Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 2, 2024 (17/06/2024 - 16/11/2024)
- Study level
- Postgraduate Coursework
- Location
- Herston
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 2
- Administrative campus
- Herston
- Coordinating unit
- UQ Medical School
The General Practice course offers you the opportunity to explore the community context of health and illness, through observing and participating in the delivery of health care to patients with a large range of biopsychosocial problems. You will learn about people's experiences and the everyday management of health and health problems. You will also become familiar with the Australian primary health system and some of the ways in which different community groups and organisations contribute to maintaining and promoting health in the community.
The General Practice course includes a community-based placement component, in which you are placed in a general practice. You also participate in weekly small group, case based, tutorials. You are expected to work up illustrative cases to contribute to these tutorials. The broad knowledge content of general practice has been divided into 6 weekly disease system and theme groupings, each with online lectures and reading resources provided to support you in your learning.
You are encouraged to be enthusiastic and inquisitive, to become familiar with the everyday procedures involved in the workings of general practice, and to function as a member of the health care team. Additionally, you are expected to use evidence-based medicine skills to answer clinical questions as they arise. In these ways you will provide a benefit to your general practice preceptors, patients and your own learning.
The General Practice course involves a 6 week General Practice community based placement, in localities spread out across each Clinical School.
The course affords you the opportunity to see and participate in the delivery of primary health care to patients with a wide range of biopsychosocial problems. Through exploring the community context of health and illness you will learn about people's experiences of health and health problems, the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare, and some of the ways in which different community groups and organisations contribute to maintaining and promoting health in the community. The clinical placement encourages you to become active learners in their assigned practices and, under the supervision of their general practitioner (GP) clinical teachers, to conduct components of the consultation with the consent of patients. This includes history-taking, physical examination, management plans, surgery tests and minor procedures.
You are encouraged to be enthusiastic and inquisitive, to become familiar with the everyday processes and procedures of general practice, and to function as a member of the primary health care team. Additionally, you are expected to use evidence based medicine skills to address clinical questions as they arise and to work up illustrative cases to contribute at weekly small group, case based tutorials.
The clinical placement in General Practice will help you achieve a solid foundation to critically evaluate common and important clinical conditions seen in General Practice. The General Practice clinical placement incorporates:
- Learning about the discipline of general practice;
- Learning about primary health care and its integration with community, secondary and tertiary contexts, and the roles of primary care practitioners;
- Access to a broad spectrum of clinical presentations encountered in general practice;
- Learning about the assessment, diagnosis and management of common and important problems presenting in General Practice;
- Learning about how personal and community contexts influence people’s health and well-being, and the importance of relationship-based whole person care; and
- Learning about the use of evidence to guide clinical decisions.
The course is structured to allow you exposure to several different avenues of learning. The core components of the course are as follows:
- General Practice placement
- Weekly case-based tutorials
- Electronic learning materials and resources
- Please do not hesitate to contact the course coordinator or course administrator (med.gpstudents@uq.edu.au) if you have any queries or concerns about any aspect of your learning, including your GP placement experience.
Course requirements
Assumed background
This course builds on learnings from previous courses, particularly Clinical Science and Clinical Practice courses from Years 1 and 2 of the MDᅠProgram. The knowledge we expect you to have gained from these courses includes but is not limited to 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:
MEDI7303 and MEDI7319
Restrictions
MD & MD (Ochsner) students only
Course contact
Course coordinator
School enquiries
Course staff
Academic lead - gp bundaberg
Academic lead - gp toowoomba
Academic lead - hervey bay
Academic lead gp - ochsner
Clerkship coordinator ochsner
Snr student & academic admin
Student coordinator - gpcu
Student coordinator - rcs
Timetable
Additional timetable information
Participation and Attendance
You should be aware of the Medical Program Attendance and Participation Requirements. Non-compliance may result in failure in this course.
You should refer to the case-based tutorial timetables which will be provided at the commencement of the course. In summary, you are expected to attend:
- Thirty sessions (half-days) under the supervision of your clinical GP teacher over the 6 week clinical placement. You are welcome to attend for a greater number of sessions if negotiated with the practice.
- Attendance for fewer than 30 clinical sessions, for reasons such as illness, COVID lockdowns and other practice contingencies, will need approval by the course coordinator.
