Course Title: Law and Ethics for Health Professionals
Part A: Course Overview
Course Title: Law and Ethics for Health Professionals
Credit Points: 12.00
Important Information:
Please note, that from Semester 1, 2020 this Course will be titled 'Law and Ethics for Health Professionals'.
Terms
Course Code |
Campus |
Career |
School |
Learning Mode |
Teaching Period(s) |
OHTH2163 |
Bundoora Campus |
Undergraduate |
150H Health Sciences |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 1 2014, Sem 1 2015, Sem 1 2016 |
OHTH2163 |
Bundoora Campus |
Undergraduate |
173H School of Health and Biomed |
Face-to-Face |
Sem 1 2017, Sem 1 2019, Sem 1 2020, Sem 1 2022, Sem 1 2023 |
OHTH2163 |
Bundoora Campus |
Undergraduate |
173H School of Health and Biomed |
Internet |
Sem 1 2021 |
Course Coordinator: Marcus McDonald
Course Coordinator Phone: + 61 3 9925
Course Coordinator Email: marcus.mcdonald@rmit.edu.au
Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities
None.
Course Description
Law and Ethics for Health Professionals is a multi-disciplinary one-semester course that will encourage you to critically examine the legal framework that underpins the accountabilities imposed on healthcare practitioners to promote safe patient-centred practice. You will refine your own ethical thinking and develop a deeper understanding of professionally acceptable behaviours appropriate to practice in the Australian primary and tertiary healthcare system with application to both the public and private sectors. This course is designed to contribute to the development of evidence-based approaches to professional practice across streams within the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences.
Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development
This course contributes to the development of evidence-based approaches to professional practice across a number of programs in the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences.
This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for BP278 Bachelor of Health Science/Bachelor of Applied Science (Chinese Medicine) and BP280 Bachelor of Health Science/Bachelor of Applied Science (Chiropractic):
- PLO 3 Practise as a competent health care professional in a safe ethical and legally responsible manner
- PLO 5 Communicate effectively in a range of forms (written, online, oral) and with diverse audiences (patients, community/public, agencies and health professionals)
- PLO 6 Work independently and in teams specifically to lead and contribute to inter professional care partnerships
- PLO 7 Function as an autonomous practitioner, with sound business management skills
This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for BP279 Bachelor of Health Science/Bachelor of Applied Science (Osteopathy):
- PLO 3 Gather and interpret health information, and employ clinical reasoning to develop differential diagnoses, to inform assessment and management
- PLO 6 Work autonomously and collaboratively, to lead and/or contribute to inter-professional healthcare partnerships
- PLO 7 Develop and implement strategies to meet personal and professional demands, as a primary healthcare provider
This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for the BP032 Bachelor of Nursing Program in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Australia, Registered Nurse Standards for Practice:
- PLO 1: Thinks critically and analyses nursing practice
- PLO 2: Engages in therapeutic and professional relationships Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.
(2016) Registered nurse standards for practice. Melbourne, Australia.
On successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Examine how major laws and regulations guide health care and public health practice.
- Apply theoretical frameworks and code of ethics to decision-making related to specific example cases in professional practice.
- Reflect on the concepts of duty of care, standards of care and scope of practice and how these relate to record keeping, professional behaviours and protecting patient safety.
- Examine factors that influence health practitioner decision-making related to reporting error and unprofessional or substandard conduct.
- Assess current practice needs and issues that have ethical and/or legal implications:
- For Chiropractic, Osteopathy, and Chinese Medicine students, this involves examining business practices for the application of sound legal, ethical, and business principles.
- For Nursing and other health professionals, this would constitute examining the legal and ethical principles of delegation and management of unregulated health-care assistants.
Overview of Learning Activities
This course will use a range of blended learning activities including recorded lectures, online lectorials, readings and self-directed learning. Throughout the course, you will be able to work both independently and in groups to solve problems involving aspects of patient-centred professional practice covered in the course.
Recorded content, online lectorials, and readings are the principal modes of content delivery and will present you with the key concepts and information relevant to the understanding of core content.
Self-Directed Learning: Completion of formative online review activities and summative assessments will enable you to better develop your independent learning skills and will support the material covered in the sessions.
Overview of Learning Resources
Recorded content and online material is supported by reading the recommended text(s). Their provision does not exclude wider reading but serves to focus on specific details, complex areas and life examples. RMIT will provide you with additional resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems.
Overview of Assessment
This course has no hurdle requirements.
Assessment Tasks
Assessment Task 1: Assignment
Weighting 35%
This assessment task supports CLO 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
Assessment Task 2: Assignment
Weighting 50%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2, 3 & 5
Assessment Task 3: Summative online quiz
Weighting 15%
This assessment task supports CLO 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5