PMSC11004 - Paramedic Medical Emergencies 1

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will develop the skills to recognise, diagnose and manage patients with commonly encountered acute and life-threatening disease processes throughout their life span. You will integrate your developing knowledge of anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology with patient assessment, diagnostic evaluations, and clinical history taking to formulate a provisional diagnosis. You will use this information to apply the most appropriate clinical management in line with contemporary professional guidelines, protocols, and emerging evidence-based practices. You will also utilise appropriate communication styles, including verbal, non-verbal, and written, to communicate with patients and other professionals to convey information. Case-based learning will assist you to contexualise your essential clinical skills, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities. Throughout this process, you will explore the legal, ethical, and professional responsibilities required to practice as a paramedic.

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

Pre-requisite – BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 or BMSC11001 Human Body Systems 1

Pre-requisite – PMSC11002 Foundations of Paramedic Clinical Practice

Co-requisite - PMSC12001 Procedures & Skills in Paramedic Care

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 Compulsory Residential School
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Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2023

Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Cairns
Mixed Mode
Rockhampton
Townsville

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. Portfolio 60%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 40%
3. Practical Assessment 0%

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 2 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 43.94% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 32.20% 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: Moodle
Feedback
Moodle layout was excellent and easy to navigate.
Recommendation
The unit used the new Tiles layout this term, and within each tile all material was placed beneath clear headings. Lecture recordings and files were placed within a folder for easy download and to avoid cluttering each tile. The unit should continue using this approach in future offerings.
Action Taken
The new Tiles layout was used this term with great ease for students to assess information. This layout will continue to be utilised for future teachings.
Source: Moodle
Feedback
The inclusion of Ambulance Victoria protocols was confusing, given that the rest of the course teaches only to Queensland Ambulance Service guidelines.
Recommendation
The inclusion of Ambulance Victoria content to show how they risk-manage the decision to transport or leave patients at home was explained to students, but still resulted in confusion. The team has since determined to remove reference to interstate protocols in future offerings.
Action Taken
The removal of Ambulance Victoria content was completed. Some students found it challenging to decide whether to transport or leave the patient at home. It was explained to the students that each ambulance service has protocols and procedures to outline their clinical decision-making and to learn this well when they are employed with the ambulance service they join.
Source: Moodle
Feedback
The weekly practical lab sessions are excellent, and the Tutors & Lecturers at each campus location were supportive and informative.
Recommendation
Recommend to maintain the one-to-six teacher-student ratio for weekly lab sessions and residential schools. This enables great interaction between teacher and all students, and prevents any one student being lost within a larger or louder group, or not getting enough hands-on practice.
Action Taken
This recommendation will continue on with the future of this unit as this one-to-six teacher-student ratio forms part of our accreditation standards.
Source: Moodle
Feedback
Most lectures were excellent, with great detail and presentation style and very interesting to follow. Some however did not go into enough depth overall, or the slides were cluttered whilst the narration was brief.
Recommendation
Ensure consistency in lecture quality across multiple Unit Coordinators.
Action Taken
To ensure consistency in the lecture quality, there will be only one unit coordinator for the unit and given support from colleagues to review teaching material through informal discipline meetings.
Source: Sute Unit Comments
Feedback
Some students found two different unit coordinator teaching material confusing as one uploaded minimal information but elaborated during pre-recorded lecturer video's and the other unit coordinator put more detail into the power point slides with more information linking teaching material to the unit and course learning outcomes.
Recommendation
For all future teachings, there will be only one unit coordinator. This will ensure one generic template for PowerPoint slides to be ultilised and one style of teaching to help reduce confusion with students.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Sute Unit Comments
Feedback
Some students were annoyed they had research terms they did not understand.
Recommendation
Implement a weekly, tiered approach to research terminology, information and concepts.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Sute Unit Comments
Feedback
Students complained that emails, feedback of assessments, and discussion forums at times were not responded to in a timely manner.
Recommendation
Mandate: one Unit Coordinator with a full-time workload to be attached to PMSC11004. Governance of this item by Head of Course.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Examine patients systematically and comprehensively, including clinical history and assessment data, in a safe, ethical, and culturally sensitive manner
  2. Apply knowledge of foundational anatomy and pathophysiology of disease processes and patient assessment data to identify a provisional diagnosis
  3. Employ appropriate clinical management, including the use of basic pharmacology, through comprehensive knowledge and demonstration of best-practice clinical interventions with consideration to safe, ethical, and evidence-based practice principles
  4. Apply the principles of safe, ethical, and professional practice concerning legislative and regulatory requirements and the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards.

The Paramedicine Board of Australia requires units to align with the AHPRA professional capabilities for registered paramedics. These are broken down into five (5) domains. Below aligns the learning outcomes for this unit with these domains. In addition, the learning outcomes have also been aligned with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.
Professional Capabilities for a Registered Paramedic
The Paramedicine Board of Australia is responsible for assessing, consulting on, and setting the standards for paramedics practicing in Australia. These standards and relevant domains are articulated in the Professional capabilities for registered paramedics document. The learning outcomes of the unit are matched to the relevant capabilities.
Standard/Attribute/Criteria Learning Outcomes
Domain 1: The Professional and Ethical Practitioner (1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.1.7, 1.1.8, 1.1.9, 1.1.10, 1.1.11, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.4, 1.2.5, 1.2.6, 1.4.1, 1.4.2) LO1, LO2, LO3 and LO4
Domain 2: The communicator and the collaborator (2.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.1.5, 2.1.6, 2.1.7, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, 2.2.6) LO1, LO2 and LO3
Domain 3: The evidence-based practitioner (3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.2.4, 3.2.5, 3.2.6, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4) LO1, LO2, LO3 and LO4
Domain 4: The safety and risk management practitioner (4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.5, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4, 4.5.3) LO1, LO3 and LO4
Domain 5: The Paramedicine Practitioner (5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3, 5.2.4, 5.2.5, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.3.6, 5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.4.3, 5.4.4, 5.4.5, 5.4.6) LO1, LO2, LO3 and LO4
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Standards developed in this unit are:
Standard Learning Outcomes
Clinical Governance LO1, LO3 and LO4
Partnering with Consumers LO1 and LO4
Preventing and Controlling Infections LO1, LO3 and LO4
Medication Safety LO3 and LO4
Comprehensive Care LO1 and LO4
Communicating for Safety LO1, LO3 and LO4
Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration LO1, LO2 and LO3

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Portfolio • • • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
3 - Practical Assessment • • • •
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 • •
5 - Team Work • •
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