Units
Ethics Law and Health Care
Unit code: LWS101
Contact hours: 3 per week
Credit points: 12
Information about fees and unit costs
Nursing practice involves making decisions with and for others. This involves making evaluations of what is in the best interest of others, what are nurses' obligations to others and what will best protect or enhance their well-being. Hence, decision-making in nursing practice is bounded by normative considerations and these normative considerations fall into two groups: those constituted by the law and those constituted by ethics. This unit has been designed to provide for nursing students and practitioners an opportunity to develop a reflective understanding of the place of law and ethics in nursing and a professional awareness of current legal statutes and ethical discussions as they apply to nursing practice.
Availability
| Semester | Available |
|---|---|
| 2013 Semester 1 | Yes |
| 2013 Semester 2 | Yes |
Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013
Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.
Rationale
Nursing practice involves making decisions for, and with, others. An important requirement of such decisions is that they are consistent with nurses' public and professional responsibilities and they serve to promote the needs of patient/clients. In short, nursing practice is guided by normative requirements. The basic requirements and considerations are established by law, ethics and professional values. The unit explores the relationship between law and ethics to lay the foundations of understanding of both law and ethics as they relate to healthcare and to your professional practice.
Aims
The aim of this unit is to provide students with a basic professional understanding of the legal and ethical requirements which shape contemporary nursing practice and to encourage them to develop basic competencies in translating such requirements into everyday professional practice.
Objectives
On completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. Explain how law affects nursing practice and health care,
2. Discuss ethics and its place within nursing practice
3. Apply the relevant sections of the Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia to nursing practice, and
4. Debate selected ethical and legal concerns in contemporary health care.
Content
The content to be taught in this unit may include but is not limited to:
1. The interrelationship between law, ethics and healthcare.
2. Ethical decision-making in healthcare.
3. Applications of law and ethics in healthcare contexts.
Approaches to Teaching and Learning
This unit is taught through a combination of lectures and tutorials.
Lectures
The lectures provide a structure for your learning and explain the key unit concepts. Two hour lectures are delivered both in-person and via audio streaming or podcasting on the unit blackboard site for weeks 1-12 of the semester.
Tutorials
One hour in person tutorials are scheduled for each week of the semester (commencing in week 2). These tutorials will involve you working together using problem scenarios arising from clinical practice. In tutorials you will develop your ability to recognise and address problems in practice that give rise to ethical and/or legal concerns. For students on practicum, tutorial guides will be available each week on the Blackboard site as audio files.
Assessment
In this unit you will be graded on a scale of one to seven.
Overview of Assessment:
Internal Students:
Summative assessment will be based on your completion of an online task, a problem-solving task and an end of semester open book examination.Feedback on the development of your understanding of law and ethics examined in this unit is provided through:
- The face-to-face tutorials;
- The individual written feedback on your written problem solving task;
- The generic feedback on the written problem solving task placed on the unit's Blackboard site;
- The generic feedback on the examination placed on the unit's Blackboard site; and
- The option of private consultation with a member of the teaching team during student consultation.
You should reflect upon the feedback on your assessment in this unit (both your individual and generic feedback as provided on Blackboard) for the purpose of identifying:
- gaps in your knowledge and understanding of legal and ethical principles;
- inadequacies in your problem solving methodology; and
- strategies to improve your problem solving and written communication skills in further assessment.
Assessment name:
On line Task
Description:
Students will be assessed on their understanding of core concepts related to law and ethics through an online task.
Relates to objectives:
1 & 2
Weight:
15%
Internal or external:
Internal
Group or individual:
Individual
Due date:
Week 6
Assessment name:
Problem Solving Task
Description:
Students will be provided with a problem-based scenario and must analyse the ethical and legal issues it raises using the framework provided in the unit.
This is can be individual or group work (group size maximum 3 persons).
Word limit: 1500 words (completed by an individual student)
Word limit: 3000 words (completed as a group)
Relates to objectives:
1-4
Weight:
35%
Internal or external:
Internal
Group or individual:
Individual
Due date:
Week 9
Assessment name:
Examination
Description:
There will be a compulsory end of semester examination worth 50% of the total assessment. The exam will be open book, of 2 hours duration, with thirty minutes reading time. All topics covered during the course will be examinable. Students will work through a problem question(s) applying law and ethics.
Relates to objectives:
1-4
Weight:
50%
Internal or external:
Internal
Group or individual:
Individual
Due date:
Central Exam Period
Academic Honesty
QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.
A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.
Resource materials
Prescribed Materials
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council, Royal College of Nursing, Australia, Australian Nursing Federation, Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia (revised 2008) online at: Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council, Royal College of Nursing, Australia, Australian Nursing Federation, Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia (revised 2008) Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia
Recommended References
P. Staunton and M. Chiarella, Nursing and the Law 6th edition (Sydney: Elsevier, 2008).
I. Kerridge, M. Lowe, and C. Stewart, Ethics and Law for the Health Professions 3rd edition (Sydney: Federation Press, 2009)
Blackboard site
Online resources for this unit are available on the unit blackboard site.
Risk assessment statement
There are no particular risks associated with this unit.
Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.
Last modified: 18-May-2012
