Viewing Unit History

The information below is relevant from 11/03/2019 to 08/03/2020
Click Here to view current information

MEDS12002 - Abdominal Ultrasound

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit explores the sonographic assessment of normal and pathological abdominal structures. Lectures and interactive tutorials, incorporating clinical narratives, are used to lay the foundations for you to analyse clinical scenarios. These scenarios are used to engage you in the sonographic decision-making process which culminates in the creation of a sonographers' interpretive report, including research into related sonographic pathologies.

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

MEDS11001 Fundamentals of Sonographic Practice

AND

Prerequisite MEDS11002 Relational Anatomy and Image Recognition

AND

Corequisite

MEDS12001 Physics of Ultrasound

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 - 2019

Term 1 - 2019 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2020 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2022 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2023 Profile
Brisbane
Mackay
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Online

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. 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

To view Past Exams,
please login
Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 60.42% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 36.92% 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: Unit coordinator reflection
Feedback
Available timing of tests, including for extension requests, allowed opportunities for academic misconduct to occur.
Recommendation
Investigate modifying timing availability of online assessments and having a separate question bank in case of last-minute extension requests. Students will continue to be informed of what constitutes academic misconduct and the potential consequences
Action Taken
Assessments were limited to the time of the test to reduce the chance of collusion. Multiple question banks were utilised, and students with approved extentions for online tests all sat their delayed test at the same time, which consisted of different questions to those previously used.
Source: Unit coordinator reflection, SUTE comments
Feedback
Some students' time management skills made it challenging for them to remain up to date with all weekly content and associated quizzes.
Recommendation
Investigate adjusting the timing of all assessments throughout the term.
Action Taken
Online quizzes were available for 48 hours (up from 36 hours) and available until Thursday at 6pm AEST, allowing students more time to complete their weekly studies.
Source: SUTE comments, unit coordinator reflection
Feedback
Some students did not feel the practise test questions were as difficult as the online tests.
Recommendation
Practise questions will continue to include previous online test questions to ensure relevance, and online tests will be written with this in mind.
Action Taken
Review of practise test and exam questions ensured that they were very comparable with online tests and written examination questions.
Source: SUTE, UC reflection
Feedback
Some students asked for more worksheet completion activities
Recommendation
More worksheet questions and answers will be included in tutorials to allow students more practise in completing worksheets. This will improve their efficiency in completing them before clinical placement.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: SUTE, UC reflection
Feedback
Students stated that the feedback given by the unit coordinator really helped them to understand where they could improve throughout the term, especially the individual Zoom feedback sessions provided following online tests.
Recommendation
Feedback and feedforward will continue to be delivered throughout the unit. Opportunities for one-on-one Zoom feedback sessions will continue to ensure students have every opportunity for success in this unit.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Describe anatomical structures on sonographic images of the abdomen
  2. Differentiate the clinical appearance, sonographic appearance and aetiology of abdominal pathologies
  3. Classify laboratory data relevant to the abdomen
  4. Analyse clinical scenarios to provide a pathological differential diagnosis and produce a sonographic report.

The learning outcomes for this unit relate to the requirements of the Australasian Sonographer's Association Competency Standards for the Entry Level Sonographer.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment
2 - Examination
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
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 - Examination