PMSC20009 - Primary Healthcare Assessment, Pharmacology and Skills

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit provides you with the physical examination skills and knowledge of pharmacology needed for functioning as a paramedic with a primary healthcare focus and the assessment of patients with chronic diseases and non-acute complaints. You will learn advanced physical examination techniques, clinical treatments and procedural skills for the diagnosis and continual management of patient's medical care. Critical thinking and analysis focused on evidence-based medicine and best practice will be covered to integrate decision making and clinical judgement into the use of clinical procedures. Additionally, the unit introduces you to the concepts and decision making for the use of short term pharmacology treatments and how to safely conduct a review of in-home patient medications for referral to the patient's primary health provider.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level Not Applicable
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).

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Residential School Compulsory Residential School
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Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

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 40%
2. Practical Assessment 40%
3. Written Assessment 20%

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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Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Demonstrate advanced clinical physical examination and assessment skills for the diagnosis of common chronic and low acuity disease states
  2. Apply critical thinking to determine an appropriate management plan for patient care
  3. Perform advanced clinical treatment including procedural skills in the management of common chronic and low acuity disease states
  4. Identify and integrate pharmacology in patient care as required
  5. Explore a patients medications to identify potential issues for referral to the patients primary healthcare provider

A Graduate Diploma is now the standard requirement for many State ambulance services for advanced positions in the paramedic field. An emphasis has been placed on preferred candidates exceeding this requirement with a Masters degree for many new positions such as the Paramedic Practitioner.

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