Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives Through learning activities during and outside class, this subject will provide the student an opportunity to reflect on nursing practice issues, using an empirical perspective; examine the basic ethical assumptions of nursing practice; explore the elements of the decision-making process in legal and ethical nursing practice; demonstrate an understanding of legal responsibilities as practicing professional nurses in Australia, under the various regulations and requirements so fixed by the Australian law but without needing to know the whole law on which those responsibilities are based; develop resolutions to ethical dilemmas, which are consistent with personal and professional standards.
Synopsis This subject focuses on the role of nursing ethics and the law in contemporary Australian nursing practice, and the use of theoretical frameworks and Australian law to support practice decisions. It is intended that the student understand ethical decision making and raise issues which are not only of individual concern but are also of topical import to the practice of nursing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The student will be introduced to (1) the philosophical and ideological bases of ethical approaches (for example utilitarianism, deontology, natural law, caring and justice) as frameworks for ethical decision making and (2) Australian State and Federal law as it affects nursing.
Assessment Option 1 (one oral presentation of about 10 minutes to class): 50% + Option 2: (one major written essay of about 2000 words): 100%