- If you are absent from specific learning experiences, you may be asked to complete catch-up sessions in the break between blocks or semesters, and complete an individualised learning plan to be negotiated with the course coordinator. Days and times of sessions are negotiated between you and your clinical teachers, but must involve week 1 and week 6 and all weeks in between. It is the expectation of the Discipline of General Practice that sessions will be spread evenly over the placement. The only exception is if this is not convenient for the teaching practice. In New Orleans, some of these sessions will be in various ambulatory care clinics.
- Six Case-Based Tutorials: The tutorials are of 2.5 to 3 hours duration. Your performance in tutorials is assessed (see section 5 'assessment').
- Introductory week teaching sessions.
- All summative assessment for this course.
Additional information and teaching sessions may also be available at some sites, and you will be advised when attendance at these additional sessions is required.
Aims and outcomes
You will have the ability to:
- Demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to identify and manage common and serious patient presentations in a General Practice context;
- Apply key principles of illness prevention and health promotion in a General Practice context;
- Demonstrate understanding and application of ethical and professional behaviour with patients, their carers/families, and with healthcare professionals, in a General Practice context;
- Demonstrate competency in clinical skills and practice relevant to General Practice.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Demonstrate knowledge of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical features and management of (a) common, and (b) serious / important presentations in general practice.
LO2.
Demonstrate competency in the clinical skills required to diagnose and manage patient presentations in general practice (i.e. communication skills, history-taking, physical examination, ordering and interpreting relevant office and laboratory investigations, and performing minor office procedures).
LO3.
Demonstrate competency in clinical reasoning and the ability to formulate a diagnosis (and/or differential diagnosis) and problem list, for patients presenting in general practice.
LO4.
Develop appropriate management plans with patients and carers presenting in general practice.
LO5.
Demonstrate an understanding of factors influencing a patients experience of illness and health (e.g. age, gender, socioeconomic status, physical, psychosocial, cultural, environmental, genetic).
LO6.
Recognise and appropriately negotiate relevant ethical and professional issues which arise in clinical and collegial/professional encounters.
LO7.
Incorporate prevention and health promotion into clinical encounters where appropriate.
LO8.
Incorporate evidence-based medicine into clinical encounters where appropriate (e.g. rapidly identify valid primary evidence on the core clinical questions of frequency, risk, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis - and apply this knowledge to relevant observed problems in general practice).
LO9.
Demonstrate a sound understanding of the role and responsibilities of general practitioners in the Australian health care system, including the importance of effective clinical handovers.
Assessment
Assessment summary
Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
---|---|---|---|
Examination |
MCQ Exam
|
Equal weighting as Clinical case exam |
End of Semester Exam Period 2/11/2024 - 16/11/2024 |
Participation/ Student contribution, Role play/ Simulation, Tutorial/ Problem Set |
In-Tutorial Assessment - Clinical Cases
|
Each week of GP Placement |
|
Examination, Role play/ Simulation |
Clinical case exam
|
Equal weighting as MCQ |
Week 6, Fri
In the last week of placement |
Participation/ Student contribution, Placement |
Clinical Participation Assessment - GP
|
CPA 1 Week 3, Fri 5:00 pm CPA 2 Week 6, Fri 5:00 pm
Two (2) CPAs to be completed and submitted. |
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
MCQ Exam
- Hurdle
- In-person
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Examination
- Weight
- Equal weighting as Clinical case exam
- Due date
End of Semester Exam Period
2/11/2024 - 16/11/2024
- Other conditions
- Time limited.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07, L08
Task description
The MCQ exam is held at the end of Semester. There will be 50 single best answer multiple choice questions.
Examples of questions are shown in the sample MCQ paper provided electronically to students on Blackboard. Questions will be mapped to the "Key Learning Issues" documents provided to students in the course.
Students will have 10 minutes perusal (reading or planning) time, followed by 60 minutes to complete the examination. Students may answer questions during perusal time.
Criteria & Marking:
The pass mark for the MCQ exam is usually in the range of 58-66%. This may be moderated in accordance with standard setting methods.
