Postgraduate - UnitPTY5100 - Enhancing skills in paediatric physiotherapy

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of Physiotherapy
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2015 (Off-campus block of classes)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Prue Morgan

Synopsis

This unit will cover an introduction to physiotherapy assessment and management options for children with a range of conditions who present to physiotherapists. Aetiology and epidemiology of examples of neurological, cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal and complex conditions and the physiotherapy role in evaluation are described. The skills required for communication with children, families, carers and other health professionals are also considered. An emphasis on establishing competence and confidence to work autonomously whilst identifying limits to own practice is stressed. Learning will be experienced in the online classroom environment with a single face to face day at the conclusion of the unit. A selection of case studies selected from acute, subacute and community settings will be used to explore learning outcomes.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Apply knowledge of normal development across the spectrum of childhood, within the context of normal variations.
Identify paediatric conditions which are appropriate for physiotherapy intervention and recognise the scope of a comprehensive paediatric physiotherapy assessment.
Synthesise the elements of a comprehensive paediatric physiotherapy assessment for children presenting with cardiothoracic, musculoskeletal or neurological conditions.
Conduct prioritised systematic assessments using appropriate assessment tools for different paediatric conditions across the spectrum of childhood and adolescence.
Analyse and communicate the important findings of their paediatric physiotherapy assessments that warrant further assessment and / or intervention and / or referral to other practitioners.
Identify and apply appropriate evidenced based or best practise interventions to specific paediatric conditions.

Assessment

Online quizzes x 4 (Summative) (35%)
Online exam (MCQ and short answers) (1 hour) (Summative) (20%)
Clinical Guideline activity (1,000 words) (Summative) (15%)
Guided paediatric case study (2,000 words) (30%)
Attendance requirement (face to face day, available also via video footage) (Hurdle)
Contribution to 4 x discussion boards (one per module, as per unit guide) (Hurdle)

Workload requirements

Approximately 12 hours per week of interaction with online lectures and course material, completion of online assessment tasks and participation in online communications with other students and tutor (online delivery only, block mode), plus self-directed study time. An additional 8 hours of face to face day attendance or video footage viewing required.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Prue Morgan

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Physiotherapy