Course Title: Law and Ethics for Health Professionals

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Law and Ethics for Health Professionals

Credit Points: 12.00

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,
Sem 1 2024

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  healthcare system with application to the private sector. 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)

  • 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 BP280 Bachelor of Health Science/Bachelor of Applied Science (Chiropractic):

  • PLO 1 Provide specialised health care within a patient centred evidence based framework 
  • 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 the BP032P04 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:

  1. Examine how major laws and regulations guide health care and public health practice.
  2. Apply theoretical frameworks and code of conduct to decision-making related to specific example cases in professional practice.
  3. 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.
  4. Examine factors that influence health practitioner decision-making related to reporting error and unprofessional or substandard conduct.
  5. Assess current practice needs and issues that have ethical and/or legal implications:
    1. For Chiropractic, Osteopathy, and Chinese Medicine students, this involves examining business practices for the application of sound legal, ethical, and business principles.
    2. 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.

You are encouraged to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or peers and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through myRMIT Studies Course.


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course.

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.


Overview of Assessment

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: Invigilated online quiz
Weighting 15%
This assessment task supports CLO 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.