Hurdle requirements
Performance Hurdle: You must complete and meet the passing standard to pass the courseExam details
Planning time | no planning time minutes |
---|---|
Duration | 70 minutes |
Calculator options | (In person) Casio FX82 series or UQ approved , labelled calculator only |
Open/closed book | Closed Book examination - no written materials permitted |
Exam platform | ExamSoft |
Invigilation | Invigilated in person |
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to defer this exam.
In-Tutorial Assessment - Clinical Cases
- Hurdle
- In-person
- Online
- Mode
- Activity/ Performance, Written
- Category
- Participation/ Student contribution, Role play/ Simulation, Tutorial/ Problem Set
- Due date
Each week of GP Placement
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L05, L09
Task description
This assessment is conducted over the course of the 6 weekly tutorials while students are in the GP placement of the semester.
The examiner will mark the student’s performance according to the Tutorial Assessment marking guide that will be made available to students during the course.
The passing standard for this assessment task is set at 60% of the total available mark for the assessment task. The pass mark may be moderated in accordance with standard setting methods
The Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Medicine has waived the requirement for this assessment item to be recorded. The In-Tutorial Assessment – Clinical Cases marking rubric (available on the course Blackboard site) will be used to document student performance through the provision of comments.
Criteria & Marking:
There are a total of 100 marks available for this assessment task.
The total mark available for each criterion is as follows:
- Preparation and Role-play of patient cases (25%).
- Provision of feedback to peers on their consultation skills, communication and clinical reasoning (25%)
- Ethical reasoning (based on identification, thoughtful consideration and discussion of ethical issues arising in general practice AND feedback to their peers about the management of an ethical issue (25%)
- Global contribution to tutorials (25%)
The passing standard for this assessment task is set at 60% of the total available mark for the assessment task. The pass mark may be moderated in accordance with standard setting methods.
Student performance on each criterion is marked as one of:
- Below Expectations (receives 0% of the total available mark for that criterion)
- Meets Expectations (receives 100% of the total available mark for that criterion)
The overall score for this assessment task is the sum of all the products of (percentage for relevant standard x total marks available for relevant criterion).
Hurdle requirements
Performance hurdle: You must complete and meet the passing standard to pass the course.Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
Clinical case exam
- Hurdle
- Online
- Mode
- Oral
- Category
- Examination, Role play/ Simulation
- Weight
- Equal weighting as MCQ
- Due date
Week 6, Fri
In the last week of placement
- Other conditions
- Time limited.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07, L09
Task description
Students will need to complete one clinical case scenario presented by a trained role player 'patient' and marked by an experienced tutor (different to your weekly tutor) in the last week of the block. This will be either a diagnostic or a management interview, following a structured format and approximately 16 minutes duration.
Students will be provided with four cases (two management and two diagnostic cases) approximately 48 hours prior to the exam, so that they are able to familiarise themselves with the content material. They will be randomly assigned to role play one of these cases as the doctor at the time of their clinical case exam. This clinical case exam will be held either face to face or via Zoom. Students will be provided with the marking rubric when 'take-home' cases are provided, 48 hours prior to the exam. The pass mark will be set at 55% in order to pass this assessment task. The pass mark may be moderated in accordance with standard setting methods
The Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Medicine has waived the requirement for this assessment item to be recorded. The Clinical Case Exam marking rubric (available on the course Blackboard site) will be used to document student performance through the provision of comments.
Hurdle requirements
Equal weighting as MCQ. You must complete and meet the passing standard to pass the course.Exam details
Planning time | no planning time minutes |
---|---|
Duration | 16 minutes |
Calculator options | No calculators permitted |
Open/closed book | Closed Book examination - specified written materials permitted |
Exam platform | Other |
Invigilation | Invigilated by Zoom |
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to defer this exam.
Clinical Participation Assessment - GP
- Hurdle
- In-person
- Mode
- Activity/ Performance
- Category
- Participation/ Student contribution, Placement
- Due date
CPA 1 Week 3, Fri 5:00 pm
CPA 2 Week 6, Fri 5:00 pm
Two (2) CPAs to be completed and submitted.
