CG91 Bachelor of Medical Sonography/Graduate Diploma of Medical Sonography

In order to complete this course, you must:

  1. Complete the core structure

Core Structure

Number of units: 24 Total credit points: 192

There are a number of units within this course that exceed the notional hours recommended by the Australian Qualifications Framework.

Course Information:

To be eligible to graduate with the Bachelor of Medical Sonography and Graduate Diploma of Medical Sonography, students must complete the 24 core units (192 units of credit), including attendance at all compulsory laboratory activities / residential schools on their campus of admission, and completion of 2000 hours of clinical placement. There are no optional (elective) units in this course and students must successfully complete each unit within the course, following requisite requirements. 

To be eligible to attend clinical placement the student must successfully complete all preclinical health, safety and security requirements, including a clear criminal record check.

Year 1:

Year 1 is studied online, with the exception of attendance at two compulsory two-day residential schools, which must be attended at the campus of admission.  

Year 1 - Term 1
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1
ALLH11009 Research Methods for Health Professionals
MEDS11001 Fundamentals of Ultrasound Practice
MEDI11002 Physics for Health Sciences
Year 1 - Term 2
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
BMSC11011 Human Anatomy and Physiology 2
MEDI11004 Professional Practice
MEDS11002 Relational Anatomy and Image Recognition

Year 2:

Years 2 and 3 have large components of compulsory campus attendance which must be completed at your campus of admission. Extensive learning activity of practical skills takes place in the simulation laboratories during profession-specific units. Year 2, terms 1 and 2, profession-specific units are run as internal units at the campus of admission. During terms 1 and 2 students should expect to be on campus most days each week due to the number of labs and practice sessions.

Students must apply for admission to the Australian Sonographer Accreditation Register (ASAR) as Student Sonographers during the 2nd year of the course prior to their first clinical placement. Please note that ASAR sets a maximum course completion time of five years from initial student registration.

Years 2, 3 and 4 have large components of clinical placement which will be allocated by the Clinical Academic and Work Integrated Learning teams. Note that clinical placement may be required to be undertaken in a rural or remote location.

To ensure safe clinical practice, technical skills, sonographic knowledge and professional behaviour must be maintained. To this end, scanning skill development units and clinical units must be successfully and sequentially completed within twelve months of each other. In year two of the course, MEDS12004 Sonographic Skills Development 1 must be successfully completed prior to clinical placement for MEDS12007 Medical Sonography Clinical Course 1, and the gap between these units may not exceed 12 months. Should this time limit have elapsed, the student must successfully complete one (or more) technical skill. professional behaviour and diagnostic knowledge-based assessment(s), after a period of technical skill / knowledge revision, as determined by the Head of Course or designate.

Year 2 - Term 1
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
MEDS12002 Abdominal Ultrasound
MEDS12001 Physics of Ultrasound
MEDS12003 Superficial Structures in Ultrasound
MPAT12001 Medical Pathophysiology
Year 2 - Term 2
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
MEDS12004 Sonographic Skills Development 1
MEDS12006 Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Year 2 - Term 3
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
MEDS12007 Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 1
MEDS13008 Vascular Sonography

Year 3:

Extensive learning activity takes place in the clinical simulation laboratories during the Term 1 Year 3 profession-specific unit. Profession-specific units are run as internal units on the campus of admission. You should expect to be on campus most days each week in Term 1 due to the number of labs and practice sessions.

To ensure safe clinical practice, technical skills, sonographic knowledge and professional behaviour must be maintained. To this end, scanning skill development units and clinical units must be successfully and sequentially completed within twelve months of each other. In year three of the course, MEDS13002 Sonographic Skills Development 2 must be successfully completed prior to clinical placement for MEDS13006 Medical Sonography Clinical Course 2, and the gap between these units must not exceed 12 months. Should this time limit have elapsed, the student must successfully complete one (or more) technical skill, professional behaviour and diagnostic knowledge-based assessment(s), after a period of technical skill / knowledge revision, as determined by the discipline lead or designate.

Year 3 - Term 1
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
MEDS13001 Obstetric and Breast Ultrasound
MEDS13011 Sonographic Skills Development 2
Year 3 - Term 2
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
MEDS13006 Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 2
MEDS13009 Obstetric and Paediatric Sonography
MEDS13010 Quality Practice in Diagnostic Imaging

Year 4:

Please note that the units studied in Year 4 are at a Postgraduate level.

To ensure safe clinical practice, technical skills, sonographic knowledge and professional behaviour must be maintained. To this end, scanning skill development units and clinical units must be successfully and sequentially completed within twelve months of each other. In year four of the course, the year three prerequisite of MEDS13006 Medical Sonography Clinical Course 2 must be successfully completed prior to clinical placement for Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 3; and Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 3 must be successfully completed prior to clinical placement for Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 4. The gap between any units must not exceed 12 months. Should this time limit have elapsed, the student must successfully complete one (or more) technical skill, professional behaviour and diagnostic knowledge-based assessment(s), after a period of technical skill / knowledge revision, as determined by the Head of Course or designate.

The final capstone assessment of the course is performed over two days at the original campus of enrolment. 

Year 4 - Term 1
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
MEDS28001 Musculoskeletal Sonography
MEDS20016 Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 3
Year 4 - Term 2
Students must complete the following compulsory units:
MEDS28002 Clinically Applied Research and Scholarship
MEDS20017 Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 4

Clinical Placement:

Course years 2-4 include clinical placement. Students must satisfy specific pre-clinical health, safety, security and licensing requirements prior to each placement, and must disclose any condition that may put themselves or the public at significant risk whilst on placement. Due to limited availability of clinical placements, some block placements have start and/or end dates that fall outside standard term start and end dates. As placements are located throughout Australia and New Zealand and availability is limited in each community, students may be placed at locations that are not of their choosing. As clinical placement hours are an accreditation requirement, 100% attendance is required when undertaking clinical placement to ensure those hours are met. Students must prepare financially and personally to relocate for placements, and are responsible for the associated costs. In accordance with the course accreditation standards of the Australian Sonographers Accreditation Registry students must achieve competency in a range of ultrasound scans which may require attending different clinical facilities.

Whilst on placement, students will perform sonographic scans on and provide hands-on care to people who may be ill or injured. Students will need to be physically fit, able to stand and walk for extended periods, lift, stretch, carry heavy loads and have sufficient visual acuity and contrast sensitivity to assess fine detail of images and perform safely in a range of lighting conditions. Students will undergo clinical assessments on performance of sonographic studies, professional behavioural and technical skills.

Clinical Simulation Laboratory Learning

Students must attend all laboratory activities, including residential schools, at their campus of admission. Students must demonstrate professional behaviours including regular attendance and meeting the course dress code during clinical simulation laboratory sessions. During simulations of ultrasound scans, all students will participate in role play as sonographer and patient. These essential learning activities will require partial removal of clothing to the level that is required for the simulation and will involve touching and being touched by peers. These simulation activities take place in a mixed gender environment, including the presence of male academic tutors. If a student is unable to participate, it may impact the student's ability to attain required skills and complete unit assessments.