MEDS11001 - Fundamentals of Ultrasound Practice

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit provides an insight into medical ultrasound by exploring the role and global scope of practice of the medical sonographer and the use of ultrasound in medical imaging, the types of examinations available and the provision of safe patient care as an allied health professional. The aim of this unit is to provide introductory knowledge and skills that will support your learning throughout the Medical Sonography course. Simulation exercises will enable you to apply theory to practice.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

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).

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Residential School Compulsory Residential School
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Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2024

Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Mixed Mode
Term 1 - 2025 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. Written Assessment 50%
2. Practical Assessment 0%
3. Online Test 50%

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 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 80.77% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 21.49% 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: SUTE data
Feedback
Some students expressed that they would like the final online test format to include grouping of question types together rather than a random shuffling of question types throughout the test.
Recommendation
Maintain a range of question types within the online test but consider grouping them together by question type rather than as a random format to allow continuity of work during the test.
Action Taken
A range of question types was maintained within the online test. The structure was changed to group together question types to allow continuity of work during the test.
Source: SUTE data and UC reflection
Feedback
Some students expressed that they would like to have activities in the residential school that were more interactive when they were not scanning in the sonography labs.
Recommendation
Continue to revise the residential school program. Consider more interactive groupwork to encourage connections between students for sessions when students are not in the sonography lab for practical skills.
Action Taken
The residential school program was revised to include more collaborative groupwork and discussion for the sessions outside of the sonography labs.
Source: UC and student feedback
Feedback
Students continue to thoroughly enjoy the residential school scanning activities within the sonography labs.
Recommendation
Continue with the current amount of scanning activities in the sonography labs and consider if further scanning activities are possible within the labs allowing for time and schedule limitations.
Action Taken
The current amount of scanning activities in the sonography labs was maintained in the residential school. This was however unable to be increased due to time restrictions within the schedule of the residential school, especially due to some campuses having a larger cohort of students.
Source: UC reflections
Feedback
Tutorials were well attended, however there were limited levels of participation at times and mostly through the use of the 'chat' function on Zoom.
Recommendation
Investigate strategies to promote better student participation and interactive discussion during online tutorials.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE data and UC reflections
Feedback
Some students were unfamiliar with the standard required for a university level written assessment.
Recommendation
Review assessment resources, assessment format and schedule to allow for increased clarity of assessment task requirements.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE data and UC reflection
Feedback
Some students expressed they would like content in tutorials to coincide with the same week as the related lecture content in the unit.
Recommendation
Consider scheduling tutorial topics to coincide with the same week of corresponding unit topic material to allow students to apply and understand what they've learned simultaneously rather than reviewing the content for the tutorial from the previous week.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Discuss the role and scope of practice of the medical sonographer, including professional and legal frameworks
  2. Apply knowledge of ultrasound equipment, transducer / patient positioning and sonographic image appearance using appropriate medical and sonographic terminology
  3. Discuss the role of diagnostic medical ultrasound and how it relates to other diagnostic imaging modalities and picture archiving communication systems
  4. Demonstrate sonographic manual skill development in a simulated environment.

This unit will be one of the core units in the Medical Sonography Course which is externally accredited by the Australian Sonographers Accreditation Registry, an external professional regulatory body. This unit introduces students to the foundational knowledge and skills of medical sonography and enables an appreciation of the use of ultrasound in a national and international context and in the context of the other diagnostic imaging technologies available. The professional body entry level competencies of the accredited sonographer include consideration of safe practice and professional behaviour.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • •
2 - Practical Assessment • •
3 - Online Test • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
4 - Information Literacy •
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