Bioethical Issues in Healthcare

Module Description

This module will equip nurses to enhance their knowledge with new ethical and legal challenges met at their place of work.

Health care today demands an increased bioethical competence. The module will have an important contribution in the formation of nurses, enabling them to face the current ethical challenges.

It will focus on:

• Anthropological and Methodological Issues
• The Best Interests of the Child
• Priority Setting, Justice and Resource Allocation
• Suffering, Spirituality and Palliative Care
• End of Life issues
• Ethical issues in Genetics
• The relationship between spirituality, health care and bioethics.

Entry Requirements

• Candidates who apply for this course must possess a qualification equivalent to a Higher Diploma (120 ECTS) in Nursing accredited at MQF 5. 
• Preference will be given to prospective applicants having a year of work experience related to the study programme. 

Target Audience

• This programme is targeted at nurses who are registered with the Council for Nurses and Midwives Malta and/or other registering bodies. 

Module / Unit Instructions

The proposed structure comprises a blended approach promoting the building of a community of practice via peer-to-peer learning. The structure uses primarily two dimensions of teaching-learning modes:

• Face to Face sessions

Face-to-face sessions include lectures, tutorials, discussions, presentations and workshop activities promoting peer-to-peer learning.

• Online Learning Activities

Online learning activities incorporate tutorials and asynchronous discussions. These may consist of active interaction, participation and contributions in fora discussions, sharing resources and self-reflection exercises. Learners also contribute to the building of the community of practice by providing feedback to their peers as critical friends, enhancing the learner’s critical engagement throughout the study period.

How you’ll be assessed

The course comprises:

• Evening classes for part-time courses.
• Classes held throughout the day for full-time courses.
• Guided learning, presentations, comprising synchronous online discussions, tutorials and/or videos.
• Self-study hours comprising research, reading and assignment work.

Assessment

Assessment is carried out via two mandatory components:

• Formative Assessment
• Summative Assessment

The programme includes different forms of assessment which allow for and promote students’ critical engagement. The formative and summative assessment tasks may include an in-class assignment and/or a home-based written assignment using diverse assessment tools which may take the form of online and in-class discussions, examinations, case studies, reports, proposals, essays, and presentations, etc., as applicable to the diverse modules.