Clinical Practice in Exercise Physiology 2 (9382.3)

Required texts

equired Reading:

• UC Exericse Physiology Clinical Placement Handbppk 2024
• Site-specific placement preparation modules or pre-requisite readings that are provided by UC Clinical Placement Convenor, the UC Placement Office or the placement site directly are all considered requirements for the placement, and therefore for this unit. 

Useful texts:

In revising for the Final Exit Exam, refer to specified texts/required readings for clinical units taught in the degree. Additionally, for skills practice in preparation for final placements in Block 3 and 4 and the Exit Exam, the following book is recommended as a reference:

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Students must have completed all placement requirements, including documentation, to be eligible to sit the Exit Exam.

Students who have completed their placements (including meeting hours, competency assessments) but still have outstanding placement documentation will not be eligible to sit the Exit Exam; unless the delay in documentation submission is directly due to their clinical supervisor (i.e. the student has provided clinical documentation to their supervisor, and are awaiting this to be returned). 

Students who are enrolled in this unit but still have another unit(s) of study in the course to complete are able to undertake and complete their clinical placement requirements but are not be eligible to sit the Exit Exam until all other units of study have been passed. Even if all placement requirements and documentation has been submitted, the grade for this unit will remain withheld (WH) until all other course units are completed and the Exit Exam is passed.

Special assessment requirements

Information on extensions and special consideration for assessments can be found in the Student Guide to Policies.

Students must pass all of the assessment items to pass the unit. This includes the final exit exam, receiving a pass level of meeting professional behaviour on ALL placements, and meeting clinical competencey standards as evaluated by their Clinical Supervisor(s) for placement, moderated by the Unit Convenor.

If a student fails an assessment in this unit, they may have the opportunity to undertake a supplementary assessment, which may also include additional clinical placement. The Unit Convener and Clinical Placement Convenors will determine if/when an additional placement will take place, with consideration to the factors that may have contributed to student performance not meeting minimal standards for passing and the availability of suitable placements to re-assess the student in a similar context. It cannot be guaranteed when an appropriate supplementary placement will be available, therefore students who fail a placement or require further placement to meet competency levels may be delayed in completing the unit, and therefore impact graduation timeframes.

Supplementary assessment is available as per the Assessment Policy (7.10-7.20) and the Supplementary Assessment Policy Framework: https://guard.canberra.edu.au/policy/policy.php?pol_id=2901

All marks will be moderated in accordance with the moderation policy outlined on the Canvas site.

Supplementary assessment

If a student does not pass the initial Exit Exam

• They will be offered a supplementary exam, as per the assessment policy.
• If the student achieves an overall pass mark but fails a section based on safety in applied knowledge and therefore fails the exam, they will be offered a supplementary resit of the part that they did not pass. They will not have to resit the other part of the exam.
• The student will be offered the option to undertake additional placement experience to faciliate preparation for their supplementary examination. This is optional, and up to the individual student.

When undertaking the supplementary Exit Exam: 

1. If the student fails one section of the supplementary Exit Exam, but passes the second and achieves an overall grade >50% for the exam;

• They will be offered a second supplementary Exam at a later date. The timing of the supplementary exam will be determined by the Unit Convenor and Course Convenor. They will be required to undertake both parts of the exam.
• They will be required to undertake further placement experience, prior to undertaking their third and final exam attempt.
  • If the student does not pass the second supplementary exam (third and final attempt), they will be awarded an ungraded fail for this unit.

OR

2. If the student fails one section of the supplementary Exit Exam, passes the second but achieves an overall exam mark of <50%

• The student will fail the exam, and be awarded an ungraded fail for this unit,

OR

3. If a student fails both sections of their supplementary Exit Exam:

• The student will be awarded an ungraded fail for the unit.

Students who fail the unit will be required to re-enrol in the unit when it is next offered, and will be required to undertake further placement experience to meet the unit learning requirements and support preparation for the Exit Exam, regardless of whether they have already met the ESSA clinical placement requirements.

If a student does not pass a placement:

Students who fail any placement during the year based on professional behaviours will be required to undertake supplementary placement, regardless of whether they have met the ESSA clinical placement hours. 

