XNH366 Clinical Skills for Exercise Physiologists

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2026, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

This unit is a clinical skills unit that develops the key clinical and practical skills required for practice as an Accredited Exercise Physiologist. Specifically, the unit advances your understanding of and identity within your future profession. Further, it assesses core skill competencies to conduct effective and culturally safe client consultations, including health and fitness testing, client education, and exercise prescription and programming. The skills developed in this unit are relevant to later studies in XNB360, XNB361 and XNB388 and use current digital practices and technologies important for career opportunities.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Evaluate the professional skills required of an Accredited Exercise Physiologist, including interpersonal communication skills, and reflective and ethical practice
2. Conduct safe, technology-assisted, and educative client-centred consultations
3. Demonstrate sound reasoning, cultural safety, recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in client screening, individualised exercise testing, and data interpretation in an allied health context
4. Design individualised and evidence-based training programs to benefit health and optimise short- and long-term physical performance

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit adopts an applied approach to learning, where you will have online material to learn the theory of the professional skills and tutorials where you will have an opportunity to develop and practise the skill. Additional skill competency consolidation time will also be provided as required.

The approaches to teaching and learning in this unit are case scenarios, problem based learning, patient consultation and the development of the management plan, incorporating real world learning experiences.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Feedback on your performance in assessment tasks will be provided through verbal feedback in class and written feedback on an individual basis or group basis as required for each assessment.

Assessment

Overview

Assessment items are designed to measure your knowledge and mastery of professional skills stated in the learning outcomes. Assessment 2 and Assessment 3 are threshold assessments.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Reflection

You will be required to reflect on your developing understanding of the profession and your professional identity and direction within it.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Assessment: Professional plans

You will be required to develop and justify exercise prescription and programming designed to improve health and physical function outcomes. This task simulates the requirements of an exercise professional and can contribute to your professional portfolio.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Threshold Assessment:

In this unit, for you to be eligible to receive a passing grade, threshold assessment conditions apply. If you do not achieve the 50% (or 4 grade) pass level for this assessment, you can resit it for the minimum pass level only when your achieved mark/grade is within 10% (or 1 grade) of the pass level for the assessment item. You are advised to seek feedback from the unit coordinator prior to the resit.

Assessment: Examination (practical)

You will be assessed on your practical competencies to perform a client screening and health and fitness assessment for chronic disease management.

Threshold Assessment:

In this unit, for you to be eligible to receive a passing grade, threshold assessment conditions apply. If you do not achieve the 50% (or 4 grade) pass level for this assessment, you can resit it for the minimum pass level only when your achieved mark/grade is within 10% (or 1 grade) of the pass level for the assessment item. You are advised to seek feedback from the unit coordinator prior to the resit.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Resource Materials

Prescribed text(s)

Silverman J., Kurtz S., Draper J. (2013). Skill for Communicating with Patients (3rd Ed.). CRC Press

Risk Assessment Statement