Quality and Safety in Healthcare

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject enables students to examine factors influencing safety and quality of the healthcare system. Using safety and quality as a framework students will examine trends in critical incidents in healthcare that result in adverse outcomes for patients. The subject will also introduce students to emerging strategies in healthcare that seek to improve the safety and quality of patient care and to consider particular roles of nurses in leading these efforts at a clinical and organisational level.

At the completion of this subject students should be able to;
1. understand the health care system as a potential source of adverse events for patients;
2. demonstrate knowledge of the key contemporary safety and quality issues in Australian and International healthcare;
3. describe processes for examining patient adverse events;
4. examine adverse events and develop improvement strategies for event prevention;
5. discuss the role of clinical governance as an organisational framework for reducing adverse events in health care.

Written assignment (2000 words) 40%
Written assignment (3000 words) 60%

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

At the completion of this subject, students should be able to demonstrate:
• the capacity for information seeking, retrieval and evaluation;
• critical thinking and analytical skills;
• an openness to new ideas;
• planning and time management skills;
• the ability to communicate knowledge through classroom and web-based discussions and written material.