ECHO13007 - Cardiac Clinical Unit 3

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, independently and under the supervision of qualified professionals. You will consolidate skills in cardiovascular assessment using echocardiography. You will then apply your knowledge to the analysis of the outcomes of cardiac assessment. Analysis of clinical case studies will enable you to provide differential diagnoses, patient management plans and reflection on practice 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 3
Credit Points 18
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.375
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisite

ECHO13006 Adult Echocardiography

AND

ECHO13008 Advanced Cardiac Assessment Skills

AND

ECHO12005 Cardiac Clinical Unit 2

Note:

ECHO13006 OR ECHO13008 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 2 - 2023

Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Mixed Mode
Term 2 - 2024 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 18-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 37.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 450 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Practical Assessment 0%
2. Performance 0%
3. Professional Practice Placement 0%
4. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books 0%
5. Case Study 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 2 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was .00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a .00% 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 email.
Feedback
Students appreciated clinically relevant content included in tutorials.
Recommendation
Clinically relevant content will again be incorporated into tutorial delivery as this provides guidance for students transitioning from campus to the clinical environment.
Action Taken
Tutorial content in this delivery focussed on real world clinical cases to assist students with understanding commonly encountered pathologies.
Source: Student email.
Feedback
Students were concerned about deterioration of skills due to significant placement delays.
Recommendation
Numerous manned and unmanned scanning sessions on campus were made available to students awaiting placement allocation to maintain competency. Clinical Supervisors were contacted for those students affected by delayed placement commencement dates to explain the possibility of a temporary decline in skill level due to COVID-19 restrictions limiting opportunities for students. These methods will be employed again if delays continue to impact student placements.
Action Taken
The echocardiography laboratory on each campus was available biweekly for use by students awaiting placement allocation. This provided opportunity for students to maintain their practical skills. Manned practice sessions were also scheduled on occasion to provide tutor assistance where necessary.
Source: Student emails.
Feedback
Some students experienced difficulty with submission of Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) images.
Recommendation
A new approach will be employed for image evaluation to minimise the burdensome nature of the image submission task. Students will present their case study images to the unit coordinator via a Zoom meeting to reduce task complexity.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student emails.
Feedback
Students appreciated the personal approach of assessment dates being sent via email prior to placement commencement.
Recommendation
Unit coordinator to continue to send individual student emails to avoid ambiguity with assessment due dates.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Perform echocardiographic assessment in the clinical environment under supervision as per Australasian Sonographer Accreditation Registry (ASAR) requirements.
  2. Accurately communicate the outcomes of cardiac assessments performed in the clinical environment, including consideration of quality assurance.
  3. Behave professionally while attending clinical placement using appropriate interpersonal skills relevant to sonographic practice in accordance with CQUniversity graduate attributes and Australasian Sonographer Accreditation Registry (ASAR) requirements.
  4. Analyse, and critically reflect upon, clinical cases involving cardiac ultrasound and other assessment techniques.
  5. Attend clinical placement as per external accreditation requirements stipulated by the Australian Sonographer Accreditation Registry (ASAR).

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 - Practical Assessment • • •
2 - Performance • • •
3 - Professional Practice Placement •
4 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books •
5 - Case Study • •
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 • •
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures •
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