HLSC220 - Health Care Ethics

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

Healthcare as practice has as its fundamental aim the goals of health and healing, which in turn enable human beings to realise overall wellbeing and fulfilment. Healthcare professionals are engaged in a technical and moral enterprise that seeks to promote human health, to create a more humane healthcare system, and to enable the flourishing of the communities in which they work.

In this unit, students will build upon their understanding of the notions of human dignity, the common good, and ethical integrity, and develop an understanding of ethical thought and principles for healthcare practice including just provision of healthcare, refraining from harm, and protecting the vulnerable. Students will develop an understanding of the virtues or personal qualities required of healthcare professionals working in contemporary healthcare contexts.  

To support students in this endeavour, they will engage with interactive online activities and participate in discussions and  debate on topics of ethical significance, in a facilitated peer environment. In doing so, students will gain an understanding of the sources of ethical disagreement that characterise the contemporary liberal, multi-cultural and morally pluralistic societies in which they will practice professionally. These activities will build their skill in practising with ethical responsibility, navigating ethical challenges, and making sound ethical decisions. 

The aim of this unit is to enable development of the ethical skills needed to navigate the healthcare environment and ensure high standards of ethical conduct in students’ future practice. 

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Explore key ethical values, aims, or commitments and how these promote health and human value (GA1, GA2, GA5)

LO2 - Consider sources of ethical dilemmas in healthcare practice and formulate responses to these (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA5)

LO3 - Discuss and critique key sources of ethical disagreement in a morally pluralistic and culturally diverse society (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA5)

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession

NMBA Midwife Standards for Practice

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s Registered Midwifery Standards for Practice developed in this unit are:

Paramedicine Board of Australia Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics

The Paramedicine Board of Australia is responsible for assessing, consulting on and setting the standards for paramedics practicing in Australia. These standards and relevant domains are articulated in the Professional Capabilities for a Registered Paramedic document. The learning outcomes of this unit are matched to the relevant capabilities, in order to align students’ development with the requirements of a paramedic.  

Content

Module 1. Bioethics and health: Health as a ‘human good’

What is health and what is its relation to healthcare?

• Where did healthcare come from?
• Introduction to ethics, ethical thought, and bio-ethical principles.

Some moral principles for healthcare practice:

• Human good and common good
• Do no harm, show compassion, prioritise the greatest need
• Just allocation
• Respect for dignity of every person

Conscience:

• The relationship between ethics and law
• Ethical relativism and pluralism

Module 2. Bioethics and health professionals: Virtues of healthcare practice

Virtues

• Prudence
• Compassion
• Transparency
• Veracity
• Empathy
• Courage

Autonomy and informed consent

• Non-maleficence and negligence
• Beneficence and the duty of care

Moral conflict in the workplace

• Ethical decision-making

Module 3. Bioethics and society: Healthcare contributions to society

Justice

• The distribution of healthcare resources
• Social justice
• Responsibilities to the environment

Human vulnerability and advocacy

• Ethical health research

Professional Codes of Ethics/Conduct

• Professional integrity

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit requires students to undertake 150 hours of focused learning to achieve the unit learning outcomes. It has two delivery patterns: i) a standard full-semester pattern scheduled nationally; and ii) an intensive pattern scheduled off-shore. Learning associated with both full-semester and intensive delivery patterns employs multiple means of access and engagement with scaffolded learning content, including face-to-face teaching activities (tutorials), online activities (lectures, learning modules, and tutorials), assessment items, and self-directed study.

This ethical theory unit connects to discipline theory and professional practice units and enables students to develop skills in ethical practice to inform further learning in subsequent units of study. The unit includes moderate face-to-face teaching hours and an increasing online component of learning to build life-long learning skills (the pattern of these teaching hours will vary between full semester and intensive delivery patterns). Lectures convey content on core ethical principles, while tutorials deliver interactive student driven learning sessions exploring the application of this theory to health care practice, in a collaborative manner. Online materials provide multiple opportunities to engage with the core ethical concepts of the unit as they apply to a diverse range of healthcare areas, in a self-directed and reflective manner.

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment items consistent with University assessment requirements and policy will be used to ensure students achieve the unit learning outcomes and attain the graduate attributes.

Students will be required to attempt three assessment tasks in this unit; a written reflection, an oral presentation, and a written essay. The written reflection allows students to explore their individual ethical beliefs on healthcare using a structured reflective framework. The oral presentation provides students the opportunity to demonstrate developing knowledge of ethical theories and bioethical principles as they apply in healthcare. The summative written essay allows students to demonstrate consolidation of knowledge through the contextual application of healthcare ethics to a contemporary healthcare topic.

On campus (in Rome)

A range of assessment items consistent with University assessment requirements and policy will be used to ensure students achieve the unit learning outcomes and attain the graduate attributes.

Students will be required to attempt two assessment tasks in this unit, an oral presentation and a written essay. The oral presentation (in-class group debate) provides students the opportunity to demonstrate developing knowledge of ethical theories and bioethical principles as they apply in healthcare, and collaboratively debate sources of ethical disagreement. The summative written essay allows students to demonstrate consolidation of knowledge through the contextual application of healthcare ethics to a contemporary healthcare topic.

Overview of assessments

Multi-mode;

On campus (in Rome)

Representative texts and references

Aristotle, Ross, W. D., & Brown, L. (2020). The Nicomachean ethics. Oxford University Press. Available at: https://acu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61ACU_INST/13lm7d8/alma991012597728602352

Atkins, K., de Lacey, S., & Britton, B. (2020). Ethics and law for Australian nurses (4th ed.). Port Melbourne: CUP. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108859905

Barrett, D., Ortmann, L., Dawson, A., Saenz, C., Reis, A. & Bolan, G. (2016). Public health ethics: cases spanning the globe. Available at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-23847-0.

Beauchamp, T., & Childress, J. (2019). Principles of biomedical ethics (8th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Caruso Brown, A. E., Hobart, T. R., & Morrow, C. B. (2019). Bioethics, Public Health, and the Social Sciences for the Medical Professions: An Integrated, Case-Based Approach (1st ed.). Springer International Publishing. Available at: https://acu-edu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/hdp2hg/61ACU_ALMA51173049270002352.

Johnstone, M.J. (2019). Bioethics: A nursing perspective (7th ed.). Chatswood: Elsevier Available at: Bioethics: A Nursing Perspective (7th Edition)

Kerridge, I., Lowe, M., & McPhee, J. (2013). Ethics and law for the health professions (4th ed.). The Federation Press.

Mastroianni, A. C., Kahn, J. P., & Kass, N. E. (2019). The Oxford handbook of public health ethics. Oxford University Press. Available at: https://acu-edu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/hdp2hg/61ACU_ALMA51150019160002352.

Morrison, E. & Furlong, B. (Eds.). (2019). Health care ethics: Critical issues for the 21st century (4th ed.). Jones and Bartlett. Available at: https://acu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61ACU_INST/13lm7d8/alma991012855457402352

Richie, C., & Ehrlich, P. R. (2019). Principles of green bioethics: sustainability in health care. Michigan State University Press. Available at: https://acu-edu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/hdp2hg/61ACU_ALMA51154037350002352.

Townsend, R. & Luck, M. (2019). Applied paramedic law and ethics: Australia and New Zealand (2nd ed.). Available at: https://acu-edu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/hdp2hg/61ACU_ALMA51164583050002352.