Course coordinator
Dr Stephen Allison
Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 1, 2025 (06/01/2025 - 07/06/2025)
- Study level
- Postgraduate Coursework
- Location
- Herston
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 3
- Administrative campus
- Herston
- Coordinating unit
- UQ Medical School
The Year 3 Surgery course is devoted to general surgery (breast / endocrine, upper gastrointestinal, hepato-pancreatobiliary, colorectal, trauma and acute surgery) and some subspecialties including burns and plastic surgery, urology, vascular, neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery and ear/nose/throat surgery. The aim of this course is to familiarise you with common, serious and life threatening surgical diseases and for you to develop an understanding of how they present clinically; how to systematically evaluate these conditions; how they are investigated; principles of management; how to assess priorities for treatment; and when and how to initiate referral. The course is not intended to train you as technical surgeons but to develop you to be 'intern ready' so you can function as part of a surgical team. During the work-integrated learning component of this course, you will be allocated to surgical units to participate in the daily activities of those units, and to participate in all that happens during your patients' episode of care. In addition, you should attend outpatients, ward rounds, operating theatre, and other unit meetings. You will participate in a tutorial program at each individual clinical teaching unit.
Hospital Practice (HP) Semester refers to all students completing the 9-week Surgery and Medicine Blocks.
The Surgery clinical placement block includes General Surgery (Upper Gastrointestinal, Colorectal, Hepatopancreaticobiliary, Breast and Endocrine), Ear/Nose/Throat, Burns and Plastics, Urology, Vascular, Cardiothoracic and Neurosurgery. Clinical exposure to some of the subspecialties may be limited in some centres. However the curriculum outlines where the knowledge is important and there are tutorialﾠseries and on-line lecturesﾠthat will cover the essentialsﾠof these specialties.ﾠ
The aim of the Year 3 Surgery course is to familiarise you with common, serious and life threatening surgical diseases, how they present clinically, how they are investigated and principles of management. The course is not intended to train you as technical surgeons, but to develop you to become 'intern ready'. During the course you should develop knowledge, clinical skills and professional attributes appropriate to enable you to recognise, evaluate, formulate a differential diagnosis and prepare and initiate management plans for patients with common, serious and life-threatening surgical conditions. You should become proficient in clinical history taking and physical examination of the surgical patient, investigation of the surgical patient, the principles of operative management and perioperative care and follow-up.
During clinical placement, you will be attached to surgical units where you will have the opportunity to be involved in patient management. The course is supported by learning resources and a tutorial program that is delivered at the individual hospitals.
Course requirements
Assumed background
This course builds on the knowledge gained during Clinical Science and Clinical Practice courses offered during Years 1 and 2 of the MD Program. The knowledge we expect you to have gained from these courses includes but is not limited to teaching and learning in human structure and function, disease processes and pathophysiology, and approaches to clinical assessment. You are urged to review notes and learning materials from earlier courses in the program as appropriate during this course.
Prerequisites
You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:
MEDI7212, MEDI7222 and MEDI7232
Incompatible
You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:
MEDI7301
Restrictions
MD & MD (Ochsner) students only
Course contact
School enquiries
Medical School - Student & Academic Administration Team
Timetable
Additional timetable information
Clinical unit specific timetables are available on Learn.UQ (Blackboard).
Participation
You should be aware of the Medicine Program Participation Requirements. Non-compliance may result in failure in this course.
Aims and outcomes
The course seeks to familiarise you with common, serious and life threatening surgical diseases. By completing this course, you will:
- Develop an understanding of how these diseases present clinically
- Understand the anatomical and pathophysiological basis for surgical diseases and the relevance for investigation and management
- Gain skills in the systematic evaluation of disease states relevant to surgery
- Understand the appropriate use of investigations to reach a diagnosis and aid management
- Describe and understand the principles of management of surgical conditions, including prioritisation of treatment options, and methods and timing of appropriate referral
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Demonstrate understanding of pathophysiological processes and the natural history of treated and untreated surgical diseases.
LO2.
Incorporate knowledge of normal anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, biochemistry and other basic sciences into the management of clinical surgical problems.
LO3.
Recognise common urgent and non-urgent surgical conditions, systematically evaluate these conditions, assess priorities for treatment, and initiate appropriate investigation, treatment and /or referral.
LO4.
Understand the indications for and interpretation of basic laboratory, radiological and other investigations in the surgical patient.
