MEDS20008 - Advanced Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Upper Body

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit advances your clinical practice in the field of musculoskeletal ultrasound of the upper body. You will deepen your knowledge and understanding of sonographic anatomy, pathophysiology and dynamic function of the musculoskeletal systems in the upper body. You will appreciate the role of ultrasound in clinical assessment, and patient management, including interventional procedures. To successfully complete this unit you will need access to musculoskeletal ultrasound examinations in the clinical context. This unit includes an optional residential school comprising practical training in advanced upper body musculoskeletal ultrasound.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School Optional Residential School
View Unit Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2019

Term 1 - 2020 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2022 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 Postgraduate 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. 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 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 55.56% 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 feedback via Moodle "Have your say".
Feedback
Students found the written assessment challenging but appropriate for the unit.
Recommendation
Continue to include a written assessment task in this unit. Ensure adequate scaffolding of strategies for students in terms of academic writing, which they find challenging. Provide clear expectations of academic writing at an AQF level 9 when unpacking the assessment task for students.
Action Taken
A written assessment task, which was the completion of an education paper, was designed and required to be completed by students. Scaffolding was provided to students regarding the completion of this written assessment. Clear expectations related to the completion of this task were articulated in pre-recorded lectures, interactive tutorials and individualized feedback related to draft submissions. Exemplars of papers written by the unit coordinator were provided.
Source: Student feedback via Moodle "Have your say".
Feedback
Students reported that different lecturing styles between lecturers, ensured all learning styles were catered for.
Recommendation
Continue to provide lecture resources from a variety of academics and industry experts to cater to different learning styles of students.
Action Taken
Learning resources from industry experts including live tutorials was provided in this unit offering (in 2022) to cater for different learning styles.
Source: Student feedback via Moodle "Have your say".
Feedback
Students appreciated the in-depth knowledge and expert academic input.
Recommendation
Continue to use industry experts to provide lectures or tutorials within this unit.
Action Taken
In 2022, Heath Edwards (musculoskeletal sonographer) was invited to provide input into tutorials, to provide contemporary case examples from current clinical musculoskeletal sonographic practice.
Source: Student feedback via Moodle "Have your say".
Feedback
It has been suggested by students to include more clinical scanning videos to demonstrate dynamic testing of musculoskeletal structures.
Recommendation
Develop some small videos demonstrating dynamic manouvres performed under ultrasound control.
Action Taken
Videos demonstrating dynamic manouvres of the sonographic transducer to gain sonographic imaging of musculoskeletal structures were developed and included in learning resources provided in this unit offering (2022).
Source: Student feedback and emails.
Feedback
The input from industry experts in the tutorials was appreciated.
Recommendation
Continue to provide input from industry experts, including contemporary clinical musculoskeletal sonographic cases in tutorials provided within this unit.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Students reported the completion of a final online test at the end of term was overwhelming and smaller online quizzes throughout the term would allow for more regular feedback provision and improve learning.
Recommendation
Consider replacing the final online test with more regular smaller quizzes throughout the learning term/period to enhance student learning.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Analyse sonographic anatomy and appearances of normal and pathological musculoskeletal structures of the upper body
  2. Research the role of ultrasound in the clinical assessment, diagnosis and treatment of a patient.

The Masters course does not lead to entry into the sonography profession but is rather provided to qualified practitioners to allow advanced practice. Therefore it does not require external accreditation. The Master of Medical Ultrasound qualifies as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activity (activity code 10B - Australian Sonographers Accreditation Registry (ASAR)).

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Written Assessment
2 - Online Test
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Advanced Level
Professional Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2
1 - Knowledge
2 - Communication
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills
4 - Research
5 - Self-management
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Advanced Level
Professional Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Written Assessment
2 - Online Test