Module Overview

Using a combination of asynchronous distance learning and synchronous online sessions, this module will provide participants with an up to date knowledge of the practice of teaching ethics and law in clinical education. Participants will be introduced to the legal and ethical underpinnings of healthcare practice and to contemporary debates on the challenges of teaching ethics and law to healthcare professionals in different environments. Most importantly, this module focuses on developing participants’ skills and confidence to develop and/or improve their own ethics and law teaching.

Aims

This module aims to give participants the knowledge and skills to:

Draw out the legal and ethical aspects of clinical cases to incorporate into teaching.
Design teaching sessions on fundamental legal and ethical aspects of healthcare (such as consent, capacity and confidentiality), and on areas specific to your practice.
	Explore the educational theories most pertinent to this realm of teaching.
 

Module Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module participants will be able to:

Outline the legal and ethical principles and concepts widely seen as underpinning healthcare decision-making.
	Describe how to make legally, professionally and ethically justified decisions in clinical practice.
	Critically evaluate current discourse on teaching medical ethics and law to clinicians.
	Explain how to develop an effective ethics and law curriculum for health professional students, trainees and postgraduate learners.
	Demonstrate how to engage participants in ethics and law teaching. 
	Describe how to assess knowledge and skills in relation to ethics and law.
	Explain how to include recent developments in medical law and professional guidance into teaching.
Mode of Delivery

This module will be delivered primarily through a Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle) with a combination of asynchronous learning activities and synchronous online sessions. Participants will be required to participate in the synchronous sessions.


At the beginning of the module, there will be an opportunity for participants to meet module tutors, orientate themselves to the module and help them gain a clear sense of the scope and expectations of the module.

This approach combines educational methods that encourage self-directed learning, reflection on personal experience, critical thinking and access to extensive online resources. This will enable students to engage in collaborative and inter-professional learning and to be in regular contact with module tutors for a high level of academic support.

Formative Assessment 

During this module participants will work through course materials and readings, undertake directed learning activities, and participate in online discussion forums.

Towards the end of the module, there will be an opportunity for participants to share their assignment ideas and receive informal feedback on their assignment draft.

Summative Assessment

Students will submit a 2000 word assignment critically examining teaching relating to a ethics / law  topic relevant to a healthcare setting you are familiar with.