Course Coordinator: Prof Annette Braunack-Mayer
Phone: +61 8313 1694
Email: annette.braunackmayer@adelaide.edu.au
Location: Level 9, Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences Building

Student & Program Support Services Hub
Email: askhealthsc@adelaide.edu.au
Phone: +61 8313 0273

Program Advisor’s booking system
bit.ly/spss-hub-bookings

1	Analyse ethical problems in health care practice and policy.
2	Explain relevant ethical theories and concepts.
3	Synthesise relevant information and ideas.
4	Critique arguments using evidence and theory.
5	Defend a proposed course of action.

A course reader and web-links will be made available through MyUni.

Will be made available through MyUni.

MyUni is the primary entry point to online learning at the University of Adelaide. MyUni provides students and staff with access to   course materials, discussion forums, announcements, and many other features to help manage learning and teaching. You can connect to MyUni on or off campus from an internet-connected computer using a Web browser. The URL is:  http://www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/ Login to this resource using your Username and Password. Once logged onto MyUni, you will find the information displayed is customised to present only details relevant to you and the online content for courses that you are studying.

For enquiries, contact MyUni Support https://www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/
Phone: (08) 8313 3000
E-mail: helpdesk@adelaide.edu.au
The Helpdesk is available for extended hours during the week or through voicemail.

You will use MyUni for a number of purposes:
Accessing announcements about changes in scheduling, course information etc. please check MyUni regularly as they contain   important announcements that are relevant to your study in this course.

Resources to support the workshop materials and SGDE will be provided on MyUni.

This course will introduce students to the identification, analysis and resolution of ethical issues in health care practice and policy. Seminar presentations and videos will introduce students to key topics, concepts and theories, and model the analysis and resolution of ethical issues. Flipped classrooms, tutorials and Small-Group Discovery Experiences will draw on this content to develop students’ capacity to synthesise relevant information and ideas, and make and critically evaluate arguments using logic, evidence and theory. 

The course will be delivered in three-hour blocks – a two-hour seminar; and a one-hour tutorial.

Contact hours: 3 hours per week, plus readings, assignments etc

Conceptual organisation:
The course is organised around three elements in combination:
1. A layered model of health determinants, ranging from the genetic level to the global level
2. The recurring question ‘What should we do, and why?’
3. The ethical theories of utilitarianism (saving lives) , liberalism (respecting rights) with some reference to communitarianism

The course will progressively equip students with ethical theories and principles by addressing specific ethical questions about  specific health care practices and policies. The course will comprise a journey from the heart of the layered model of health  determinants outwards, answering ethical questions at each layer by drawing on ethical theories.  Students will be presented with  ethical issues at each layer of the model, beginning with genetic factors.  In relation to each issue, students will be asked to  answer the recurring question ‘What should we do, and why?’

To help the students answer this question, they will be taught to apply, and balance, the perspectives of utilitarianism, liberalism  and communitarianism.  These theories will be supplemented as appropriate; for example, at the inner, more individual layers of  the model of health determinants, the theories will be supplemented with the four principles of biomedical ethics (respect for  autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice).  Communitarianism will be introduced later in the course, when the focus is  on the outer, more communal layers of the model. At the end of the course, all of the theory will be briefly consolidated.  

Content to be covered with example topics:
Genetics - Genetic screening and technologies
Individual behaviour - Incentivising good health; personal responsibility and scarce health care resources
Families - Conflicts involving patients’ families; autonomous decision making and adolescents
Local communities - Community engagement in health decision making; school health programs
Living and working conditions - Health professionals’ responsibilities; ethical issues in hospital services; health promotion campaigns
National policy - government paternalism and the nanny state; fat taxes; resource allocation
Global community - health research in developing countries (e.g. pharmaceutical trials); international quarantine policies and  practices; global pharmaceutical pricing; climate change policy

N/A

Students will be put into groups and assigned a mentor.  The group will be mentored to prepare for a debate on an   ethical issue in health care practice or policy.  The group will be assigned the ‘for’ or ‘against’ side and a specific ethical issue, which will be compatible with lecture material. Three students will prepare arguments to be delivered, while two students will provide  rebuttals on the day. The debate will proceed, bringing two small groups together to debate one another, and this will occur in front  of other small groups, stimulating broader group discussion of the issues.

