Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives Through learning activites during and outside class, this subject will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on nursing practice issues, using an empirical perspective; examine on basic ethical assumptions of nursing practice; explore the elements of the decision-making process in legal and ethical nursing practice; demonstrate an understanding of your 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 applied research in contemporary nursing practice. It will enable students to critically read, research and appreciate the value of research in extending and evaluating nursing practice (using research findings to support practice decisions). Emphasis is placed on the belief that analytical skills are fundamental to theoretically sound and clinically sensitive nursing care. To this end, students will be introduced to (1) the philosophical and ideological bases of the various research approaches (for example ethnography, grounded theory, phenomenology and case study as methods of collecting qualitative data; action research and feminist research as emerging from critical social theory; the `scientific' method of collecting quantitative data) and (2) research design,and basic statistics.
Assessment Essay (1500-2000 words): 50% + Examination: 50% + Students must gain a satisfactory grading in both components to pass the subject