Course Outline
PAR212 Paramedic Primary Healthcare - Trauma
Course Coordinator:Matthew Hill (mhill1@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Paramedicine
2026Trimester 2
UniSC Sunshine Coast |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
What is this course about?
Description
This course examines the epidemiology of trauma across the lifespan and trends in injury in Australia and internationally. You will analyse the effect that legislation, education and engineering interventions have had on reducing injury in Australia, and will investigate the role of paramedics in injury surveillance and injury prevention. This course will develop the knowledge, critical thinking and technical skills required to respond safely to a request for service, undertake assessment of the environment and the patient/s, and initiate out-of-hospital emergency care.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus workshop with group work | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Laboratory 1 – Laboratory based skill stations and case based simulation | 3hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
Course Topics
Introduction to trauma, injury prevention, and trauma systems
Approach to the trauma patient
Traumatic wound care and repair
Hypovolaemia and haemorrhage control
Maxillofacial trauma and head injuries
Neck and spinal trauma
Thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic trauma
Limb trauma and soft tissue injuries
Burn injuries
Cardiac arrest in the setting of trauma
Environmental emergencies
Disaster and major incident response
Mature Content
What level is this course?
200 Level (Developing)
What is the unit value of this course?
12 units
How does this course contribute to my learning?
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Mapping Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | Professional Standard Mapping * Paramedicine Board of Australia | |
| 1 | Apply evidence-based paramedic primary healthcare to injury and environmental exposure across the lifespan in a culturally safe manner. |
Knowledgeable Empowered Ethical |
1.1.e, 1.1.k, 1.2.b, 1.2.d, 1.2.e, 1.3.a, 1.3.b, 1.4.a, 2.1.a, 2.1.b, 2.1.c, 2.1.d, 2.2.c |
| 2 | Demonstrate critical reasoning and an ethical approach to paramedic primary healthcare within a crisis resource management framework. |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered Engaged |
5.5.a, 5.5.b, 5.5.c, 5.6.a, 5.6.b, 5.6.c, 5.6.d |
| 3 | Evaluate the epidemiology of injury across the lifespan, and factors that influence health outcomes. |
Knowledgeable Engaged |
3.1.a, 3.1.b, 3.2.c, 3.2.e, 3.2.f, 3.2, 4.1 |
| 4 | Critically analyse and synthesise the evidence that underpins paramedic clinical practice used to care for patients with injury across the lifespan. |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered |
3.3.a, 3.3.b, 3.3.c, 3.3.d |
* Competencies by Professional Body
| CODE | COMPETENCY |
| Paramedicine Board of Australia | |
| 1.1.e | Provide relevant information to a patient and demonstrate appropriate methods to obtain informed consent. |
| 1.1.k | Practise in accordance with the applicable legislation governing the safe use of scheduled medicines by paramedics in the jurisdiction of practice. |
| 1.2.b | Display appropriate professional behaviour in patient interactions. |
| 1.2.d | Identify and respect appropriate boundaries between patients and health professionals. |
| 1.2.e | Assess each situation, determine the nature and severity of the problem and apply the required knowledge and experience to provide a response that is in the best interest of the patient/s. |
| 1.3.a | Recognise and respond appropriately to unsafe or unprofessional practice. |
| 1.3.b | Integrate organisational directives, policies, procedures and guidelines with Professional standards. |
| 1.4.a | Demonstrate understanding of the principles of patient advocacy and their application to paramedicine practice. |
| 2.1.a | Establish a rapport with the patient to gain understanding of their issues and perspectives, and to encourage their active participation and partnership in care and/or treatment. |
| 2.1.b | Communicate with the patient and/or other relevant people to collect and convey information and reach an agreement about the purpose of any care and treatment. |
| 2.1.c | Convey knowledge and procedural information in ways that engender trust and confidence, and respects patient confidentiality, privacy and dignity. |
| 2.1.d | Respond appropriately to patient queries or issues. |
| 2.2.c | Follow appropriate protocols, procedures and guidelines to give and receive relevant and timely verbal and written communication. |
| 3.1.a | Operate within a framework of making informed, evidence-based, reasonable and professional judgements about their practice, with acting in the best interests of their patients as their primary concern. |
| 3.1.b | Make sensible, practical, and culturally safe decisions about their practice, taking account of all relevant information and the best interests of the people who use, or are affected by, the service being provided. |
| 3.2.c | Analyse and critically evaluate the information collected to make clinical judgments. |
| 3.2.e | Formulate a diagnosis informed by the patient assessment and analysis of context and situation. |
| 3.2.f | Identify the time criticality of treatment, referral, handover and where appropriate, transport. |
| 3.3.a | Select or modify approaches to meet the needs of patients, their relatives and carers, reflecting culturally safe practice when practicing. |
| 3.3.b | Practise situational awareness to changes in risks or hazards and change their practice as needed to take account of new developments. |
