HLTH3116 Legal and Ethical Aspects of Health Care

This topic combines an appreciation of the legal governance of allied health and community services with the professional governance of the ethical conduct of practitioners across a range of professional areas. The topic introduces the legal, ethical and administrative frameworks in which health and community services are provided, with particular focus on identification of and strategies for resolving ethical issues and ethical decision-making within students’ primary area of interest.

This topic aims to:

• Introduce students to a broad variety of contemporary ethical and legal issues emerging within the health care system
• Introduce students to current theories and techniques relating to critical thinking and ethical analysis
• Provide a framework for resolving ethical issues problems as they apply to health service delivery
• Assist students develop skills in applying critical thinking techniques and analysis strategies to their professional practice

1. Critically examine how legal and ethical obligations in health and community services influence issues and practices in the workplace
2. Critically examine a variety of health and community service ethical codes
3. Critically examine a range of ethical issues that arise in professional practice
4. Deconstruct ethical dilemmas identified in professional practice using appropriate frameworks
5. Design and deliver effective communications to transmits findings to peers and colleagues
6. Evaluate your own, and others’, professional performance using critical and reflective thinking processes