MEDS13007 - Musculoskeletal Sonography

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit introduces you to the principal theory in musculoskeletal sonography. In this unit you will apply your knowledge of detailed relational anatomy and pathophysiology, and correlate this with new knowledge on sonographic appearance, scanning orientation and scanning skills relevant to the musculoskeletal system. You will demonstrate understanding of the clinical indication of musculoskeletal ultrasound, applying clinical reasoning in planning for the scanning protocol for each individual patient and implementing patient care and safety in performing musculoskeletal sonography. You will interpret static and dynamic musculoskeletal sonographic imaging and create a provisional diagnostic report as well as explaining differential diagnosis and alternative diagnostic studies based on the clinical information.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites:

MEDS12001 Physics of Ultrasound

AND

MEDS12004 Sonographic Skills Development 1.

Co-requisites:

MEDS20016 Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 3

OR

MEDS20017 Medical Sonography Clinical Unit 4.

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 - 2025

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 1 - 2025

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. Reflective Practice Assignment 40%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 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 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 50% 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 Unit Report
Feedback
Students like the layout of the quiz with a variety of question types which keeps it interesting and engaging.
Recommendation
Consider maintaining the quiz layout.
Action Taken
The quiz layout has been maintained.
Source: SUTE Unit Report
Feedback
Students found the ultrasound images with detailed labels provided in lecture very useful for learning normal sonographic anatomy of musculoskeletal structures.
Recommendation
Provide more labeled ultrasound images in lectures, reading materials and other resources.
Action Taken
More materials have been added.
Source: SUTE Unit Report, student communication and Unit Coordinator reflection
Feedback
Students wanted more hands-on scanning opportunities while learning the theory of musculoskeletal sonography.
Recommendation
The course structure has been updated via Update Course Proposal to move Musculoskeletal Sonography into Year 4 where students will have daily access to scanning opportunities at their clinical placement. This will provide opportunities to apply the theory in practice and increase understanding of complex structures and common pathology encountered.
Action Taken
During this transitioning delivery in 2024, both students were at clinical placement while enrolled in this unit so they had daily access to scanning opportunities. From 2025, this unit will be replaced by MEDS28001 which is offered to Year 4 students who are also enrolled in clinical placement unit.
Source: Self-reflection
Feedback
Students did not do well in the essay questions (long answer questions) despite weekly practices being available on Moodle and detailed explanations provided in tutorial material.
Recommendation
If a similar assessment type is to be used in the new unit, consider adding formative assessment focusing on answering and marking long answer question to motivate students to be engaged.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Correlate relational anatomy of musculoskeletal structures with standard static and dynamic sonographic imaging.
  2. Describe clinical indications relevant to sonographic musculoskeletal examinations, patient care and safety considerations, and alternative musculoskeletal diagnostic studies that can be performed.
  3. Critically acquire sonographic imaging of musculoskeletal structures, including image optimisation, using a systematic protocol in a simulated environment.
  4. Interpret static and dynamic musculoskeletal sonographic imaging of normal anatomy and imaging demonstrating variants, artefacts, pathology or injury to create a provisional diagnostic report.

The learning outcomes for this unit have been linked to ASAR Standards for the Accreditation of Sonographer Courses:

Foundation Units of Competence - 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Critical Practice Units of Competence - 9

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Reflective Practice Assignment • • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
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