| CODE | NUR5137 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Palliative Care: Ethics and Law | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Nursing | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Content for this study-unit has been loosely guided by the educational component of the 'Ethical framework for end of life care' that was developed in collaboration between the University of Cork, the Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland) and the Irish Hospice Foundation (McCarthy et al, 2011). This study-unit will provide the student with an overview of ethics and healthcare ethics, through a critical examination of the major ethical theories and a discussion of how these influence diverse approaches to healthcare deliberations. The diverse and numerous ethically charged situations that are common when caring for patients with advanced disease and at the end of life will addressed. These include ethicolegal considerations of truthtelling and collusion; life-prolonging interventions; pain and symptom management; advance care planning; confidentiality and privacy; futile interventions; patient autonomy and decision-making amongst others. Issues specific to clinical settings such as the critical care setting and conditions such as patients with dementia, will also be addressed. All content will be discussed within the context of nurses' advocacy and leadership roles and will be delivered utilising teaching and learning strategies that inform and enhance the students' reflective and critical skills. Study-Unit Aims: - Further develop the students' knowledge of healthcare ethics and the major ethical theories that guide ethical deliberations in healthcare; - Introduce the student to the numerous ethical dilemmas that commonly arise in the care of a patient with advanced disease, or at the end of life and of the related key ethical and legal issues; - Develop the students' knowledge of the professional roles and responsibilities in relation to the specific issues that could arise in diverse ethically charged situations; - Develop the student's reflective and critical skills that promote ethical reasoning and ethical behaviour, which are essential to moral competence and the provision of ethical practices; - Develop the student's knowledge of diverse institutional strategies and initiatives that could promote and facilitate ethical practices within the clinical setting. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify the major relevant ethical theories and critically discuss how these inform healthcare ethical decisions; - Describe the diverse ethical dilemmas that are common occurrences in the care of patients with advanced disease, or at the end of life and critically discuss the related key ethicolegal issues and associated professional responsibilities; - Identify current realities that impact on the quality of end of life care such as decreased resources and cultural diversities and critically discuss these within ethical and legal frameworks; - Identify personal values that are relevant to advanced disease and end of life and critically discuss how these impact on one's ethical deliberations; - Identify and critically discuss initiatives that could support ethical decision-making in the clinical setting. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify ethical problems within diverse clinical situations; - Apply ethical reasoning in an attempt to resolve diverse ethical dilemmas through the application of reflective and critical skills and grounded in an understanding of legal and ethical codes; - Show a self-awareness of personal values and their impact on the deliberations and carry out constant review and revision of these. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Byock, Ira. (2013). The Best Care Possible: A Physician's Quest to Transform Care Through the End of Life. Avery, New York. - Callahan D. (2000). The troubled dream of life : in search of a peaceful death. Georgetown Univ. Press. - Davis, J. (Ed.) (2020). Ethics at the end of life: New issues and arguments. Taylor & Francis Ltd. - Dugdale L. (2017). Dying in the twenty-first century : toward a new ethical framework for the art of dying well. Mit Press. - Rubenfeld S. & Sulmasy D. P. (2022). Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia : before during and after the holocaust. Lexington Books. Supplementary Readings: - Guido, G. (2020) Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing (7th Ed.). Pearson Education. (N/a) - Macauley, R.C. (2018). Ethics in Palliative Care: A complete guide. Oxford University Press Inc. Further readings and other relevant material will be provided throughout the course. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Independent Study & Tutorial | ||||||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Jurgen Abela Glen Attard Alexandra Jane Azzopardi Daniel Bianchi Carlo Calleja (Co-ord.) Lara Marie Gilford Paulann Grech Raymond Zammit |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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