LO5.
Demonstrate manual skills necessary to initiate emergency treatment.
LO6.
Undertake pre- and post-operative care at the level of skill appropriate to someone commencing work as an intern.
LO7.
Demonstrate familiarity with the workings of surgical units and demonstrate an understanding of aspects of surgical care that are germane to all surgical units.
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation |
Clinical Case Presentations (CCP 1 and CCP 2)
|
CCP 1: Week 4 Mon - Week 5 Fri CCP 2: Week 8 Mon - Week 8 Fri
Two (2) to be completed and submitted as noted in the assessment due dates. |
|
| Participation/ Student contribution, Placement |
Clinical Participation Assessment - Surgery
|
CPA 1: Week 4, Fri 5:00 pm CPA 2: Week 9, Fri 5:00 pm
Two (2) CPAs to be completed and submitted. |
|
| Examination |
Short Answer (SAQ) and Multiple Choice (MCQ) exams
|
2/06/2025 - 7/06/2025
Scheduled by Medical School |
A hurdle is an assessment requirement that must be satisfied in order to receive a specific grade for the course. Check the assessment details for more information about hurdle requirements.
Assessment details
Clinical Case Presentations (CCP 1 and CCP 2)
- Hurdle
- In-person
- Mode
- Activity/ Performance
- Category
- Presentation
- Due date
CCP 1: Week 4 Mon - Week 5 Fri
CCP 2: Week 8 Mon - Week 8 Fri
Two (2) to be completed and submitted as noted in the assessment due dates.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04
Task description
The Clinical Case Presentation (CCP) is a clinical assessment in which you demonstrate your skills in assessing a patient's problem/s, with specific emphasis on the relevant clinical and investigative findings, the diagnosis and the current and potential future management plans. Furthermore, you are expected to read around the surgically relevant or related aspects of the case and be expected to discuss these with the examiner during the presentation.
The CCP is designed to further develop your skills in clinical reasoning (i.e. thinking about patient problems in a critical and deductive manner) in a clinical format with a surgeon and amongst colleagues. The time limited format is designed to reflect real world clinical practice where patients need to be assessed, their case briefly written up, appropriately read around and discussed in a succinct and efficient manner.
The CCP format is as follows:
- You are directed to assess a patient by the surgeon assessing your CCP.
- You will have a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 4 hours to assess the patient (take a history, examine the patient and review any relevant investigations, progress notes or correspondence) and prepare your notes for presentation as specified on the CCP template document. During this time you are expected to do appropriate reading for related aspects of the case which are surgically relevant.
- You must not discuss the case in any way (i.e. clinical findings, investigation results or management) with other students or medical, nursing or allied health staff.
- You will present and discuss the case with the assessing surgeon (and peers, where applicable). The surgeon will be free to ask any form of questions relevant to the case, including leading the discussion on the interesting/related aspect and provide appropriate feedback to your answers. The total time for the presentation and questions will be 20-25 minutes and will be at the discretion of the examining surgeon.
It is recommended that, wherever able, a different surgeon assessor be used for the two CCPs.
The Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Medicine has waived the requirement for the CCP to be recorded. The CCP marking sheet (available on the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site) will be used to document student performance through the provision of comments and use of a criterion referenced rating scale.
Criteria & Marking:
The passing standard for this assessment task is 60% based on the combined score from the CCP 1 and CCP 2. The CCP is marked as a percentage out of 100%. CCP 2 is weighted twice as much as CCP 1.
There are six (6) components (criteria) to the CCP assessment, with varying levels of value:
- History 10%
- Examination 10%
- Investigations 10%
- Working diagnosis 10%
- Management 20%
- General Questions 40%
Your performance on each criterion is marked as one of:
- Well Below Expectations (receives 40% of the total available mark for that criterion)
- Below Expectations (receives 50% of the total available mark for that criterion)
- Meets Expectations (receives 60% of the total available mark for that criterion)
- Above Expectations (receives 80% of the total available mark for that criterion)
- Well Above Expectations (receives 100% of the total available mark for that criterion)
The overall score for this assessment task is the sum of all the scores awarded in each component (percentage for relevant standard x total marks available for relevant criterion). Your performance on each criterion is marked by the assessor on a rubric scale from well below expectations to well above expectations.
