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MEDS12001 - Physics of Ultrasound

General Information

Unit Synopsis

You will be introduced to the principles of ultrasound physics and instrumentation in this unit. Quality Assurance and recognition of artefacts will also be covered. The knowledge and skills learnt from this unit are integral to all concurrent and subsequent sonography units and the foundation from which you will build your image acquisition, recognition and assessment skills. You will apply your knowledge and skills of physics principles in the laboratory setting using ultrasound equipment.

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

Prerequisite

MEDI11002 Physics for Health Sciences

AND

MEDS11001 Fundamentals of Sonographic Practice

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 - 2016

Term 1 - 2017 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Sydney
Term 1 - 2018 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2019 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2020 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2021 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2022 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2023 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
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 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 40%
2. Practical Assessment 0%
3. Examination 60%

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 61.90% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 30.28% 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 student comments
Feedback
The unit is simultaneously delivered to CG91 (Sonography) and CV69 (Echocardiography) students. Some CV69 students feel the unit content needs to be more relatable to their situation.
Recommendation
Consider a cross-discipline approach whereby CV69 staff are more involved in content creation and/or delivery of the unit.
Action Taken
The unit coordinator and CV69 staff worked more closely to ensure accurate and relevant cardiac specific content. CV69 staff were present at many tutorials and were available to answer QandA forum questions. CV69 students completed a separate end of term quiz formulated to be more authentic to their discipline. Some questions in the CV69 specific lab manual were rewritten to make them more applicable to cardiovascular principles.
Source: SUTE student comments
Feedback
Some students felt that the final lab session was too rushed and they needed increased tutor support as a consequence.
Recommendation
Consider modifying the content or structure of the lab sessions to provide an improved learning experience.
Action Taken
The entire lab manual was rewritten to make it more succinct and logical. There was an improvement in the timing for the final lab, but it was still too rushed and further amendments have been noted for next year.
Source: SUTE student comments
Feedback
Some students found that lectures were too long and complicated, which created some confusion with new concepts.
Recommendation
Refresh lectures with a focus on providing clear and concise explanations of concepts.
Action Taken
Lectures by the former unit coordinator were too long and complicated. Most of these lectures have been replaced, but some of the aged material will need to be updated prior to 2024. Feedback suggests that the weekly tutorials supported student comprehension of lecture content, as concepts were presented from a different perspective.
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations
Feedback
Some students found that it was difficult to remain engaged during tutorials, as Physics is quite dense.
Recommendation
Construct online quizzes such as Kahoot during tutorials to encourage interaction and engagement.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: MEDS12001 Q&A forum
Feedback
Some of the older lectures have poor audio quality and are blurry when using different platforms.
Recommendation
Replace older lectures as the audio tends to distort when the volume is too high.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: MEDS12001 Q&A forum
Feedback
The final Lab session is too rushed.
Recommendation
Some content from Lab 3 can be transferred to Lab 2.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Apply the physical principles of diagnostic ultrasound to practical problems
  2. Evaluate the components and performance of diagnostic ultrasound equipment
  3. Apply knowledge of ultrasound physics and practical skills to acquire diagnostic ultrasound images
  4. Discuss the principles of ultrasound techniques, Doppler ultrasound and its application in medical ultrasound.
  5. Interpret the causes of, and apply problem solving skills to reduce, sources of artefacts on an ultrasound image
  6. Describe safety issues in medical ultrasound

This unit will be one of the core units in the Medical Sonography Course which is externally accredited by the Australian Sonographers Accreditation Registry (ASAR), an external professional regulatory body. Intended learning outcomes have been linked to:

ASAR Required Graduate Competency Outcomes for General Sonography Accreditation Standards 1.2,

Deliver safe, patient centred services- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

Practice within professional and ethical frameworks- 2, 6 and 7

Contribute to workplace health and safety and quality assurance- 2, and 7

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Written Assessment
2 - Practical Assessment
3 - Examination
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Communication
2 - Problem Solving
4 - Information Literacy
6 - Information Technology Competence
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
1 - Written Assessment
2 - Practical Assessment
3 - Examination