- Other conditions
- Work integrated learning.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L05, L09
Task description
The Medical School considers that participation and engagement at clinical placements 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 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 contribute to your overall performance in the following ways:
- If you are enrolled concurrently in the WLP course, four components contribute to this MEDI7313 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 MEDI7313 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 in your final CPA (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 in your final CPA (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. Therefore, 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 maybe considered to add to that discussed and submitted. Therefore, you are discouraged from completing the CPA discussion and form submission early.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
Late submission
If you fail to meet the submission deadline for any Clinical Participation Assessment 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.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
Pass/Fails | Description |
---|---|
P |
Course grade description: See Additional Course Grading Information below. |
F |
Course grade description: See Additional Course Grading Information below. |
Additional course grading information
To be considered for a grade of Pass (P) you are required to:
- Complete and submit all assessment tasks listed in section 5.1
AND
- Meet the criteria for the CPA detailed in Assessment detail
AND
- Meet the passing standard in the In-tutorial assessment
AND
- Meet the passing standard in both the MCQ AND Clinical case exam
If you do not meet the passing standard in one of the two equally weighted assessments (MCQ or Clinical case exam), you will pass the Course provided that you:
- Meet the criteria for the CPA detailed in Assessment detail
AND
- Meet the passing standard in the In-tutorial assessment
AND
- Obtain an overall percentage in the course (average of MCQ and Clinical case examination percentage scores) greater than or equal to 60%
AND
- Obtain a MCQ score that is not lower than two Standard Errors of Measurement (SEMs) below the MCQ pass mark.*
To be considered for Commendation: You need to achieve CPA ratings in the course components collated across all CPAs for this semester that are all 'satisfactory' or 'proficient'.
Marginal fail: You will receive a Marginal Fail if:
- You meet the passing standard in two of the three course assessments (In-tutorial assessment, MCQ, Clinical case exam)
AND
- Your MCQ score is not lower than three Standard Errors of Measurement (SEMs) below the MCQ pass mark.*
AND
- You have no unsatisfactory ratings on the clinical skills components of your final CPA, and a maximum of one Borderline rating in the clinical skills components of your final CPA.
Please refer to 5.4 Other Supplementary Assessment Information.
Non-graded fail: Insufficient evidence of competency in meeting course learning objectives:
You will fail the course overall when you:
Do not meet the passing standard in two or more of the three course assessments (In-tutorial assessment, MCQ, Clinical case exam).
OR
Do not meet the criteria for the CPA detailed in Section 5.5 Assessment detail.
*MCQ pass mark is the MCQ cut score as determined by standard setting PLUS one Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is not available for some items in this course.
If you fail the Clinical Participation Assessment (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.
If you meet the passing standard in all three course assessments, but fail the course components of the CPA. You may be eligible for supplementary assessment. The supplementary assessment will normally consist of two Clinical Case examinations and a MCQ examination. A student must pass all three of these supplementary examinations in order to pass the course.
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 PPL 3.10.02 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 Clinical Participation Assessment (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.
The In-tutorial assessments (assignment 1) are participation based and are not eligible for requests for remark. Clinical case exams are also not able to be re-marked, as these assessments comprise expert evaluation by experienced and trained specialist clinician examiners and cannot be replicated or duplicated.
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
Assessment evaluates your abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI). You are advised that the use of AI technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
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
The Mayne Academy of General Practice will provide the following electronic resources:
• Introduction to the GP Course and to Case-based Tutorials
. A Key Learning Issues document
• Learning materials to support student study, curated and/or developed by the Mayne Academy of General Practice
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 |
Tutorial |
Case-Based Tutorials (Tutorial Series) During weeks 1 to 6 of the block, tutorials involve clinical case presentations and discussion, diagnostic and management roleplays, discussion of clinical and professionalism topics, and review of learning materials. Tutorial times are advised at the commencement of each clinical placement. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07, L08, L09 |
Clinical Hours |
General Practice Clinical Attachment (Clinical Placement) Takes place during week 1 to 6 of the block. Please refer to Section 1.4. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06, L07, L08, L09 |
|
Workshop |
Introductory Week (Workshop) Introductory Week for the Comprehensive Clinical Practice semester. Refer to Lecture Program which is provided to students at the beginning of each semester The introductory week of the semester includes an introduction and orientation by the Head of Discipline and/or the Academic Rotation Coordinator, in which students will be advised of the content and requirements of the clinical placement. Learning outcomes: L01, L03, L04, L05, L06, L08, L09 |
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: