BIO5003 - Professional Biomedical Practice

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

LO1 Apply laboratory-based competencies to plan, execute, and manage a biomedical laboratory project.
LO2 Analyse problems relevant to a biomedical laboratory project and select appropriate qualitative or quantitative research strategies, with statistical analysis, for their resolution.
LO3 Demonstrate an understanding of quality control plus quality assurance and their role in good laboratory practice, including health & safety, COSHH and risk assessments.
LO4 Identify and consider the ethical issues that arise in research studies directly involving human participants or samples from patients.
LO5 Apply knowledge of employability skills to produce a CV, complete an application form and perform at interview.
LO6 Implement group working, communication and problem-solving skills in an employment setting.

Content:

This module aims to develop the key skills required to work in a biomedical research laboratory and to provide an understanding, with practical experience, of the procedures used in the day-to-day running of a laboratory. Ethics applications, COSHH plus risk assessment form preparation will be covered alongside the principles of good laboratory practice (GLP) to generate reliable data. A research project proposal will be developed based on a choice of potential projects and you will prepare a standard operating procedure for an appropriate technique. At the end of the module, you will choose your research project area for Level 6 and be allocated a supervisor who will advise on the preparation of material before starting your Level 6 project. You will undertake either the biomedical employer-led challenge or an external professional placement activity to improve employability and evaluate the skills employers require.

The content of this module has been mapped to the IBMS QAA Benchmark requirements for:

Quality Management including interpretation of quality control standards (QC); importance of quality assurance and pre-analytical variables; understanding of the importance of external quality assessment (EQA); including basic knowledge of the purpose of quality policy, audits, standard operating procedures, training and competency documentation, error logging and incident reporting, validation and verification, and reagent inventories; laboratory accreditation.

Research Skills including research design, methodologies, planning and execution of hypothesis-based research and scientific writing; generation, recording, collation and statistical techniques for the analysis of quantitative data and/or qualitative analytical techniques for the interpretation of non-numerical data.

Generic and subject-specific skills including health and safety, good laboratory practice, risk and COSHH assessments, the Human Tissue Act, other relevant legislation; awareness of the IBMS and HCPC.

Key transferable skills, including communication, IT, numeracy, data analysis.

Learning and Teaching Information:

A series of 12 x 2 hr Lectures will be delivered to cover the key aspects of research questions or hypothesis formulation plus testing, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, critical evaluation of data, laboratory procedures for running a biomedical project, good laboratory practice, standard operating procedure (SOP), ethics, COSHH plus risk assessment, employment in biomedical labs, employability and job applications.

A total of 9 x 3 hr Practical sessions will be provided to teach you how to complete multi-step methods from start to finish in the areas of biochemical, molecular biology, pharmacological and cellular analysis.

A 1 x 3 hr Computer lab sessions will be given to cover Bioinformatic techniques for research in semester 1.

A total of 16 x 1 hr Tutorials will support the practical aspects of the module.

Either the Biomedical Employer-led challenge or an external placement activity will be carried out, these comprise 180 hours that can either take the form of performing an employer-led Biomedical Science problem-solving activity which is undertaken in using the practical laboratory and computer laboratory facilities within the University or students can undertake an external placement activity with an external employer through the University’s placement office if a suitable placement is available.

Lectures
Hours: 24
Intended Group Size: Full Cohort (40)

Practical Sessions
Hours: 27
Intended Group Size: Full Cohort (40)

Computer Lab Sessions
Hours: 3
Intended Group Size: Full Cohort (40)

Tutorials
Hours: 16
Intended Group Size: Max 20

Biomedical Employer-Led Challenge or Placement activity (normally 5 weeks full time – total of 25 days of 6-8 hours per day)
Hours: 180
Individual

Guided independent study
Hours: 50

Further information relating to assessment

Assessment tasks are designed to measure the extent to which you have satisfied the Level Learning Outcomes for your programme. Some modules, for example where there are professional body (PSRB) requirements, will also test for module-specific skills and knowledge.
Further details of assessment are available in the Assessment Handbook for your programme and in Assessment Briefs provided by Module Tutors.

Post lecture, tutorial and practical session activities submitted through Moodle will facilitate ongoing formative assessment opportunities via lecturer or peer feedback.

The Interview plus CV & Application assessment will be part of the Placement activity and undertaken at the start of the module with submission by Mid-Semester 1. Marking will be based around relevance of the CV plus application to the placement applied for, and your performance in the interview.

The Research Protocol write up will be set in Semester 1 based on a choice from six possible project areas to allow students to develop key skills to be applied in their Level 6 research project. The project design elements will require an evaluation of the techniques that will be employed. You will need a completed COSHH for a chemical you might be exposed to, a completed ethics form (even if no human volunteers or human samples are to be used), a completed Risk Assessment and an SOP for one of the experimental procedures you would be using. If you are choosing an option based around Bioinformatics or computer modelling, you should include an SOP for a laboratory-based experiment that could be used to confirm computer predicted results. You will therefore complete all components, including COSHH as you will still potentially be exposed to chemical agents. The assessment will be submitted in Mid-Semester 2.

The Biomedical Employer-led challenge or external Placement Reflection Portfolio will be set during Semester 2 and completed during each week of successful participation in the Biomedical Employer-Led challenge or external placement activity at the end of Semester 2. The weekly reflections should include coverage of how the skills learned can be used in a Biomedical Science setting and should be submitted as a combined portfolio on completion of the five-week activity.

The Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) professional body requires students to achieve a pass mark in all assessment components for modules that cover the clinical laboratory sciences subject areas including this one. Since laboratory practical sessions contribute towards assessments these sessions should be considered compulsory. Condonement/compensation will not be permitted for this module, which contributes significantly to the benchmark statement and has learning outcomes that cannot be evidenced elsewhere for the accreditation of the degree.

Assessment:

Fact File

Module Coordinator - PRS_CODE=
Level - 5
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered -

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