XNH482 Clinical Exercise for Musculoskeletal and Neurological Disorders

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2024, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

The role of exercise for both treatment and secondary prevention in individuals with neurological and musculoskeletal disorders is well accepted. Well designed programs of treatment require assessment, prescription and education based on clinical practical skills and clinical reasoning. This advanced unit converges and builds on your previous knowledge of exercise prescription and neurological and musculoskeletal pathophysiology by systematically considering a range of disease-specific concepts and case studies as seen in professional practice, and applying to the clinical practice setting.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Design and justify effective programs of assessment, treatment and management of neurological and musculoskeletal disorders.
2. Integrate knowledge of psychosocial issues and apply interpersonal communication skills in the delivery of exercise physiology consultations for neurological and musculoskeletal disorders.
3. Demonstrate clinical reasoning through the development and delivery of evidence based exercise physiology assessment, treatment and management sessions.

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit will be delivered in an intensive mode over O week and the first five weeks of semester one. Successful completion of XNH482 is required before the clinical practicum units are undertaken. This unit provides opportunities for learning activities in a clinical environment that strengthen the connection between theory and application, and prepare students for professional practice. The content will be divided into modules, each of which will be supported by learning modalities that may include, but are not limited to, a combination of lectures, readings, case studies and clinical lab activities.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Feedback to Students
Feedback in this unit is provided to you in the following ways:

• A range of formative exercises will be discussed in class
• Comments on summative assessment work in addition to criteria sheets
• Generic comments back to the cohort via QUT Canvas
• Criteria sheet grading
• Feedback from peers

Assessment

Overview

General Assessment Information
Summative assessment consists of two assessment items as outlined below. Assessment focussed formative learning opportunities will be provided during the semester.

The Clinical Examination (Practical) must be successfully completed at a grade of 4 or above to pass this course.

In this unit, for you to be eligible to receive a passing grade, threshold assessment conditions apply. If you do not achieve the pass level for the Clinical Examination (Practical) you are able to resit the assessment 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 re-sit.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Case Study

You will demonstrate your application of evidence based knowledge and clinical reasoning to the assessment and treatment of real world case scenarios. This will be achieved by completing a series of questions examining physiological issues (including exercise prescription and programming with justification) from a rehabilitation case study, as relevant to musculoskeletal and neurological disorders.

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

Assessment: Clinical Examination (Practical)

You will be assessed on your application of clinical skills, patient interaction and clinical reasoning in the form of a clinical examination.  With a real patient from the QUT Health Clinic you will be assessed on your understanding and integration of the patient history, client consultation skills, health and fitness assessment and exercise delivery as relevant to musculoskeletal and neurological disorders.

Preparation for your Clinical Examination (Practical) involves completing supervised weekly activities in the QUT Health Clinic with your allocated patient.  This learning is captured on your Clinical Passport and must be completed prior to your exam.

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 pass level for the Clinical Examination (Practical) you are able to resit the assessment 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 re-sit.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

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.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Requirements to Study

Blue Card

A blue card is required to complete this unit. A blue card confirms that you have passed a screening of your criminal history (the Working with Children Check) and have been approved to work with children and young people. For more information on the blue card and how to apply please visit the QUT website.

Resources

Resource Materials

Recommended text(s)

American College of Sports Medicine. (2016). ACSM's exercise management for persons with chronic diseases and disabilities (4th ed.). Champaign, Il: Human Kinetics Press.

American College of Sports Medicine. (2018). ACSM's guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (10th ed.). Baltimore: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

Brukner, P., Khan, K., Clarsen, B., Cook, J., Cools, A., Crossley, K., Hutchinson, M., McCory, P. & Bhar, R. (2016). Brukner & Khan's clinical Sports medicine (5th ed). North Ryde, McGraw-Hill.

Coombes, J., & Skinner, T. (2015). ESSA's student manual for health, exercise and sport assessment. Chatswood, NSW: Elsevier Australia.

Ehrman, J., Gordon, P., Visich, P. & Keteyian, S. (2019). Clinical exercise physiology (4th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, USA.

Risk Assessment Statement

This unit is conducted within the QUT Health Clinics and as such you are required to abide by all health and safety requirements for the facility and attend the unit orientation and induction workshop.