Competences

a. Examine general principles in the context of healthcare decisions and employ a critical view in their application;
b. Critique how current local and international legislation promote high quality care;
c. Conduct research related to ethical issues using the Principles of Biomedical Ethics;
d. Devise different ways of dealing with conflicts that may arise with service-uses, their relatives and/or colleagues which may hinder the effectiveness of care procedures;
e. Develop different ways of dealing with ethical dilemmas when supporting the rights of individuals accessing services;
f. Devise ways of how the Code of Conduct and Practice for Social Service Workers may be applied in different real-life scenarios;
g. Discuss with confidence and understanding how to produce the greatest balance of positive value over disvalue in a particular healthcare setting;
h. Employ advanced communication skills in various settings, including during conflict with service user and colleagues alike.

Knowledge 

a. Recognise ethical issues, eliciting a sense of moral obligation and responsibility;
b. Develop an understanding of the process of decision making and the values that pertain a health and social care context;
c. Reflect on the importance of working in a multidisciplinary team in order to meet the service users’ needs in a holistic way;
d. Develop a thorough understanding of the core values which promote high quality care when working with service users and their relatives;
e. Outline general ethical principles that can be applied in all healthcare contexts;
f. Reflect on how failing to adhere to the principles that guide Health and Social Care professionals may negatively impact the quality of service provided;
g. Understand the ethical challenges posed by multicultural society to healthcare;
h. Apply the knowledge acquired through literature on current legislation to how this can be put into practice in reality;
i. Develop an understanding of what current local and international legislation state vis-a-vis the promotion of high quality care.

Skills

a. Identify the ethical problem(s) germane to decision making by health and social care professionals;
b. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles of:

• Autonomy
• Beneficience
• Non-maleficence
• Justice;

c. Assess the principles available to decision making to provide person-centered care;
d. Identify ethical challenges in a clinical context, and in the field of normative healthcare ethics;
e. Discuss health disparities and the difficulties related to the development of normative ethical arguments in a multicultural context;
f. Identify the importance of making good use of advanced verbal and non-verbal communication skills, such as empathy and speech pace when giving a service;
g. Identify how barriers to communication may be overcome to make sure service user are given a dignifiied service;
h. Examine the importance of giving priority to the needs and rights of all individuals accessing the various services within the health sector, thus promoting a person-centred approach to care;
i. Evaluate how the four ethical principles emerge from the most basic concept of inherent human dignity;
j. Analyse what decisions will best benefit the rights and needs of service-users;
k. Analyse ways of dealing with conflict in different situations;
l. Creatively evaluate on how to give the best possible service to individuals.