PMSC12001 - Procedures and Skills in Paramedic Care

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will develop an understanding of paramedic care through the investigation of underpinning theory and practice of procedural applications in the discipline. This will include examples of clinical investigations of the neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and endocrine systems including specific paramedic interventions such as cannulation, ventilation techniques, defibrillation and trauma management at an introductory level. Your knowledge and skills will be developed through a series of coursework exercises and practical laboratory sessions. The knowledge and skills developed in this unit ensure you meet the Paramedicine Board of Australia's registration requirements through a series of coursework exercises and practical laboratory sessions.

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

Pre-requisites:

  • PMSC11002 Foundations of Paramedic Clinical Practice
  • BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 or BMSC11001 Human Body Systems 1

Co-requisite

  • PMSC11004 Paramedic Medical Emergencies 1

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
View Unit Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2023

Term 2 - 2023 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. Practical Assessment 0%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 50%
3. Written Assessment 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 2 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 93.22% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 31.05% 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
Feedback
Assessment task and weightings to better reflect learning outcomes of unit.
Recommendation
Poster presentation to be updated to an online quiz covering the all the unit content. The quiz will assess a broader range of skills, rather than focused on one skill.
Action Taken
The poster presentation was removed and replaced with an online quiz worth 50%. The quiz included 100 questions and assessed a broad range of skills and clinical decision-making. The quiz was better aligned with the learning outcomes for the unit.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Residential school assessment expectations not clear.
Recommendation
Consider restructure of residential school assessments. The division of each skill into separate skill station will provide clarity of each skill assessment requirement.
Action Taken
The structure of the residential school skills stations was updated to six individual assessments. This provided students with appropriate time constraints to complete each skill and allowed for an error in one skill to not negatively impact their entire performance and outcome. The expectations of the assessment were made clear with a student information sheet on the Moodle page and an exemplar rubric. This information was reiterated at the residential school. There was an assessment video specific for practical assessment/residential school.
Source: Student feedback (3 students)
Feedback
Students reported that there was inadequate time for the online quiz. The quiz had 100 multiple choice, fill in the missing word and true/false questions on a broad range of skills.
Recommendation
To review the quiz and the timings. The quiz time allocation was designed to reward the student who knew the content and able to recall whilst limiting the opportunity to refer to notes. Consider the time allocation, removing some questions and add more critical thinking questions.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback (1 student)
Feedback
Lack of time for practical application of skill due to student numbers and long scenarios.
Recommendation
Ensure teacher to student ratio is adhered to on all campuses. Delivery of timely skill stations and scenarios to ensure maximum practice time for all students.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Expectations were clearly communicated from the start of the term. Whilst students reported there was a lot of content it was easy to understand, engaging and well presented.
Recommendation
Continue to make expectations clear with regular communication. Continue to develop the content to ensure it is up to date and engaging. Ensure communication continues over residential schools and Zoom sessions are recorded and uploaded.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Residential schools were excellent and ran smoothly, academics were knowledgeable with practical tips.
Recommendation
Continue to deliver residential schools in this format with utilisation of casual academics to support teaching.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Articulate the theoretical underpinnings, including the anatomical and pathophysiological reasons, for the application of advanced care skills and interventions in the management of a critically ill or injured patient relevant to paramedic practice
  2. Identify and interpret the indications, precautions, risks and contraindications of using specific paramedic interventions involved in advanced care prehospital practice
  3. Employ critical thinking and clinical reasoning for using specific paramedic interventions involved in advanced care prehospital skills and interventions
  4. Explain and demonstrate the skills and interventions for specific paramedic interventions involved in advanced care prehospital practice in a safe, ethical and professional manner

It is now a requirement of the Paramedicine Board of Australia that units align with the AHPRA Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics. These are broken down into five (5) domains. Below aligns the proposed learning outcomes with these domains, with each domain also listed below:

  • Learning outcome 1 aligns with professional capabilities for registered paramedics Domain 1, 3 & 5
  • Learning outcome 2 aligns with professional capabilities for registered paramedics Domain 3 & 5
  • Learning outcome 3 aligns with professional capabilities for registered paramedics Domain 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
  • Learning outcome 4 aligns with professional capabilities for registered paramedics Domain 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Domain 1 - Professional and ethical conduct:

  • Practice ethically and professionally, consistent with relevant legislation and regulatory requirements
  • Provide each patient with an appropriate level of dignity and care
  • Assume responsibility, and accept accountability, for professional decisions
  • Advocate on behalf of the patient, when appropriate within the context of the practitioner's practice as a paramedic

Domain 2 - Professional communication and collaboration:

  • Communicate clearly, sensitively and effectively with the patient and other relevant people
  • Collaborate with other health practitioners

Domain 3 - Evidence-based practice and professional learning:

  • Make informed and reasonable decisions
  • Use clinical reasoning and problem-solving skills to determine clinical judgements and appropriate actions
  • Draw on appropriate knowledge and skills in order to make professional judgements
  • identify ongoing professional learning, developmental needs and opportunities

Domain 4 - Safety, risk management and quality assurance:

  • Protect and enhance patient safety
  • Maintain safety of self and others in the work environment
  • Operate effectively in an emergency care environment
  • Maintain records appropriately
  • Monitor and review the ongoing effectiveness of their practice and modify it accordingly
  • Audits, reflects on and reviews practice
  • Participate in the mentoring, teaching and development of others

Domain 5 - Paramedicine practice:

  • Use patient information management systems appropriately
  • Assess and monitor the patient capacity to receive care
  • understand the key concepts of the bodies of knowledge which are specifically relevant to paramedicine practice
  • Conduct appropriate diagnostic or monitoring procedures, treatment, therapy or other actions safely
  • Demonstrate the requisite knowledge and skills to participate in mass casualty or major incident situations
  • Formulate specific and appropriate patient care and treatment actions

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Practical Assessment • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
3 - Written 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