MRS Practicum 1 (11977.1)

Required texts

Prescribed Readings:

National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) 2nd edition available at this site: https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/National-Safety-and-Quality-Health-Service-Standards-second-edition.pdf

Recommended Readings:

Eisenberg, R.L. & Johnson, N.M. (2021) Comprehensive Radiographic Pathology, 7th ed., Elsevier, St Louis (this text will be used in other units)

Lampignano, J.P. & Kendrick, LE. (2021) Bontrager's Textbook of radiographic positioning and related anatomy, 10th ed., Elsevier (this text will be used in other units)

McQuillen-Martensen, K. (2020)  Radiographic Image Analysis, 5th ed., Elsevier (this text will be used in other units)

Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia. (2020). Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice (2020). Available at: https://www.medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au/Registration-Standards/Professional-Capabilities.aspx

Rollins, J.H, Long, B.W. & Curtis, T. (2023) Merrill's Atlas of Radiographic Positioning and Procedures Vol 1 and 2 (or 3 volume set), 15th ed., Elsevier (this text will be used in other units)

Stagnitti, K., Schoo, A., & Welch, D. (2013). Clinical and Fieldwork Placement in the Health Professions, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Other assessment items will require you to access and use the UC Clinical document and reporting online site, Smartabase.

Details of these will be provided during Semester 1.

Special assessment requirements

For this Unit, students will receive an Ungraded Pass or Fail. 

The following is required for students to pass this Unit:

• Attend the required clinical placement AND
• Attain a SATISFACTORY grade of the supervisor's end placement report AND
• Complete all other assessment tasks to a satisfactory standard:
  • Pre-placement requirements
    • Hand hygiene AND
    • WIL ready modules AND
    • Manual handling training AND
  • UC student placement agreement AND
  • Cultural awareness reflection AND
  • Reflective journal.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Learner engagement

This is an industry based placement, and therefore it is expected that students will attend normal work hours at the allocated placement site. It is the student's responsibility to record and maintain evidence of the hours attended at placement within Smartabase. Some placements may include shift hours and weekend work.

Inclusion and engagement

Medical imaging departments and practices have reasonable expectations that students, under the supervision of registered practitioners, will be able to undertake the roles of a student diagnostic radiographer in a timely and appropriate manner.

As per UC's Student Reasonable Adjustment Procedure https://www.canberra.edu.au/policies/PolicyProcedure/Download/1770/Student_Reasonable_Adjustment_Procedure , if your registered disability or ongoing health condition may affect your ability to undertake these roles, you must contact InclusionUC who will work with you to determine what reasonable adjustments you may need in relation to your placements. Following the determination of what adjustments are reasonable in the circumstances, InclusionUC, in collaboration with the student and Medical Imaging academic staff, may develop a Placement Support Letter which outlines these adjustments.

Participation requirements

MRS Practicum 1 requires you to attend one clinical placement. These are compulsory requirements of the course and unit. Other details of the clinical placement requirements will be provided on Canvas.

Note: Clinical placements are ONLY offered in the scheduled times as specified. 

Note: Over the duration of the Medical Imaging degree course, students are required to attend clinical placement at:

• A major hospital
• Rural/regional and metropolitan sites
• Public hospitals and private practices.

Note: The ACT/Canberra/Queanbeyan have only a limited number of clinical placement sites. You CANNOT expect that all clinical placements in your Medical Imaging degree course will be undertaken in the ACT/Canberra/Queanbeyan. You WILL be required to travel interstate during the Medical Imaging degree course to complete the clinical requirements of the course. 

Although students will be able to nominate preferences for clinical placement, for legal and insurance reasons, students MUST NOT attempt to organise any placement other than those listed by the Faculty of Health Placement Office. Students are also NOT to contact any clinical site about organising work experience. Failure to follow these instructions may result in a student misconduct inquiry. 

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) placements, will be allocated by the University according to unit, course and MRPBA accreditation requirements. For more information please see https://uclearn.canberra.edu.au/courses/4492  

This unit contains participatory elements vital to the professional learning outcomes for this unit. Except in cases of extenuating circumstances, 100% attendance is expected at all scheduled on-campus classes such as lectures, workshops and laboratories. 100% participation is required in all clinical placements. It is expected that students unable to fulfil these participation requirements will inform the Unit Convenor as soon as practical by email. Consideration will be given for illness, however evidence such as medical certificates will be required. 

Required IT skills

This unit requires the use of Canvas, Smartabase, INPLACE, library searching skills, and word processing skills.

In-unit costs

Additional Costs:

There are associated costs in undertaking clinical placements which are the responsibility of the student. These include, but not limited to, transport to and from the clinical department/radiology practice, accomodation and other living costs, uniforms, etc.

In the event that a clinical placement is changed or cancelled, the University is not responsible for reimbursement of any associated costs. 

Note: Clinical placements in this unit are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm (or similiar hours as designated by the clinical department staff). As such you will have difficulty undertaking casual work to earn an income. You will need to plan any casual work you do around the clinical placement. The timing of the clinical placements is NOT changeable.

