunities for future improvement.

10. Further care, prognosis and outcome
Discuss the further care required in the hospital or tertiary care system, if known. If the patient’s outcome is known, include this in a de-identified manner.

If the outcome is unknown, discuss the likely ongoing care pathway and prognosis based on the patient’s diagnosis and presentation.

11. Final thoughts
Conclude with a brief summary of the key clinical lessons from the case and how these will inform your future practice.

12. References
Your presentation must include appropriate references to support your clinical claims, pathophysiology, epidemiology, treatment discussion and reflection.

References should include relevant clinical guidelines, current primary research, contemporary trauma or environmental medicine literature and other high-quality academic sources.

Question and Answer Session
Following your presentation, your assessor will ask questions about your case. The Q&A session is designed to assess your understanding of the case, your clinical reasoning and your ability to justify decisions.

You should be prepared to discuss the case beyond the content presented on your slides.

Assessment Expectations
This assessment is not intended to be a chronological recount of a case. It is an in-depth clinical analysis of a real trauma or environmental presentation.

Higher-level presentations will demonstrate clear structure, accurate assessment, strong linkage between findings and pathophysiology, evidence-informed treatment rationale, critical care decision-making, reflective practice and the ability to respond clearly during Q&A.

Descriptive presentations that simply list events, observations or treatments without explaining their clinical relevance will not meet the expected standard for critical care reasoning.

Level of GenAI Use Allowed
Level 3: You may use AI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify any AI-generated content you use.

AI-generated material should not replace your own clinical reasoning, interpretation of the case, use of appropriate evidence, or understanding of critical care practice. You remain responsible for the accuracy, quality and academic integrity of your submitted work.
 

Your presentation, PowerPoint and Q&A performance will be marked according to the criteria outlined in the rubric provided on the unit Moodle page.

Practical Simulation Assessment
During the compulsory residential school, you will individually complete a practical simulation assessment involving an authentic trauma or environmental emergency case.

This assessment is designed to evaluate your ability to apply advanced critical care paramedic knowledge, clinical reasoning and practical skills in the management of complex trauma and environmental presentations.

The practical assessment will assess your ability to:

apply evidence-based knowledge in the assessment and management of trauma and environmental emergencies
demonstrate advanced critical care paramedic skills and interventions appropriate to the patient presentation
prioritise care and make clinically justified decisions in a dynamic simulation environment
communicate effectively with the patient, team members and other relevant personnel
demonstrate leadership, situational awareness and professional practice within a hands on scenario.

Level of GenAI Use Allowed

Level 1: You must not use AI at any point during this assessment. You must demonstrate your own core knowledge, clinical reasoning, practical skills and professional judgement.

Your practical assessment will be marked according to the criteria outlined in the rubric provided on the unit Moodle page. You will be offered a maximum of two (2) attempts at this assessment.

This is a PASS/FAIL assessment task.

If a critical error occurs during your assessment the assessment will immediately cease, no marks will be awarded and it will result in a failed attempt.

Critical errors in this assessment will be classed as:

• An action that causes immediate harm to yourself, partner, patient or bystanders
• Unsafe use of the defibrillator/not recognising cardiac arrest (>1 minute delay in recognition)
• No or incomplete drug check
• Incorrect sharps disposal
• Performing a skill and/or procedure outside the scope of practice of a critical care paramedic (CCP).

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment.