Course Coordinator:Chantal Perera (cperera@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Paramedicine
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
Paramedic practice requires an understanding of the effect that substance use has on individuals and the community. You will investigate the social, ethical and legal aspects to drug use at an individual, family and community level. Harm minimisation strategies including detoxification will be studied, and an understanding of your role in caring for individuals with alterations in health due to drug toxicity or drug withdrawal will be developed. You will also investigate the assessment and care of poisoned patients, including cases of envenomation. This course contains mature content (drug use, violence, and adult themes).
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Online | |||
Online – 5 hours per week directed learning through Canvas | 5hrs | Week 1 | 8 times |
A whole person approach to assessment, diagnosis and management of:
300 Level (Graduate)
12 units
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 | Investigate drug use and harm minimisation strategies in the community and health professions |
Knowledgeable Ethical |
1, 1.1.g, 1.1.j, 1.1.k, 1.4.a, 1.4, 3, 5.3.f, 5.4.e, 5.6.b, 5.3 |
2 | Explore and present public health interventions to facilitate health behaviour change |
Creative and critical thinker Ethical |
1, 1.1.g, 1.1.j, 1.1.k, 1.4.a, 2, 2.2.b, 3, 5.3.f, 5.6.b, 5.3 |
3 | Appraise evidence to assess and manage the physiological and social effects of drug use and envenomation | Knowledgeable |
1, 3, 4.6.a, 5.3.f, 5.4.e, 5.6.b, 5.3 |
CODE | COMPETENCY |
Paramedicine Board of Australia | |
1 | Domain 1: The professional and ethical practitioner |
1.1.g | Demonstrate understanding of the basic principles underpinning bio- ethics in paramedicine practice. |
1.1.j | Operate within the current legislation applicable to paramedicine practice. |
1.1.k | Practise in accordance with the applicable legislation governing the safe use of scheduled medicines by paramedics in the jurisdiction of practice. |
1.4.a | Demonstrate understanding of the principles of patient advocacy and their application to paramedicine practice. |
1.4 | Advocate on behalf of the patient, when appropriate in the context of the practitioner’s practice as a paramedic |
2 | Domain 2: The communicator and the collaborator |
2.2.b | Demonstrate an understanding of professional roles and responsibilities of healthcare team members and other service providers and how they interact with the role of a paramedic. |
3 | Domain 3: The evidence-based practitioner |
4.6.a | Demonstrate the principles, application and need for quality control and quality assurance in paramedicine practice. |
5.3.f | Understand the clinical sciences underpinning paramedic practice, including physiological, pharmacological, behavioural and functional. |
5.4.e | Demonstrate an applied knowledge of the indications and contra-indications of using specific paramedic interventions including their modifications. |
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. |
5.3 | Understand the key concepts of the bodies of knowledge which are specifically relevant to paramedicine practice |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
BIM263 and HLT221 and enrolled in Program SC395 or SC306
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Learning material includes self-assessed quizzes
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 | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 20% | 45 minutes |
Week 4 | Online Submission |
All | 2 | Portfolio | Individual | 40% | See format |
Week 6 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check and in class |
All | 3 | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 40% | 85 minutes |
Week 8 | Online Submission |
All - Assessment Task 1:Examination | |||||||
Goal: | To assess your attainment of disciplinary knowledge and key knowledge areas of this course. |
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Product: | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | ||||||
Format: | Mid-session examination |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
All - Assessment Task 2:Portfolio | |||||||
Goal: | The aim of this task is to investigate a specific topic relating to drug use in the community or the management of overdose, exposure or envenomation. The task should inform the audience of contemporary evidence-based practice in the required area of investigation. |
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Product: | Portfolio | ||||||
Format: | Electronic format via Canvas |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 3:Examination | |||||||
Goal: | To assess your attainment of disciplinary knowledge and key knowledge areas of this course. |
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Product: | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | ||||||
Format: | End of session examination |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication |
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.
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.
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
Recommended | Kate Curtis,Clair Ramsden,Margaret Fry,Ramon Z. Shaban,Julie Considine | 2019 | Emergency and Trauma Care for Nurses and Paramedics | 3rd | Elsevier |
Not applicable
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.
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
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
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