6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL
Postgraduate - Unit
Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.
Faculty
Organisational Unit
Chief examiner(s)
Coordinator(s)
Not offered in 2019
Prohibitions
APG4714 and APG5729
Synopsis
This unit aims to develop students' critical and analytical understanding of key ethical issues in patient care. The unit focuses initially on three main ethical principles, embodying the concepts of autonomy, beneficence, and justice. These principles are used to analyse and discuss a variety of broad ethical issues which arise in patient care, such as the allocation of health care resources, the justifiability of paternalism, breaches of patient confidentiality, in vitro fertilisation, and euthanasia. There is also some discussion of the role of health professionals, in relation to conscientious refusals to treat patients, and issues in family care giving.
Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students should have acquired the skills to:
- Use a rigorous framework of principles of health care ethics to analyse and evaluate ethical issues in patient care.
- Think critically about the key concepts involved in those principles.
- Make informed judgements about the ethics of certain patient care practices, and use argument to defend those judgements.
Assessment
Within semester assessment: 60% + Exam: 40%
Workload requirements
Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.
See also Unit timetable information