Work placement, internships or practicums

This unit contains Work Integrated Learning (WIL) activities (clinical placements) and therefore, additional student responsibilities are required in addition to those described in this section. Workplace learning requires strict adherence to professional practice principles and ethics. Client/patient confidentiality must always be maintained, including for assessment items such as reports or reflective journals. The professional nature of this unit also requires 100% participation of all learning activities (see section 3) for the successful completion of this unit (also see section 6c). If attendance requirements cannot be satisfied, it is recommended that you meet with the Course Convener to schedule this unit in a future semester.

Clinical placements are an essential part of the UC Medical Imaging courses. They enable knowledge to be embedded in a clinical context through the use of trained clinical preceptors and practicing professionals. This cannot be attained in any other setting. The control of access to external facilities derives from contractual arrangements with ACT Health and other organisations and UC is obliged to accept the rules and regulations that govern who they will accept into their premises. It is beyond UC's control to influence the health facilities to change their acceptability requirements.

• The successful completion of clinical placements is a mandatory element of the Unit and the assessment of the Unit; and
• Some or all of the external agencies require a police check prior to permitting a student to undertake the clinical placement; and
• The results of the police check may be used as a basis to refuse access to a clinical placement/externship at the external agency. This decision is solely at the discretion of the external agency; and
• Students unable to gain access to a clinical placement at agencies approved by the University are unable to complete the mandatory requirements of the Unit. In this case the student will receive a NX (fail) grade and will not be eligible for a refund of any fees; and
• If the successful completion of a Unit is a mandatory requirement for the completion of a Course, an inability to complete the Unit means the student is unable to complete the requirements of the Course.

Students also need to note that the external agency reserves the right to withdraw access to a clinical placement at any time prior or during a placement/externship at the sole discretion of the agency. In these circumstances the same implications noted above will apply.

Students also need to note that they bear the full risk in relation to loss of access to clinical placements and the University will not be liable if an agency withdraws access to a clinical placement because of the actions or omissions of a student.

Additional information

See the Course Canvas page for details on the clinical, radiation safety, patient confidentiality and other requirements and for other placement information.

Mandatory Notifications to the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia

Pursuant to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009, medical radiation practitioners (registered radiographers, diagnostic radiographers, medical imaging technologists, medical radiation practitioner) and education providers have an obligation to report ‘notifiable conduct', to the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia in order to prevent the public being placed at risk of harm. 

Education providers are also required, under Section 143 of the National Law, to make mandatory notifications in relation to students, if the provider reasonably believes:

a) a student enrolled with the provider has an impairment that, in the course of the student undertaking clinical training, may place the public at substantial risk of harm; or

b) a student for whom the provider has arranged clinical training has an impairment that, in the course of the student undertaking the clinical training, may place the public at substantial or considerable risk of harm.

Practitioners are required to make a mandatory notification in relation to a student if the practitioner reasonably believes that a student has an impairment that, in the course of the student undertaking clinical training, may place the public at substantial risk of harm (Section 141(1)(b). In relation to a student, ‘impairment' is defined under section 5 of the National Law to mean the student ‘has a physical or mental impairment, disability, condition or disorder (including substance abuse or dependence) that detrimentally affects or is likely to detrimentally affect the student's capacity to undertake clinical training.

These professional obligations are taken seriously by staff and the University.  Students should be aware of their obligations under student registration. 

For further information, please refer to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Guidelines for Mandatory Notifications available at: http://www.medicalradiationpracticeboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines/Codes-and-Guidelines/Guidelines-for-mandatory-notifications.aspx

All such concerns may also be brought to the Discipline of Medical Radiation Science. When this is done, these concerns will be reviewed by the Head of Discipline and / or the Course Convener before any action is taken.

Work Health and Safety:

The following applies to all placements, workshops and practicum classes:

Pre-existing conditions:

Students are advised that where a pre-existing condition(s) may affect any activity in this unit, the student is responsible to advise the unit co-ordinator or relevant teaching staff. Please also note the inherent requirements (http://www.canberra.edu.au/currentstudents/canberra-students/student-support/inclusion-engagement/inherent-requirements) for Medical Radiation Science.

Manual handling

Medical Radiation Science work requires manual handling. You will be taught the correct way to perform manual handling and should use the principles at all times to prevent injury to yourself, your colleagues or patients. If you have any injury that may affect your capacity to perform manual handling skills, you are required to notify the unit convenor at the commencement of the semester. If you obtain a new injury during the placement that may affect your capacity to perform manual handling skills, you are required to notify the clinical supervisor and the unit convenor. In the event of an injury being sustained during the placement you are required to notify the unit convener within 24 hours of the event and complete a UC incident form (https://www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/report-a-hazard-or-incident ).

Respect and consent

Students will be required to display all professional courtesy and respect to patients, staff and other students while on placement. 

Recording devices

Mobile phones must be switched to silent mode and left in lockers while on placement. No cameras or videos are to be used on wards or in practices. Any person taking a picture of another student, a patient, a staff member, a member of the public, patient notes or other patient related material without permission will be requested to leave the placement and the images will be confiscated and deleted. They will also be suspended from placement and asked to meet with the ADE. Suspension from placement may lead to a fail being recorded for that placement.

Counselling

In the course of studying medical radiation science, students may be exposed to clinical cases and situations that may be stressful. At UC a free Counselling Service is available for all students. All sessions are confidential. The UC Counselling Service is located in the UC Health and Counselling Centre on Level B in Building 1. For more information please go to http://www.canberra.edu.au/health-counselling

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