Unit Synopsis
This unit will provide you with advanced knowledge of all aspects of clinical pharmacology to allow you to function safely within the current and emerging critical care context. You will acquire advanced theoretical knowledge and develop advanced clinical judgement for competent critical care pharmacology practice.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 8 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Co-requisites PMSC20001 Advanced Clinical Assessment and Decision Making 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 2 - 2026
Term 1 - 2027 Profile
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).
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. Presentation and Written Assessment | 40% |
| 2. Case Study | 30% |
| 3. Online Test | 30% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
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 Evaluation Data
Useful Learning Materials
Review and update existing resources to enhance engagement and accommodate diverse learning styles and preferences. Continue collaborating with the learning design team to optimise content delivery and accessibility.
Existing learning resources were reviewed and enhanced to improve student engagement and accessibility. Weekly content introductions were developed to provide clearer learning pathways, and tutorial activities were revised to incorporate case-based applications of pharmacology concepts that aligned with contemporary paramedic practice.
Source: Unit Evaluation Data
Useful Feedback
Continue providing timely, detailed, and constructive feedback on assessments to support student learning. Implement more formative feedback opportunities earlier in the term to help students improve progressively.
Assessment rubrics were revised and feedback processes refined to provide students with clearer guidance on assessment expectations and performance. The positive impact of these changes is reflected in the improvement in the Useful Feedback SUTE score from 50% in 2024 and 2025 to 75% in 2026.
Source: UC Reflection
Unit Review
We recommend undertaking a comprehensive review of unit learning outcomes, assessment rubrics, and curriculum mapping to ensure alignment with postgraduate learning expectations and professional standards. We will continue to enhance student learning through revision tasks, assessment exemplars, and ongoing updates to teaching resources.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Describe the indications, actions, routes of administration, contraindications, side effects and precautions of medications and fluids administered at a critical care level, and how you would evaluate the effects of administration
- Apply theoretical knowledge of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles with regard to medications and fluids administered at a critical care level
- Investigate and justify the most effective pharmacological treatment options within the critical care context
- Communicate knowledge of clinical pharmacology, toxicology and toxinology within therapeutic relationships.
N/A
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Case Study | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Online Test | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | ||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Research | • | |||
| 5 - Self-management | • | |||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |