BIO5013 - Professional Biomedical Practice

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Apply laboratory-based competencies to plan, execute, and manage a biomedical laboratory project.
Analyse problems relevant to a biomedical laboratory project and select appropriate qualitative or quantitative research strategies, with statistical analysis, for their resolution.
Demonstrate an understanding of quality control plus quality assurance and their role in good laboratory practice, including health & safety, COSHH and risk assessments.
Identify and consider the ethical issues that arise in research studies directly involving human participants or samples from patients.
Apply knowledge of employability skills to produce a CV, complete an application form and perform at interview.
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 principals of good laboratory practice (GLP) to generate reliable data. A research project proposal will be developed with an allocated supervisor. Students will undertake professional placement activity to improve employability and evaluate the skills required by employers.

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 2h Lectures will be used 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 application. A total of 9 x 3h practical sessions will be used to teach students how to complete multi-step methods from start to finish in the areas of biochemical, molecular biology, pharmacological and microbial analysis. A 1 x 3h computer practical will be used to cover Bioinformatic techniques for research in semester 1. Tutorial sessions will support the practical aspects. Students will also undertake a placement activity organised by the University Placements team and supported by a Placement Tutor to gain employability skills and experience.

Lectures
Hours: 24
Intended Group Size: Full Cohort

Practical sessions
Hours: 27
Intended Group Size: Full Cohort

Computer Practical
Hours: 3
Intended Group Size: Full Cohort

Tutorials
Hours: 16
Intended Group Size: Max 20

Placement activity (normally 5 weeks full time – total of 25 days of 6-8 hours a day) or equivalent from unpaid volunteering across both semesters
Hours: 180
Intended Group Size: 1

Guided independent study
Hours: 50

Further details relating to assessment
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 by the student and the performance in the interview.

The Research Project Design Assessment write up will be set in Semester 1 after allocation of students to a research project supervisor and will be linked to the area of their intended Level 6 research project. The project design elements will require an evaluation of the techniques that will be employed. All students will need a completed COSHH for a chemical they may 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 they will be using. Students undertaking research projects based around Bioinformatics or computer modelling should include an SOP for a laboratory based experiment that could be used to confirm computer predicted results. Such students will therefore complete all components, including COSHH as they will still potentially be exposed to chemical agents. The assessment will be submitted in Mid-Semester 2.

The Placement reflection will be set during Semester 2 and completed following the student's successful completion of their Placement activity at the end of Semester 2. The reflection should include coverage of how the skills learned can be used in a Biomedical Science setting.

Other Information
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, that contributes significantly to the benchmark statement and have learning outcomes that students achieve that cannot be evidenced elsewhere for the accreditation of the degree.

Details of placement regulations are included in the Placement Provider Guide for the academic year the module runs.

Assessment:

Fact File

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

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