You need to achieve the overall passing standard across the combined CCP scores in order to pass this course. This combined score is used to determine if the student has passed this assessment task as per the course grading guidelines.
If you fail to achieve a passing score of 60% in either CCP 1 or CCP 2, you can resit the CCP assessment item a maximum of two (2) times; with a maximum of three (3) attempts each for CCP 1 and CCP 2.
- Provided a passing standard is achieved in a CCP resit, then the maximum score awarded is 60% for that assessment item.
- If the passing standard has not been met in a CCP resit; in either or both CCPs; then the CCP score awarded is the maximum score of any of the 3 attempts.
- In consultation with clinical unit staff, you are responsible for ensuring the expeditious arrangement of any CCP assessment resit.
- The CCP resit must be completed prior to the end of the Surgery Block you are enrolled in.
Hurdle requirements
Performance Hurdle: You must complete and meet the passing standard to pass the course.Submission guidelines
The CCP must be submitted electronically to the UQ electronic WBA platform and must be presented at the time directed by the assessing surgeon.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to defer this exam.
Late submission
All submission dates for Assessment are Brisbane time - Australian Eastern Standard time (AEST).
You are required to submit assessable items on time.
If you fail to complete the CCP at the time specified by the assessing clinician OR by the assessment due date, without an approved deferral of that assessment item, it will be considered as a lapse in professional conduct; and considered as not meeting the passing standard for that assessment item. You will receive 0% for that assessment item. This places you at high risk for not meeting the overall passing standard.
Clinical Participation Assessment - Surgery
- Hurdle
- In-person
- Mode
- Activity/ Performance
- Category
- Participation/ Student contribution, Placement
- Due date
CPA 1: Week 4, Fri 5:00 pm
CPA 2: Week 9, Fri 5:00 pm
Two (2) CPAs to be completed and submitted.
- Other conditions
- Work integrated learning.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07
Task description
Participation and engagement in clinical placements are fundamental aspects of the MD Program, consistent with the framework of self-directed and life-long learning and indicative of the need for clinical competence and professional conduct in addition to theoretical knowledge.
In all courses during Years 3 and 4 of the MD program, you are assessed on your professional conduct and clinical skills and the extent to which you have contributed and engaged in your clinical placement and clinical learning activities. The nature of these activities will vary according to the placement, but may include admitting/clerking patients, assessing patients at outpatient clinics, presenting at ward rounds and demonstrating initiative in attending other activities such as grand rounds.
Scoring in the Clinical Participation Assessment (CPA) is based on conduct and contribution during ward rounds and case discussions, initiative in seeking learning opportunities, behaviour towards peers and medical (and all other) colleagues, patient assessment, ability to succinctly present a patient case including differential diagnosis, and awareness of social and ethical issues including risk assessment.
The CPA components are:
- Clinical Communication
- History Taking
- Examination Skills
- Clinical Reasoning
- Engagement in Practice
- Professional Practice
- Reflective Practice
- Social/Cultural Competence and Safety
There is also a Student Flag component which allows a supervisor to report a student with concerning unprofessional or unsafe behaviour. The Student Flag component also provides a mechanism for notifying exemplary performance to the School.
To maximise your learning, you are encouraged to actively seek feedback from your clinical teacher/s during your clinical placement. This will assist in identifying any areas requiring further improvement before your final Clinical Participation Assessment is completed. Active engagement in the clinical setting is a requirement to pass this assessment task.
The CPA rubric can be found in the Learn.UQ (Blackboard) Course Site for guidance so that you are familiar with marking criteria for each component.
Criteria & Marking:
The CPA is a global assessment of professional and clinical practice and contributes to your overall performance in the following ways:
- If you are enrolled concurrently in the WLP course, four components contribute to this MEDI7311 course (Clinical Communication, History Taking, Examination Skills, Clinical Reasoning) and the remaining components (Engagement in Practice, Professional Practice, Reflective Practice, Social/Cultural Competence and Safety and Student Flag) contribute to the WLP course.
- If you are not enrolled concurrently in the WLP course all components contribute to this MEDI7311 course.
Additional information may be received by staff from clinical placement site/s where you completed this course. This will be reviewed by the Course Coordinator and ratings completed by your supervisor in the CPA may be revised. For example, if your supervisor rated you as satisfactory related to professional conduct but the Medical School has other information available, the supervisor’s ratings may be moderated based on this additional information.
