ECHO12005 - Cardiac Clinical Unit 2

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This clinical unit will provide opportunities to apply and integrate both theoretical and practical knowledge, skills and professional behaviours in the clinical environment. In addition to the consolidation of skills in electrophysiological assessment, you will be exposed to a range of cardiovascular assessment techniques, including echocardiography. Using clinical cases you will analyse and reflect upon the information provided to produce provisional differential diagnoses and patient management plans within an ethical framework of best practice and patient safety. Behavioural aspects of professional practice are emphasised and you are expected to reflect on your own performance and exhibit the highest level of safe patient care. Critical appraisal of performance will enable you to advance your professional, technical and analytical skills in a work setting under qualified supervision.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites:

ECHO12003 Principles of Cardiac Assessment and ECHO12004 Cardiac Assessment Skills 1

OR

ECHO12008 Doppler Echocardiography and ECHO12007 Cardiac Rhythm Assessment.  


Both ECHO12003 Principles of Cardiac Assessment and ECHO12004 Cardiac Assessment Skills 1 OR ECHO12008 Doppler Echocardiography and ECHO12007 Cardiac Rhythm Assessment must have been successfully completed within the last twelve 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 completion of technical skill / knowledge revision). Details of this will be articulated in a learning contract created by the Head of Course or designate.

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2023

Term 3 - 2023 Profile
Mixed Mode

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Portfolio 0%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 0%
3. Practical Assessment 0%
4. Practical Assessment 0%
5. Performance 0%
6. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books 0%
7. Professional Practice Placement 0%

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.

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 3 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 66.67% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 9.68% response rate.

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.

Source: Student unit and teaching evaluation (SUTE).
Feedback
Students appreciated having versatility in regards to what was discussed in the tutorials.
Recommendation
Tutorials will continue to focus on the 'needs of the student' at the time of delivery. Students will continue to be encouraged post questions and request topics to be discussed live, to enhance content digestion.
Action Taken
Tutorials were case based discussions which methodically revised year 2 studies with linkage to clinical experience and exposure concurrently occurring.
Source: Student unit and teaching evaluation (SUTE).
Feedback
Students enjoyed hearing from students who had completed their clinical placements.
Recommendation
Interviews with previous students will continue to be acquired, to enable future students to receive an insight into 'clinical placement experience' from a student prospective.
Action Taken
Prior student interviews were posted as a unit resource to aid placement preparation.
Source: Student unit and teaching evaluation (SUTE).
Feedback
Completion of the ECG portfolio assessment caused anxiety for students.
Recommendation
Support will continue to be offered by the teaching team through dedicated tutorials and prompt forum responses. The importance of attendance at tutorials will be promoted from term commencement; given rarely more than 1-6 students out of a cohort of 49 attended offerings in 2020. Unrealistic student expectations regarding ECG quality and interpretation applications will be addressed through revision and improvement of 'unpacking the assessment videos'.
Action Taken
Both unit resources and assessment strategies were further revised and clarified. The ECG portfolio was modified, reducing the number of ECGs that needed to be collated and reported in full. Reflective feedback from the clinical supervisors was incorporated into the portfolio requirement. A series of summative ECG quizzes were introduced, which were supported by frequent tailored tutorial offerings. Assessment strategy changes were aimed at enhancing student learning experience and engagement. Compared to 2020 outcomes, the 2021 rise in student unit evaluation positive feedback scores suggested that changes were well received by students. For 'useful learning materials' and 'learnt from assessment' criteria, positive feedback scores rose from 50% to 66.67% in both instances.
Source: Workplace Integrated Learning (WIL) communications between university staff, students and clinical supervisors.
Feedback
Supervisors and students would benefit from further clarity around supervision requirements and scope of practice.
Recommendation
The Echocardiography and Cardiac Physiology Student and Clinical Supervisor Handbook will be revised. TEAMS access to a dedicated ECHO12005 site will be continued for clinical supervisors. Clinical supervisors will be linked to personalised student emails from the unit coordinator, advising of assessment due dates.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Workplace Integrated Learning (WIL) communications between university staff, students and clinical supervisors.
Feedback
Meeting the personal and financial commitment required to undertake clinical placement was challenging for some students.
Recommendation
Teaching staff will continue to promote CV69 course inherent requirements, including personal and financial commitments. Related information is already published in the course handbook and reiterated at course open days/orientation sessions and in Head of Course foundation unit forums during the first few weeks of course enrolment.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Unit coordinator
Feedback
Timely communication and provision of appropriate documentation to support practicum absences was suboptimal on occasion.
Recommendation
Awareness of work place integrated learning (WIL) attendance policies will be further promoted, including the possible impacts of non-compliance on student insurance status and subsequent accreditation applications at the time of course graduation.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Perform electrophysiological and echocardiographic assessment on the cardiovascular system
  2. Analyse and communicate the outcomes of cardiac assessment including consideration of quality assurance
  3. Apply professional behaviour consistent with safe practice
  4. Analyse, and critically reflect upon, clinical cases involving various cardiac assessment techniques
  5. Attend clinical placement as per external accreditation requirements (Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry).

Linked to National and International Standards
1. ASAR Accreditation Standards for Cardiac Sonography - critical practice Unit 8 - Cardiac, Foundation units of competence 1 - 5.
2. European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging Core Syllabus.
3. American Registry for Cardiac Sonography Core Syllabus.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Portfolio • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
3 - Practical Assessment • •
4 - Practical Assessment • •
5 - Performance •
6 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books •
7 - Professional Practice Placement •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
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 • • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10