MDSC3000 Skills for Medical Scientists 3

This topic is designed to give students an appreciation of the issues and complexities of medical science and research in the current climate of funding imperatives. The student will also learn of the bridges and networks that operate between university-hospital, research institutes and commercial companies. Students will learn to research a topic important in medical science and communicate their view in written form to critical review.

This topic aims to gain an understanding of:

• The impact of disease on the individual and community
• Protection of intellectual property and commercialisation of discovery
• The nature of clinical trials, medical ethics and legal issues related to ownership and use of human tissue
• Diagnostic laboratory accreditation
• The issues of quality assurance and quality control in a diagnostic laboratory
• The conduct of point of care testing in clinical pathology
• The forces and current expectations impacting on medical research and the researcher
• How to analyse, research and communicate your opinion on an important question that impacts on current day medical science and research

1. Identify the mechanisms underlying some diseases and their impact in the broader community
2. Investigate the conduct of clinical trials and clinical research, and interpret how they relate to medical ethics and legal matters
3. Investigate the relationship between new technologies and discoveries in medical science, and the factors that limit this
4. Identify the impact on body ownership and the use of human subjects and human tissues in medical research
5. Create and communicate an evidence-based opinion of scientific research on important current medical and technical issues through, informed writing