Your performance will also be reviewed at the End of Semester Examiner’s meeting and following discussion you may receive a non-graded fail for the course, if:
- There are any unsatisfactory results recorded in any of the CPA components contributing to this course (including moderations made by the Course Coordinator)
- There are four or more borderline results recorded in any of the CPA components contributing to this course (including moderations made by the Course Coordinator)
- The required number of CPAs have not been submitted to your supervisor for completion by the due date.
Factors that will be taken into account during the review undertaken at the End of Semester Examiner’s meeting include:
- Evidence of temporal improvement in performance across the course (if applicable)
- Completion and content of the WLP Task Review in response to unsatisfactory or borderline ratings
- Relative opportunity available across the semester
- Other factors relevant to your performance
Hurdle requirements
Performance Hurdle: You must complete and meet the passing standard to pass the course.Submission guidelines
A function of the CPA discussion and form completion is to consider information from the whole placement.
You are expected to complete your CPA discussion and submit your CPA form during mid-placement and the final week of placement. Given clinician availability, there may be times when this is not always possible. If you complete your CPA discussion and submit your CPA form before the specified due dates, additional information obtained by your supervisor or Course Coordinator may be considered to add to that discussed and submitted. Therefore, you are discouraged from completing the CPA discussion and form submission early.
You are expected to engage in discussions about your performance with your supervisor or their delegate throughout the course, preferably face-to-face. To ensure you receive synchronous feedback from your supervisor or their delegate, you are encouraged to request your supervisor to complete the assessment in real-time before the end of your placement. However, if your supervisor is unable to assess in real-time, you have the option to submit your CPA to your supervisor or their delegate, on or before the due date specified in the Assessment Section of this Course Profile, using the Email for later option in MyProgress. CPAs submitted after the due date without an approved extension will not be accepted and may result in a course failure.
If your supervisor has not assessed your CPA within 7 days after submission, you are encouraged to send a gentle reminder email to your supervisor via MyProgress. If there are problems contacting your supervisor or if your CPA remains unassessed, please contact your local Student Coordinator.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
Late submission
If you fail to meet the submission deadline for any CPA without an approved extension, it will not be accepted and may result in course failure regardless of whether the supervisor has rated your participation at a satisfactory or proficient level in the related course components.
Short Answer (SAQ) and Multiple Choice (MCQ) exams
- Hurdle
- In-person
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Examination
- Due date
2/06/2025 - 7/06/2025
Scheduled by Medical School
- Other conditions
- Time limited.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04
Task description
The Short Answer Question paper for this course consists of questions selected from 12 subject areas, weighted equally, from the list below (marked out of 144). The three subject areas not covered in the SAQ exam will be assessed within the MCQ exam.
- Perioperative
- Surgical skill
- Hernia
- Breast
- Endocrine (Thyroid / parathyroid / spleen / adrenal)
- ENT
- Upper GI
- HPB
- Colorectal
- Urology
- Vascular
- Neurosurgery
- Cardiothoracic surgery
- Skin Cancer / Burns / Plastics
- Trauma
The Multiple Choice Question paper for this course consists of 36 questions, worth two marks each. Subject areas for the 36 questions will be selected from the list below. There will be two questions from each of the 12 Subject areas covered in the SAQ and four questions from the three subject areas not covered in the SAQ exam (i.e. 2x12 + 4x3 = 36 questions).
- Perioperative
- Surgical skill
- Hernia
- Breast
- Endocrine (Thyroid / parathyroid / spleen / adrenal)
- ENT
- Upper GI
- HPB
- Colorectal
- Urology
- Vascular
- Neurosurgery
- Cardiothoracic surgery
- Skin Cancer / Burns / Plastics
- Trauma
Criteria & Marking:
These tasks assess common and important conditions (diagnosis and management) that you should have encountered during clinical placement, the tutorial program and the core lectures, housed on the MEDI7311 Surgery Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site.
The End of Semester Exam consists of the Short Answer Question (SAQ) and the Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) papers combined. Calculation of combined MCQ-SAQ written examination score:
- MCQ 72 marks (36 questions, 2 marks per question)
- SAQ 144 marks (12 questions, 12 marks per question)
Formula for calculation of written examination score: (MCQ+SAQ)/216*100% = ___%
The End of Semester Exam pass mark will be calculated on the combined SAQ and MCQ weighted scores. The pass mark for this assessment is 60%. The pass mark may be modified in accordance with standard setting methods. Pass marks for examinations will be available, after the results for that examination have been released.
