LWQ635 Aged Care Law, Ethics and Culturally Safe Practice
To view more information for this unit, select Unit Outline from the list below. Please note the teaching period for which the Unit Outline is relevant.
| Unit code: | LWQ635 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Timetable | Details in HiQ, if available |
| Availabilities |
|
| Domestic tuition unit fee | $3,480 |
Unit Outline: Session 1 2024, QUT Online, Online
| Unit code: | LWQ635 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
Overview
This unit addresses a range of legal, ethical and social issues currently faced by the aged care profession, older persons, their carers and families within the health system. Australia’s ageing population means there is a growing need for health care services to respond to the holistic needs of the elderly, in a way that ensures culturally safe, person-centred care. Specifically, this unit will provide students with an opportunity to increase their understanding of, and critically evaluate, the rights and responsibilities of both older people and professionals and consider relevant ethical implications and how they might be navigated.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Develop professional knowledge and skills to understand and respond to select legal and ethical challenges faced by the elderly.
- Develop understanding of the principles of cultural safety and their application in professional practice through reflection on personal, professional and organisational cultures and a critical analysis of the social determinants of health, including racisms, ageism, stigma and power relations.
- Critically evaluate legal, ethical and culturally safe practice issues facing the aged care professional, older persons, their carers and families within the health system.
Content
Course themes emphasised in this unit include ethical and responsible practice, and therapeutic relationships and communication.
This unit is organised into 8 modules:
- Module 1 – an introduction to law and ethics affecting the elderly from the perspectives of a range of stakeholders (for example: the aged care system, the aged care profession, community visitors, older persons, their carers, and families within the health system)
- Module 2 –an introduction to cultural safety, its history and key concepts grounded in the theories of power relations and social constructionism to reach a deep understanding of the culture concept and the interaction between personal, professional and health service cultures and peoples’ experience of aged care.
- Module 3 – a focus on the application of cultural safety’s principles to facilitate ongoing critical reflection for corporate and personal cultural awareness and social justice confronting all forms of discrimination in aged care through partnerships, power sharing, negotiation
- Module 4 – capacity and decision-making for personal and financial matters (including supported and substituted decision making)
- Module 5 – consent to medical treatment (including Advance Health Directives) and medical negligence
- Module 6 – elder abuse, including financial, physical, psychological and sexual abuse
- Module 7 – abuse and neglect in the aged care context (for example: restrictive practices and responses to serious incidents of abuse and neglect, including relevant recommendations from reports of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety)
- Module 8 – select issues in end of life law (for example: organ donation, tissue harvesting or transplantation, futility, palliative care, voluntary assisted dying, euthanasia)
Learning Approaches
In this fully online unit you will have the opportunity to learn through active engagement with the interactive learning resources, online discussions and self-directed learning materials. This unit takes an interdisciplinary approach to examining the complex legal, ethical and social issues affecting the elderly. The unit addresses these issues from the perspective of a range of stakeholders including: the aged care profession, older persons, their carers, and families within the health system. Learning activities assist students to respond to the complex needs of older people, including those at end of life, in lawful, ethical and culturally safe ways.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
- Informal formative feedback will be provided through self-check exercises, peer feedback and through individual or whole of class feedback in online discussions or via comments in online communities.
- Formal written or recorded feedback will be received on both formative and summative assessment tasks via the Canvas Assignment tool, in addition to the grade on the Criterion Referenced Assessment sheet.
- Feedback on your assessment task 1 will be received prior to the submission of your assessment task 2.
- Industry informed expert feedback may be provided through clinical assessment examples and interventions at timely intervals to guide learning and assessment.
- Students are encouraged to see and share feedback in their workplaces where appropriate.
Assessment
Overview
In this unit, there are two summative written assessment tasks to submit. The first assessment task requires you to write progressive personal journal entries that are the outcome of critical reflection on self and on practice from the perspective of you as a private individual and as a health professional working in the care of the older person. The second assessment task requires you to write a research paper that critically evaluates a self-selected (and approved by the unit coordinator) legal and ethical issue facing the aged care profession, older persons, their carers and families within the health system.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Reflection and culturally safe practice
You will critically reflect on self and on practice from the perspective of you as a private individual and as a health professional working in the care of the older person. These entries will be in response to structured questions based on real events in clinical practice.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Assessment: Aged care law and ethics critical essay
Students will write a critical essay on a topic approved by the online learning advisor.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Academic Integrity
Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.
Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
Resource Materials
Recommended text(s)
Kelly Purser, Bridget Lewis, and Kirsty Mackie, The Human Rights of Older Persons: A human rights-based
approach to elder law (Springer, forthcoming 2020).
Cox, L., Taua, C., Drummond, A., and Kidd, J., Understanding and applying cultural safety: philosophy and practice of a social determinants approach.
J. Crisp, C. Taylor, C. Douglas & G. Rebeiro (Eds.) Fundamentals of nursing, 6e. Sydney: Elsevier (forthcoming 2020).
Risk Assessment Statement
This unit addresses sensitive and complex topics. If you are distressed by issues explored in the content of this unit you should approach academic staff or consult the university counselling service. Substantial computerbased work will be required. You are recommended to take regular rest breaks when engaging in prolonged computer-based work.
Unit Outline: Session 3 2024, QUT Online, Online
| Unit code: | LWQ635 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
Overview
This unit addresses a range of legal, ethical and social issues currently faced by the aged care profession, older persons, their carers and families within the health system. Australia’s ageing population means there is a growing need for health care services to respond to the holistic needs of the elderly, in a way that ensures culturally safe, person-centred care. Specifically, this unit will provide students with an opportunity to increase their understanding of, and critically evaluate, the rights and responsibilities of both older people and professionals and consider relevant ethical implications and how they might be navigated.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Develop professional knowledge and skills to understand and respond to select legal and ethical challenges faced by the elderly.
- Develop understanding of the principles of cultural safety and their application in professional practice through reflection on personal, professional and organisational cultures and a critical analysis of the social determinants of health, including racisms, ageism, stigma and power relations.
- Critically evaluate legal, ethical and culturally safe practice issues facing the aged care professional, older persons, their carers and families within the health system.
Content
Course themes emphasised in this unit include ethical and responsible practice, and therapeutic relationships and communication.
This unit is organised into 8 modules:
- Module 1 – an introduction to law and ethics affecting the elderly from the perspectives of a range of stakeholders (for example: the aged care system, the aged care profession, community visitors, older persons, their carers, and families within the health system)
- Module 2 –an introduction to cultural safety, its history and key concepts grounded in the theories of power relations and social constructionism to reach a deep understanding of the culture concept and the interaction between personal, professional and health service cultures and peoples’ experience of aged care.
- Module 3 – a focus on the application of cultural safety’s principles to facilitate ongoing critical reflection for corporate and personal cultural awareness and social justice confronting all forms of discrimination in aged care through partnerships, power sharing, negotiation
- Module 4 – capacity and decision-making for personal and financial matters (including supported and substituted decision making)
- Module 5 – consent to medical treatment (including Advance Health Directives) and medical negligence
- Module 6 – elder abuse, including financial, physical, psychological and sexual abuse
- Module 7 – abuse and neglect in the aged care context (for example: restrictive practices and responses to serious incidents of abuse and neglect, including relevant recommendations from reports of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety)
- Module 8 – select issues in end of life law (for example: organ donation, tissue harvesting or transplantation, futility, palliative care, voluntary assisted dying, euthanasia)
Learning Approaches
In this fully online unit you will have the opportunity to learn through active engagement with the interactive learning resources, online discussions and self-directed learning materials. This unit takes an interdisciplinary approach to examining the complex legal, ethical and social issues affecting the elderly. The unit addresses these issues from the perspective of a range of stakeholders including: the aged care profession, older persons, their carers, and families within the health system. Learning activities assist students to respond to the complex needs of older people, including those at end of life, in lawful, ethical and culturally safe ways.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
- Informal formative feedback will be provided through self-check exercises, peer feedback and through individual or whole of class feedback in online discussions or via comments in online communities.
- Formal written or recorded feedback will be received on both formative and summative assessment tasks via the Canvas Assignment tool, in addition to the grade on the Criterion Referenced Assessment sheet.
- Feedback on your assessment task 1 will be received prior to the submission of your assessment task 2.
- Industry informed expert feedback may be provided through clinical assessment examples and interventions at timely intervals to guide learning and assessment.
- Students are encouraged to see and share feedback in their workplaces where appropriate.
Assessment
Overview
In this unit, there are two summative written assessment tasks to submit. The first assessment task requires you to write progressive personal journal entries that are the outcome of critical reflection on self and on practice from the perspective of you as a private individual and as a health professional working in the care of the older person. The second assessment task requires you to write a research paper that critically evaluates a self-selected (and approved by the unit coordinator) legal and ethical issue facing the aged care profession, older persons, their carers and families within the health system.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Reflection and culturally safe practice
You will critically reflect on self and on practice from the perspective of you as a private individual and as a health professional working in the care of the older person. These entries will be in response to structured questions based on real events in clinical practice.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Assessment: Aged care law and ethics critical essay
Students will write a critical essay on a topic approved by the online learning advisor.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Academic Integrity
Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.
Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
Resource Materials
Recommended text(s)
Kelly Purser, Bridget Lewis, and Kirsty Mackie, The Human Rights of Older Persons: A human rights-based
approach to elder law (Springer, forthcoming 2020).
Cox, L., Taua, C., Drummond, A., and Kidd, J., Understanding and applying cultural safety: philosophy and practice of a social determinants approach.
J. Crisp, C. Taylor, C. Douglas & G. Rebeiro (Eds.) Fundamentals of nursing, 6e. Sydney: Elsevier (forthcoming 2020).
Risk Assessment Statement
This unit addresses sensitive and complex topics. If you are distressed by issues explored in the content of this unit you should approach academic staff or consult the university counselling service. Substantial computerbased work will be required. You are recommended to take regular rest breaks when engaging in prolonged computer-based work.