| 3.3.c | Using appropriate resources to support professional decision-making. |
| 3.3.d | Demonstrate a level of skill in the use of information technology appropriate to their practice. |
| 3.2 | Use clinical reasoning and problem-solving skills to determine clinical judgements and appropriate actions |
| 4.1 | Protect and enhance patient safety |
| 5.5.a | Demonstrate an understanding of the public health model for response to major incidents. |
| 5.5.b | Demonstrate an applied knowledge of emergency medicine for a mass casualty/ major incident event. |
| 5.5.c | Maintain currency with organisational directives, policies, procedures and guidelines relating to major incidents. |
| 5.6.a | Adapt practice to meet the needs of different groups distinguished by, for example, physical, psychological, environmental, cultural or socio-economic factors within their authorised scope of practice. |
| 5.6.b | Demonstrate sensitivity to the factors which shape lifestyle that may impact on the individual’s health and affect the interaction between the patient and registered paramedic. |
| 5.6.c | Utilise knowledge, reasoning and problem-solving skills to determine appropriate judgements and actions. |
| 5.6.d | Prioritise the care provided to optimise safety and health outcomes for the patient and demonstrate a logical and systematic approach to problem-solving in a culturally safe framework. |
Am I eligible to enrol in this course?
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Pre-requisites
PAR211 or PAR204 and enrolled in Program SC395 or SC306
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
Not applicable
Microcredential Information
Not applicable
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Details of early feedback on progress
Formative quizzes and feedback during tutorials provides students with early feedback on progress.
Assessment tasks
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Oral and Written Piece | Individual | 20% | 1500 words equivalent |
Week 9 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 2 | Practical / Laboratory Skills | Individual | 30% | Scenario based clinical assessment up to 30 minutes in duration. Skills stations vary in duration. |
Refer to Format | In Class |
| All | 3 | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 50% | 2 hours |
Exam Period | Exam Venue |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Critical appraisal and scientific communication | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To critically appraise a contemporary topic relating to trauma management using a critical appraisal tool, and to synthesise and present findings. |
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| Product: | Oral and Written Piece | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Report structure available in Canvas |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Organisation, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Clinical Practice Portfolio | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | The aim of this task is to enable you to demonstrate key concepts of clinical decision making and problem solving, communication and core clinical competencies (psychomotor, communication and leadership) skills covered during the trimester. |
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| Product: | Practical / Laboratory Skills | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | This capability-based assessment is a professional requirement where students will demonstrate a defined standard of performance of clinical skills, communication, leadership, and provision of paramedic led healthcare in a simulated environment. Scheduled weeks for the skills stations and simulation-based clinical assessment will be announced on the Canvas course site. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Examination | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To demonstrate knowledge and application of key concepts associated with this course. |
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| Product: | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Multiple choice and or short answer questions |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Information literacy |
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Directed study hours
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
What resources do I need to undertake this course?
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Prescribed text(s) or course reader
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Required | Kate Curtis,Clair Ramsden,Margaret Fry,Ramon Z. Shaban,Julie Considine | 2019 | Emergency and Trauma Care for Nurses and Paramedics | n/a | Elsevier |
Specific requirements
Not applicable
How are risks managed in this course?
What administrative information is relevant to this course?
Assessment: Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Assessment: Additional Requirements
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Assessment: Submission penalties
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
Links to relevant University policy and procedures
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
- Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
- Review of Assessment and Final Grades
- Supplementary Assessment
- Central Examinations
- Deferred Examinations
- Student Conduct
- Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
Student Charter
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
General Enquiries
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: