Unit information: Professional Issues in Health Care Ethics and Law in 2011/12

Unit name	Professional Issues in Health Care Ethics and Law
Unit code	MEDIM6003
Credit points	15
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Professor. Huxtable
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	MEDIM6000, MEDIM6001
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Faculty	Faculty of Health Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

Subject matter to be covered will include: (i.) ethical and legal issues relating to the vulnerable professional, including inter-professional obligations, professionals at risk, (ii.) ethical and legal issues of conscience, including conscientious objection and "whistle-blowing", and (iii.) ethical and legal issues relating to justice in health care, including avoiding discrimination and societal obligations, such as allocating limited resources.

Aims:

This Unit aims to provide students with a systematic understanding and critical awareness of further key issues surrounding the role of the health care professional, with regard both for the individual patient and society at large. The Unit will focus students’ attention on theoretical justifications for, and ethical and legal obligations arising in relation to, work in the health care professions including professionals’ self-care and care of others. Students will learn to distinguish between, critically appraise and apply some of the theories relating to professionalism, conscience and justice and will gain greater insight into and ability to critically reflect on the legal and professional obligations in this context.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this Unit, students will be able to:

1. Systematically understand core ethical and legal issues arising from the theoretical justifications for and obligations arising from the role of professionals in health care;
2. Critically assess and apply core ethical and legal issues arising from these justifications and obligations to their own practice in health care, including developing original arguments and assessing their validity;
3. Undertake independent research on ethical and legal aspects of the broader social role of the health care professional, drawing on appropriate methodology and research tools; and
4. Show evidence of soundly reasoned and clearly communicated scholarship in health care ethics and law as it applies to the role of the health care professional.

Teaching Information

Student centred teaching & learning strategies will be promoted using the following methods:

• Online tutorials, incorporating discussion boards and guided reading
• Student-centred seminars
• Small group exercises

Assessment Information

Assessment in this unit will comprise one summative 3,000 word essay. The essay will test student’s abilities to critically analyse a topic covered in this unit which relates to their broad area of professional practice. This would, for example, involve engagement with an existing debate in relevant literature.

Students will situate their evaluation of the debate in their own area of practice so that the more successful students bring insight into the debate and relate these to their professional practice.

Reading and References

1. Evans D. (2007). Values in Medicine: What Are We Really Doing to Patients? London: Routledge.
2. Surdyk PM & Egan EA, eds. (2006). Living Professionalism: Reflections on the Practice of Medicine. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
3. Bowers J et al. (2007). Whistleblowing: Law and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Butler J. (1999). The Ethics of Health Care Rationing: Principles and Practices. Sage Publishing.
5. Syrett K. (2007). Law, Legitimacy and the Rationing of Health Care: A Contextual and Comparative Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. Daniels N. (1985). Just Health Care. New York: Cambridge University Press.