HSC1021

Professional issues 1 ( 12 points, SCA Band 2, 0.250 EFTSL)

Leader: TBA

Offered:
Peninsula First semester 2006 (Day)

Synopsis: This unit provides an introduction to 3 themes of the BHlthSc curriculum: Personal and Professional Development, Applied Practice and Research and is intended to assist students with their transition to University life. Students learn self-management and mechanisms for maintenance of wellbeing and will be encouraged to develop interpersonal verbal and non-verbal communication skills that form the basis of professional practice in both clinical and non-clinical settings. The unit will also provide an introduction to research, research methods and informatics, as applied to both quantitative and qualitative research. Students will develop essential skills for both study and professional life.

Objectives: By the completion of this unit, it is expected that the student will be able to 1. demonstrate a range of effective tertiary study skills and knowledge of personal wellbeing (including personal stress management skills and the ability to constructively assess and reflect on their own performance) 2. display basic interpersonal communication (verbal and non-verbal), interview and counselling skills 3. demonstrate knowledge of hardware and software components of a computer, operating systems and graphic user interface (GUI) environments 4. select and use appropriate software tools (spreadsheets, database applications, multimedia software etc.) in support of health data acquisition, entry, management, analysis, planning, reporting and presentations 5. demonstrate skills in input, processing, storing, retrieval and output of data 6. evaluate the integrity and comparability of data and identify gaps in data sources 7. send and receive e-mails with attachments and collaborate with peers by subscribing to health-related electronic "lists" 8. critically discuss the importance of research to the foundations and development of the professional health disciplines 9. demonstrate an introductory knowledge of the research process and the strengths and limitations of major research methodologies 10. identify ethical issues and key concepts involved with the research process 11. describe and apply basic quantitative research techniques (research design, data collection, analysis & reporting) 12. describe and apply basic qualitative research techniques (research design, data collection, analysis & reporting) 13. conduct a literature search and demonstrate a basic ability to read and critically analyse the literature 14. identify a range of problems in the health sector that could be investigated by research and nominate appropriate methods to research these problems

Assessment: Informatics project (construction of a database for hypothetical health-related organisation): 30% + Site visit report: 20% + Journal club presentation: 10% + project report (design, methodology and literature review): 40% + Hurdle requirements: Attendance at site visit preparation workshops; 80% attendance at tutorials.

Contact Hours: 24 hours per week including contact time and private study; one 3 hour site visit per semester