Unit Synopsis
In your final year of study, you are transitioning from student to independent practitioner. Nearing completion of your tertiary studies to begin a career in your selected profession is a huge learning milestone. This transition phase of your learning journey is also a starting point for another learning journey, that is your continuing development as a professional. To support your transition, you will critically reflect on your progress in developing the knowledge, skills and judgement to meet the national registering body’s Professional Capabilities and on your clinical practice in adhering to the Shared Code of Conduct of registered health professionals. You will apply clinical decision-making, evidence-based practice and risk management to the analysis and discussion of clinical incidents and near misses. You will further develop your ability to advance your profession through peer support and education.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 4 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-Requisites:
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 - 2026
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
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).
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. Case Study | 30% |
| 2. Presentation | 30% |
| 3. Portfolio | 40% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 3 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 40.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 20% 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 informal comments and SUTE data
The case study assessment was challenging, but students found it very useful in developing an understanding of the important role radiographers play in patient safety.
Maintain the case study. Refine the questions asked to maintain academic integrity and currency.
The case study was maintained. Specific questions related to the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia (MRPBA) Professional Capabilities and radiology site accreditation were used to maintain relevance and currency of the assessment task.
Source: Student informal comments and SUTE data
Some students felt that the presentation assessment was very similar to that required in a previous unit.
Work with the unit coordinator of the previous unit to review the assessments and amend if necessary.
Discussion between the academics disclosed that the presentation tasks were different across the two units. The scope was maintained, with clear explanation of the requirements of the presentation topic.
Source: Emails from students and coordinator reflection
The portfolio assessment gave students freedom in their choice of professional capabilities being discussed. This caused anxiety among some students.
Review the portfolio assessments and investigate methods of increasing clarity of requirements.
The precise MRPBA Professional Capabilities required to be included were specified, with no potential for students to choose which to address.
Source: SUTE comments
Some students felt that feedback on individual assessment tasks was not provided in a manner that supported their development
Investigate timing and scope of assessment tasks to enable timely feedback to students.
In Progress
Source: Coordinator reflection
The requirement to use professional judgement and make decisions related to care and professional requirements appeared to be challenging for students.
Investigate the availability of more resources to support the development of confidence in independent practice and decision-making.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Apply evidence-based practice to inform clinical reasoning and professional decision-making.
- Integrate concepts and processes of facility accreditation, quality improvement and risk management to analyse and discuss clinical incidents and near misses relative to clinical governance standards such as National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards.
- Critically reflect on your experiences and associated evidence which demonstrate the continued development of your professional capabilities and adherence to the Professional Body's Code of Conduct and requirements for practice.
- Undertake continuing professional development, supporting other medical radiation practitioners and your professional peers through presentation at a simulated conference and participation in peer assessment.
- Communicate professionally in written and presentation tasks.
The unit links to the following Professional Capabilities for Medical Radiation Practitioners as detailed by the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia (effective March 2020):
Domain 1: Medical radiation practitioner:
- 2. Use clinical information management systems appropriately (Part a: Understand and comply with legislative responsibilities about data privacy, the ownership, storage, retention and destruction of patient/client records and other practice documentation, Part d: Identify and respond appropriately when clinical information is incorrectly associated with the identity of a patient/client and/or examination/treatment, Part f: Respond appropriately to data errors and/or system failures & Part g: Ensure clinical information is made available to the appropriate persons involved in the care of the patient)
- 7. If the practitioner identifies any urgent or unexpected findings, take appropriate and timely action to ensure the immediate management of the patient/client.
Domain 2: Professional and ethical practitioner:
- 1. Practice in an ethical and professional manner, consistent with relevant legislation and regulatory requirements (Part h: Exercise appropriate levels of autonomy and professional judgement in a variety of medical radiation practice settings)
- 3. Take responsibility and accountability for professional decisions (Part a: Make appropriate professional decisions about the care of patients, Part b: Recognise and respond appropriately to unsafe or unprofessional practice & Part c: Integrate organisational policies and guidelines with professional standards and apply to practice)
- 5. Seek opportunities to progress the profession (Part a: Provide developmental support to other medical radiation practitioners and other members of the healthcare team)
Domain 4: Evidence-informed practitioner:
- 1. Resolve challenges through application of critical thinking and reflective practice (Part a: Identify the challenge or question and the information that is needed to respond, Part b: Find, critically appraise, interpret and apply best available research evidence to inform clinical reasoning and professional decision-making & Part d: Recognise opportunities to contribute to the development of new knowledge through research and enquiry)
- 2. Identify ongoing professional learning needs and opportunities (Part a: Comply with legal and professional responsibilities to complete CPD, Part b: Critically reflect on own strengths and limitations to identify learning needed to improve and adapt professional practice & Part d: Plan and implement steps to address professional learning and development needs)
Domain 5: Radiation safety and risk manager:
- 1. Perform and provide safe radiation practice (Part f: Identify radiation risks and implement effective and appropriate risk management systems and procedures & Part g: Recognise and report on near misses and their consequences, in addition to adverse events and relevant contributing factors)
- 2. Protect and enhance patient/client safety (Part b: Review, communicate, record and manage patient/client information accurately, consistent with protocols, procedures and legislative requirements for maintaining patient/client records & Part e: Apply relevant quality frameworks to practice)
- 4. Maintain safety of the workplace and associated environments (Part a: Identify safety hazards in the workplace and respond to incidents [including radiation and radioactivity incidents] in a timely manner, in accordance with protocols and procedures, Part b: Report on all incidents [including radiation and radioactivity incidents] as needed & Part g: Provide information on radiation -related hazards and control measures to others in the workplace).
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Case Study | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | |||
| 3 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | ||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | ||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |