Critical Care (MEDI7415)

Course overview

The Critical Care course (CCC) is conducted in the teaching hospitals in each Clinical School. The CCC aims to teach you the skills, knowledge and attitudes involved in managing patients with critical illness as outlined in the critical care curriculum. This includes competencies in relation to the three critical care disciplines:

1. Critical illness requiring Intensive Care Unit (ICU) consultation & or admission
2. Emergencies and undifferentiated presentations in Emergency Medicine (EM)
3. Anaesthesia in elective and emergent settings

The CCC also includes competencies in relation to Intern preparedness for:

1. Recognising and managing critical illness in inpatient wards; and
2. Working in an EM rotation (mandatory in the Australian setting)

The majority of your time in each of the three disciplines will be clinical contact with some small group tutorial teaching. It is supported by an online module program and reflective clinical workbooks.

This semester-long course, is one of three courses that make up the Advanced Hospital Practice Semester. While each of the courses in AHP has a discipline focus and a related clinical placement, it is important to recognise that learning opportunities will arise for all courses in each one of the clinical placements. You are strongly encouraged to take every opportunity during the whole AHP semester to acquire discipline-specific knowledge when the opportunity presents, to reflect on the ways that different disciplines view the same clinical problem, and to recognise how each discipline can contribute in different ways to the management of that problem.

The Critical Care Course (CCC) aims to teach you the skills, knowledge and attitudes involved in managing patients with critical illness.ﾠ

Critical Illness as outlined in the critical care curriculum includes:

1. Critical illness requiring intensive care andﾠconsultation
2. Urgencies, Emergencies andﾠUndifferentiated presentations in Emergency Medicine
3. Urgent, Emergent and Elective anaesthesia
4. Intern Preparedness for an Emergency Medicine rotation (mandatory in the Australian setting) and in general

Clinical skills will be learned during the clinical placement and during simulation based tutorials, where available. Workbooks are designed to focus your clinical experience and prompt reflection. Theoreticalﾠknowledge is provided by online learning modules. Site specific tutorials should be attended, where they are provided.

Detail regarding assessment is provided in section 5.ﾠ

The course has two primary objectives:

1. To provide you with the ability to recognise and initially manage a patient with a critical illness.
2. To introduce you to the three specialties of Emergency Medicine, Intensive Care and Anaesthesia and provide you with an overview of these specialties.

Course structure:

(a) Practical Component

The clinical placements in the critical care course make up seven weeks of the advanced hospital practice semester.ﾠYou will spend three weeks in emergency medicine, two weeks in anaesthetics and two weeks in ICU.ﾠDuring the course you will learn about each individual specialty, and about critical illness in general. Simulation tutorials are provided at most sites.ﾠWhere they are available, attendance is expected.

The procedural skills to be learnt are:

(a) Must know:

• Intravenous cannulation
• Indwelling urinary catheter
• Basic airway manoeuvres
• Bag valve mask ventilation
• Insertion of laryngeal mask airway
• Oxygen delivery device selection and application
• Defibrillation using an automatic defibrillator

(b) Highly desirable:

• Nasogastric tube insertion
• Arterial blood gas sampling

(c) Optional:

• Endotracheal intubation

(b) Theoretical Component

The theoretical component consists of online learning modules.ﾠEach online presentation includes a quiz. These modules are a key source of essentialﾠtheoretical knowledge for this course and should be completed. Please note the learning content in the modules is examinable in the end of semester examination.ﾠﾠ

Local face-to-face theoretical teaching will vary between sites. Students should also attend departmental teaching sessions for junior doctors, where appropriate.

This course is a semester long one - forming one of the three courses that make up the Advanced Hospital Practice Semester. While each of the courses in AHP has a discipline focus and a related clinical placement, it is important to recognise thatﾠlearning opportunitiesﾠwill arise for all course in each one of the clinical placements. For instance,ﾠseeingﾠa dislocation reduced during their ED term is an opportunity for studentsﾠto read up about dislocations and principles of reduction,ﾠwhile clerking an elderly person with typical OA of the hands during a medical term is an opportunity to revise the topic ofﾠosteoarthritis. In this way, students will be able to acquire knowledge on individual placementsﾠthat will help them do well in the final exams for other courses in the semester.ﾠStudents are therefore strongly encouraged toﾠtake every opportunity during the whole AHP semester to acquire discipline-specific knowledge when the opportunityﾠpresents, to reflect on the ways that different disciplines view the same clinical problem, and to recognise how each discipline can contribute in different ways to the management of that problem.

Course requirements

Assumed background

This course builds on learnings from courses in Years 1 and 2 of the MD Program, and in particular from courses in Clinical Science and Clinical Practice. 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 approaches to clinical assessment, clinical reasoning and management. You are urged to review notes and learning materials from earlier courses in the program as appropriate during this course.

The course also builds on the Year 3 Hospital Practice semester clinical activities as the Critical Care course is part of the Advanced Hospital Practice semester.

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

MEDI7212, MEDI7222, MEDI7232 and MEDI7242 or MEDI7202

Incompatible

You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:

MEDI7403

Restrictions

MD & MD (Ochsner) Students Only

Course contact

Course staff

Timetable

Additional timetable information

Clinical Unit specific timetables are available on Learn.UQ (Blackboard).

Participation and Attendance

Students should be aware of the MedicalﾠProgram Participation Guidelines. Non-compliance may result in failure in this course.ﾠ

You should engage well with placement supervisors and adhere to prescribed clinical attendance roster. You are also advised to engage well with the discipline specific workbooks to support satisfactory clinical immersion and guide professional and clinical development.

(Different clinical sites will have different learning sessions offered such as simulations or small group tutorials. Simulations if offered are highly valuable and critical learning opportunities. It would be expected that you engage in these activities if offered unless good reason. Individual critical care clinical sites should provide clear written information to students regarding required learning session attendance & times during the blocks they govern. Your participation and engagement in this area could be factored into supervisor assessments via the Emergency Medicine CPA if appropriate. If considered very problematic or aberrant this could be dealt with by critical care co-ordinator notification for discussion of a solution or a formal notice of concern depending on circumstance.)

Aims and outcomes

The Critical Care Course aims to teach you the skills and knowledge required for recognition and early management of patients with critical illness.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

Assessment

Assessment summary

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

ED, ICU & Anaesthesia Workbook & Engagement Record

• Hurdle
• In-person

Mode

Activity/ Performance

Category

Notebook/ Logbook

Due date

Due 3pm next business day following last day of each respective clinical placement (ICU, ED, Anaesthesia)

Learning outcomes

L09, L10, L11

Task description

Hurdle requirements

Submission guidelines

Workbooks must be submitted for marking to the Clinical Supervisor on the last day of the clinical placement. Once marked, submit each workbook to your site student coordinator. Penalties apply for late submission.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Late submission

If you fail to meet the submission deadline for the ED/ICU/Anaesthesia Workbooks without an approved extension, it will be considered as a lapse in professional conduct. The penalty will be a deduction of 10% relative percentage per day. Late submission longer than 7 calendar days will be considered as not meeting the passing standard for this assessment, in addition to being considered a lapse in professional conduct. 

Clinical Participation Assessment - ED

• Hurdle
• In-person

Mode

Activity/ Performance

Category

Participation/ Student contribution, Placement

Due date

5pm on last day of your ED Clinical Placement

Other conditions

Work integrated learning.

See the conditions definitions

Learning outcomes

L05, L09, L10, L11

Task description

Hurdle requirements

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 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 final week of placement for placements of 3 weeks or less, or before the penultimate week of placement for placements longer than 3 weeks, 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.

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 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.

Critical Care End of Semester MCQ Exam

• Hurdle
• In-person

Mode

Written

Category

Examination

Due date

End of Semester Exam Period

2/11/2024 - 16/11/2024

Other conditions

Time limited.

See the conditions definitions

Task description

Hurdle requirements

Exam details

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.

Additional course grading information

PASS: Awarded when you achieve ALL of the following:

• Meet the criteria for the CPA detailed in Assessment detail section,

AND;

• Meet passing standard of the combined Workbook detailed in Assessment detail section,

AND;

• Meet passing standard of MCQ Exam detailed in Assessment detail section,

AND;

• Complete and submit all assessment tasks detailed in Assessment detail section.

MARGINAL FAIL: You will be considered a Marginal Fail and you may be eligible for a Supplementary Assessment, if you:

• Have completed all assessment tasks,

AND;

• Meet the criteria for the CPA detailed in Assessment detail section,

AND EITHER;

• Meet passing standard for combined Workbook,

OR;

• Meet passing standard for MCQ exam.

FAIL: You will receive a Fail grade if you:

• Do not meet the criteria for CPA,

AND/OR;

• Do not meet passing standard for combined Workbook,

AND;

• Do not meet passing standard for MCQ Exam.

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is not available for some items in this course.

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.

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.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

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:

• MD General Assessment Guidelines
• Medical Program Participation Guidelines