Assessment Task	Assessment  Type	Weighting	Learning course objective(s) being addressed
Online quizzes	Summative	10%	2
Tutorial paper and facilitation	Summative	20%	1-4
Group performance in SDGE	Summative	20%	1-5
Essay	Summative	50%	1-5

None.

Students will be required to complete online quizzes worth a total of 10% of the final grade.  The  quizzes will assess the students’ understanding of ethics and ethical theories.

Each student will be required to submit a 500-word tutorial paper comprising an ethical analysis in one of their tutorials.  They will also facilitate the tutorial, with support from the tutor. The tutorial paper and facilitation of the tutorial will each count for 5% of the final grade. Active partcipation in tutorials will be assessed throughout the semester and will count for 10%.

For the SGDE, students will be placed in small groups, assigned a mentor and mentored to prepare for a debate on an ethical  issue in health care practice or policy.  Each group will be assigned the ‘for’ or ‘against’ side of a specific ethical issue, which will be compatible with lecture material.   The debate will bring two small groups together to debate one another, and this will occur in  front of other small groups. Students will be assessed as a group on the quality of their debate performance, with an emphasis on  the strength of their ethical analysis and argumentation. The group performance will be assessed using a rubric tailored to the course  learning outcomes (see attachment).  Students will receive a single group mark.

Students will be required to submit a 1500-word essay comprising an ethical analysis on one of several topics.

Extensions
All extensions for assignments must be requested, at the latest, by the last working day before the due date of submission.   Extensions will generally be granted only on medical or genuine compassionate grounds.  Supporting documentation must be  provided at the time a student requests an extension.  Without documentation, extensions will not be granted.  Late requests for  extension will neither be accepted nor acknowledged.

Only the Course Co-ordinator(s) may grant extensions.

Supporting documentation will be required when requesting an extension. Examples of documents that are acceptable include: a  medical certificate that specifies dates of incapacity, a police report (in the case of lost computers, car & household theft etc.), a  letter from a Student Counsellor, Education and Welfare Officer (EWO) or Disability Liaison Officer that provides an assessment of  compassionate circumstances, or a letter from an independent external counsellor or appropriate professional able to verify the  student’s situation.  The length of any extension granted will take into account the period and severity of any incapacity or impact  on the student.  Extensions of more than 10 days will not be granted except in exceptional circumstances.

Late submission
Marks will be deducted when assignments for which no extension has been granted are handed in late.

All assignments, including those handed in late, will be assessed on their merits.  In the case of late assignments where no extension has been granted, 5 percentage points of the total marks possible per day will be deducted.  If an assignment that is 2  days late is awarded 65% on its merits, the mark will then be reduced by 10% (5% per day for 2 days) to 55%.  If that same  assignment is 4 days late, the mark will be reduced by 20% (5% per day for 4 days) to 45%, and so on.

The School of Public Health reserves the right to refuse to accept an assignment that is more than 7 days late.

Assignments submitted after the due date may not be graded in time to be returned on the listed return dates.

Students submitting examinable written work who request (and receive) an extension that takes them beyond the examination  period are advised that there is no guarantee that their grades will be processed in time to meet usual University deadlines.

Resubmission
If a student is dissatisfied with an assessment grade they should follow the StudentGrievance Resolution Process  https://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/grievance/process/>.  Students who are not satisfied with a particular assessment result should raise their concerns with Course Co-ordinator(s) in the first instance.  This must be done within 10 business days of the  date of notification of the result.  Resubmission of any assignment is subject to the agreement of the Course Co-ordinator(s) and  will only be permitted for the most compelling of reasons.