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  2. Introduction to Pathophysiology [SCH1104]

School: Medical and Health Sciences

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Introduction to Pathophysiology

  • Unit Code

    SCH1104

  • Year

    2025

  • Enrolment Period

    1

  • Version

    1

  • Credit Points

    15

  • Full Year Unit

     N

  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus

  • Unit Coordinator

    Mr Ruben PHILLIPS

Description

This unit examines the concepts of health and disease in human populations and the principles and mechanisms of the disease processes. The various components and interactions of the body's defence system and the relationship of environmental factors to the disease process are considered. The morphology, pathogenesis and clinical course of diseases are considered in detail.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded PST1105

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Critically analyse the continuum of function and structure of the cell from normal, through injury, adaptation and/or death.
  2. Critically analyse the effects of disruption of blood supply and body fluid imbalance and how this applies to conditions such as myocardial infarctions and stroke.
  3. Debate the role of the above in the health of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.
  4. Explain neoplastic and non-neoplastic cellular proliferation.
  5. Explain the responses of the body to infection and understand how the body's immune system responds to tissue injury that results.
  6. Explain the role played by epidemiological studies in investigating disease in populations.
  7. Investigate agents (including chemicals/drugs and physical agents) which are involved in disease processes.
  8. Predict the role of inflammation and repair in the reaction of living tissue to injury.

Unit Content

  1. Causes of cellular injury, death and adaptation, pathogenesis, morphology of cell injury, intracellular accumulations, subcellular alterations, cellular adaptations, calcification.
  2. Fluid and haemodynamic derangement - oedema, congestion, haemorrhage, thrombosis, embolism, infarction, shock.
  3. Inflammation - acute and chronic inflammation, patterns of inflammation, role of lymphatics, lymphoid tissue and mononuclear-phagocytic system, immune regulation, clinical manifestations of inflammation.
  4. Neoplasia - hyperplasia, metaplasia, dysplasia, characteristics of benign and malignant neoplasms and how these cause diseases affecting reproductive, urinary, endocrine, gastrointestinal and integumentary systems.
  5. Repair - parenchymal regeneration, repair by connective tissue, bone repair, collagenisation and wound strength, cellular mechanisms of repair, overview of inflammatory-reparative response, factors modifying inflammatory-reparative response.
  6. Systemic pathophysiology of the respiratory, cardiac, neural and musculoskeletal systems.
  7. Vascular pathology - arteriosclerosis, vasculitis, aneurysms, venous disorders, lymphatic disorders, tumours.
  8. What is pathophysiology, health versus disease, mechanisms of disease, methods in pathophysiology, disease patterns in human populations, health and disease in indigenous and migrant populations in Australia.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 213 x 2 hour labNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 213 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures, tutorials, student research seminars using powerpoint and hands on laboratory sessions with students working in small groups/pairs.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
Presentation ^Pathophysiology Seminar Presentation20%
Laboratory WorkPathophysiology Laboratory Tests 40%
Annotated Bibliography Annotated Bibliography on Pathophysiology20%
TestTests based on weekly worksheets20%

^ Mandatory to Pass

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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