ECHO13006 - Adult Echocardiography

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Accurate analysis and assessment of complex cardiovascular disease and their pathological processes is a core part of all echocardiographic examinations. In preparation for clinical placement you will attain the knowledge and skills needed to analyse complex cardiovascular disease. This will include consideration of the echocardiographic generated images and assessment measures, haemodynamic calculations, pressures and valve prosthetics. You will apply knowledge to practical echocardiographic tasks in the laboratory setting, and utilise simulated clinical scenarios and case studies to analyse diagnostic data to provide differential diagnoses within an ethical framework of best practice and patient safety. You will demonstrate the professional knowledge, attitude and skills required to perform a complete echocardiographic study within a time frame related to clinical expectations. This unit prepares you for the clinical environment using the Assessment of Readiness for Clinical tool (ARC) in conjunction with other assessment tasks. Attendance at practical activities is a requirement of this unit.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 12
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.25
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites

MPAT12001 Medical Pathophysiology

AND

ECHO12003 Principles of Cardiac Assessment OR ECHO12008 Doppler Echocardiography

AND

ECHO12005 Cardiac Clinical Unit 2

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 1 - 2023 Profile
Brisbane
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Brisbane
Sydney

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 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. In-class Test(s) 50%
2. In-class Test(s) 50%
3. Practical Assessment 0%
4. Performance 0%
5. Reflective Practice Assignment 0%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 50.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 21.05% 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 and Unit Teaching Evaluation
Feedback
Online tests in prior CV69 units are conducted remotely. Some students did not fully appreciate the requirement for closed book conditions in this third-year unit.
Recommendation
Echocardiography requires a high level of independent thinking and analytical interpretation, and requires the ability to immediately access a vast pool of foundational knowledge, particularly in urgent clinical situations. Proper comprehension and recall of foundational concepts is vital for scaffolding of skills before extended clinical placements in follow-on units of the CV69 course. Open book tests cannot assess the recall and comprehension necessary at this level of study, immediately prior to clinical placement. For this reason, ECHO13006 tests will continue to be scheduled in-class and under closed book conditions. Many academic lecturers within Echocardiography have expressed a view that closed book conditions should be introduced earlier than third year and this will be discussed further, prior to 2023 unit deliveries.
Action Taken
Invigilated assessments have now been reinstated into second-year units in the CV69 course, to better prepare students for closed book tests in this third-year unit. This also ensures foundational concepts are properly assimilated prior to progressing to this third-year unit.
Source: Student and Unit Teaching Evaluation
Feedback
Some students did not appreciate the requirement to recall equations, and felt that a list of equations should have been provided for reference in the first in-class test.
Recommendation
While equations are often programmed into industry software, all practising sonographers have learned the theory behind common equations and understand their application. Recall of equations during the ECHO13006 test is necessary to assess understanding of (sometimes non-standard) requisite parameters and application to specific pathologies. As such, students will be required to recall and apply equations in future deliveries.
Action Taken
Students were encouraged to understand the equations rather than simply memorise them. In assessment feedback, emphasis was placed on clarifying the theory behind equations, rather than simply identifying where marks were not attained.
Source: Student and Unit Teaching Evaluation
Feedback
Some students felt that on-campus time with tutors was insufficient and that more time should be afforded for explanation of concepts.
Recommendation
Weekly lab sessions provide students with an opportunity to apply concepts taught in lectures. Lab schedules for QLAB are carefully considered so that content follows on from the previous week, to afford students the opportunity to learn theoretical concepts and attend tutorials before their lab session. This approach will be made clearer to students in future deliveries. Scanning sessions are inevitably constrained by equipment and staffing availability and are scheduled to enable staff to support students as equitably as possible across campuses.
Action Taken
Instructional videos, recorded by the unit coordinator and played to students in weekly lab sessions, were shortened to allow more time with local tutors.
Source: Student and Unit Teaching Evaluation
Feedback
The revised rubrics for practical assessments were unfamiliar and some students found assessment requirements difficult to understand.
Recommendation
Redevelopment of the practical assessment rubric was necessary, to move from a negative-marking approach to a competency-led approach. Students may have been unfamiliar with the competency framework and where their skill progression should sit within this context. The industry-recognised competency framework for sonographers will be introduced to students early on in the CV69 course in future deliveries— this will likely improve student comprehension of unit expectations and assessment criteria.
Action Taken
Students were familiar with the competency-based assessment rubric, from previous second-year scanning units. The Measurement/Interpretation (Part B) component of the practical assessment was streamlined this delivery, to provide clarity around expectations.
Source: Student and Unit Teaching Evaluation
Feedback
Students felt they would have benefitted from additional time and lab access between the mock and final practical assessments.
Recommendation
Given student numbers, staffing and equipment constraints, optimal lab scheduling is always difficult. The lab delivery schedule will be reviewed close to term commencement to ensure optimal lab deliveries across campuses. This will potentially provide more time or additional sessions between the mock and formal practical assessments.
Action Taken
The CV69 delivery schedule was optimised for student access. The delivery schedule is inevitably constrained by shared resources and staffing availability.
Source: Student and Unit Teaching Evaluation
Feedback
Students appreciated the commitment and care demonstrated by tutors.
Recommendation
Pastoral care is recognised as an important aspect of student interaction and will continue to be a strong focus within the CV69 teaching team.
Action Taken
The unit coordinator and supporting staff members made efforts to be approachable and available to every student, through tutorials, forum posts, emails and one-to-one Zoom sessions or phone calls. As a 12 credit point unit and pre-requisite to clinical placement blocks, pastoral care is a significant consideration in ECHO13006 delivery.
Source: Student Unit and Teacher Evaluation (SUTE)
Feedback
Expectations in ECHO13006 were of greater intensity than experienced in previous CV69 units. While many students recognised the importance of this requirement in preparation for subsequent clinical placement blocks, some students felt this approach was unnecessary.
Recommendation
Students may not properly appreciate the degree of professionalism and accountability required as a cardiac sonographer. A team review of professional behaviour expectations across all scanning units will be undertaken, with consideration of industry feedback from subsequent clinical units.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
In-class tests were felt to be too intense an assessment by some students.
Recommendation
Due to earlier COVID social distancing constraints and a move away from formal examinations by CQUniversity, this was the first invigilated theory assessment this student cohort had encountered in the CV69 course offering. Students were not familiar with the supervised (on campus, closed book) testing format and were likely ill-prepared for this as a result. Impressions will likely change as future student cohorts are introduced to invigilated exams from second-year units prior to enrolment in ECHO13006.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Students felt some lecture resources needed to be reviewed and improved, and that tutorials were too long.
Recommendation
A review of the unit lecture recordings will be undertaken, to identify where improvements can be made. Tutorial format will be reviewed, with consideration taken to reducing tutorial length.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Differentiate between the aetiology, pathophysiology and echocardiographic assessment process associated with a variety of cardiovascular disease processes
  2. Perform and interpret measurements and advanced haemodynamic calculations applied to 2D, colour and spectral Doppler derived echocardiographic measures
  3. Differentiate prosthetic valve and valvular surgical intervention functionality and disease processes
  4. Analyse case-based clinical information to formulate differential diagnoses and plan patient management
  5. Perform an echocardiographic examination efficiently and effectively
  6. Display professional behaviour, teamwork and communication skills consistent with safe practice
  7. Apply reflective feedback to professional practice improvement.

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 6 7
1 - In-class Test(s) • • • •
2 - In-class Test(s) • • • •
3 - Practical Assessment • •
4 - Performance •
5 - Reflective Practice Assignment •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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