Students who receive an evaluation by the final placement block that they are not yet at graduate entry-level competency for each of the key units of competency, based on the Assessment Tool, completed by their supervisor and moderated and supported by the UC Clinical Placement Convenor; they will be required to complete  supplementary placement hours/experiences for finalising the flagged areas of clinical competency assessment. 

The timing and arrangements for supplementary placements will be determined by the Unit Convenor, based on the factors contributing to the student's placement performance and the availability of a suitable placement for re-assessment in a similar context. As such, the supplementary placement may not fall within the current calender year of study, thus failure of a placement may result in delays to course completion and graduation.

If a student also fails to satisfactorily pass the supplementary placement, the student will fail the unit. A meeting will be arranged with the student, the Unit Convenor and the Course Convenor to discuss, and the student will need to enroll in the unit when it is next offered.

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.

Inclusion and engagement

Considering the placement requirements for completing this unit (and in achieving competencies needed for accreditation as an exercise physiologist), it is encouraged that students raise any concerns they may have with Inclusion and Engagement as soon as possible in their course enrolment, to enable appropriate communication with the Clinical Placement Convenor and planning for student placement allocations.

Where a student has known strategies that they feel comfortable sharing that will assist them on a placement, they are encouraged to discuss these with their supervisors at the start (or prior to starting) of their placement.

Where a student wishes to disclose information (about disability or an ongoing health condition) to their placement supervisors in order to facilitate support or reasonable adaptaptions on the placement (if/when available), they are able to do so. They are also able to do this through discussion with the Clinical Placement Convenor if they feel comfortable or prefer this approach. This is a decision for the individual student as to what they feel can support them in undertaking the requirements of the unit.

Participation requirements

General:

Students who participate in this unit are to be aware of their scope of practice as a student studying exercise physiology.

There is no specific lecture material for this course, as the bulk of student learning is based on clinical placements.

Placement Attendance and COVID-19:

Attendance at placement is core to completing this unit, and absences are required to follow the procedure for notification and appropriate documentation (please refer to the Student Placement Handbook, and if needed, contact the Clinical Placement Team for clarification).

In the context of managing placement attendance in line with COVID-19 regulations, including managing illness symptoms, infection control and self-isolation/quarantine if needed - students must follow the processes set by their placement sites, the University of Canberra as well the Department of Health directives.
In the current environment, it is critical that students do not attend placement if they are experiencing any symptoms of illness, regardless of how mild. Students are expected to notify their Clinical Supervisor(s) and the UC Clinical Placement Team if they will be absent from placement with illness. Processes for COVID-19 and placement are also available on the unit Canvas site, and through UC Medical and Counselling.

Required IT skills

This unit requires students to regularly engage with their UC student email accounts, the Smartabase placement system and UCLearn Canvas sites, as well as InPlace as required.

Students may also be required to learn and understand different databases and software used by clinical placement sites.

Students will need to engage with e_Learning platforms, Apps and/or websites for placement activities (including pre-placement modules and COVID-19 screening processes).

Work placement, internships or practicums

This unit involves clinical placement and there may be additional student responsibilities for specific placement sites that are required, in addition to the core pre-placement requirements for all exercise physiology students. These will be provided to students relative to their allocated placements.

Work-place learning requires strict adherence to professional practice principles and ethics. Client/patient confidentiality must always be maintained, including for course-related work, such as peer learning discussions or case studies.

If placement attendance requirements cannot be satisfied, it is recommended that you meet with your Course Convener to schedule this unit for a future semester.

Students are responsible for all costs associated with completion of their clinical placement requirements, regardless of site allocation (local, distance or interstate).

Due to the continuation of COVID-19 management, there may be unanticipated changes to placement site capacity, arrangements and attendance 

It is the responsibilty of each student to remain up-to-date with the COVID-19 directives from Department of Health, and to follow any site-specific processes for physical distancing, infection control and (where required) masking; as well as to be mindful that any symptom onset prevents them from attending placement. Symptoms should be reported to their Clinical Supervisor(s), so that the appropriate process for ensuring safe return to placement can be followed, to ensure the safety of staff, patients/clients and other students.

• Semester 2, 2024, Flexible, UC - Canberra, Bruce (221828)