Hurdle requirements
Performance Hurdle: You must complete and meet the passing standard to pass the course.Exam details
| Planning time | no planning time minutes |
|---|---|
| Duration | 120 minutes |
| Calculator options | (In person) Casio FX82 series only or UQ approved and labelled calculator |
| Open/closed book | Closed Book examination - no written materials permitted |
| Materials | Personal device |
| Exam platform | ExamSoft |
| Invigilation | Invigilated in person |
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to defer this exam.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Pass/Fails | Description |
|---|---|
| Pass |
Course grade description: Demonstrated evidence of competency in meeting course learning objectives. See Additional Course Grading Information below. |
| Fail |
Course grade description: Insufficient evidence of competency in meeting course learning objectives. See Additional Course Grading Information below. |
Additional course grading information
PASS: Awarded where you achieve ALL of the following:-
- Complete and submit all assessment tasks
- Meets the criteria for the CPA detailed in the Assessment detail section
- Meets the passing standard for the CCP task
- Meets the passing standard for the course's end-of-semester SAQ/MCQ exam
MARGINAL FAIL: You will be considered a Marginal Fail and may be eligible for a Supplementary Assessment, if you:
- Do not meet the passing standard for the CCP task
OR
- Do not meet the passing standard for the course's end-of-semester SAQ/MCQ exam
FAIL: You will receive a Fail grade if you:
- Do not meet the criteria for the CPA detailed in the Assessment detail section
OR
- Do not meet the passing standard for the CCP task AND the course's end-of-semester SAQ/MCQ exam
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is not available for some items in this course.
If you fail the CPA you will not be eligible for a supplementary assessment/examination. These assessments are based on the successful development and demonstration of professional competencies over the entire clinical placement and a record of attendance at all clinical placement days throughout the entire clinical placement, as required in the Medical Program Participation Guidelines.
Supplementary assessment will only be awarded where, in the judgement of the Associate Dean (Academic), you have marginally failed to attain the level of competence required for a passing grade in this course as per Assessment Procedures.
If you are eligible for a supplementary assessment, you will generally be required to complete the assessment task or tasks where you did not meet the expected standard.
Additional assessment information
Remark of assessment:
The CCP is a clinical examination which is not eligible for requests for remark. Such assessment comprises expert evaluation by experienced, trained specialist clinician examiners which cannot be replicated or duplicated.
The CPA is not eligible for requests for re-mark. This assessment comprises expert evaluation over an extended period within an authentic clinical learning environment which cannot be duplicated. This assessment therefore cannot be re-marked, and it cannot be cross-marked by another examiner.
Previous academic difficulties
If you have experienced academic difficulties in previous years of the Program or during clinical placement, you are encouraged to reflect on the nature of these difficulties and discuss any need for extra assistance with your Course Coordinator/s and clinical unit / Learning Community at the beginning of the course.
Use of Artificial Intelligence in Assessments
At UQ, the use of AI outputs without attribution, and contrary to any direction by teaching staff, is a form of plagiarism and constitutes academic misconduct.
If you use AI in your assessment without permission or appropriate acknowledgment it may be considered misconduct. If you have questions, you should ask your course coordinator.
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.
Additional learning resources information
A series of Voice-Over PowerPoint presentations (VOPPs) is available on the Year 3 Surgery Blackboard site under the Course Resources tab and provides students with a number of lectures that cover the essential curriculum content of the Surgery course. Guided by the Year 3 Surgery Curriculum Document, these lectures should be used to assist with examination preparation and should be used to complement the local clinical site tutorial program.
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Multiple weeks |
Placement |
Surgery clinical placement Nine week period within dates shown. General surgery (breast / endocrine, upper gastrointestinal, hepato-pancreatobiliary, colorectal, trauma and acute surgery) and some subspecialties including burns and plastics, urology, vascular, neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery and ear/nose/throat surgery. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07 |
Tutorial |
Integrated Hospital Practice tutorials A series of tutorials will be provided which demonstrate integration of medical and surgical issues around common health problems seen in an acute hospital setting. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07 |
|
Workshop |
Introductory Week Introductory week activities for the Hospital Practice Semester Learning outcomes: L02, L04 |
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.
School guidelines
Your school has additional guidelines you'll need to follow for this course: