Module Title: PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
Module Provider: Health & Social Care
Short Name: ETHICS
Level: M
Module Co-ordinator: GALLAGHER MA Dr (HSC)
Number of credits: 15
Number of ECTS credits: 7.5
Module Availability
Across Academic Years
Assessment Pattern
An ethical analysis of a practice situations drawing on one ethical approach and demonstrating critical analysis - word limit 3,000 words (100%)
Module Overview
Prerequisites/Co-requisites
First degree or ability to work at M Level
Module Aims
The overall module aim to provide opportunities for students to critically engage with issues and debates regarding professional ethics in organisational, local and global contexts;
Learning Outcomes
Module Content
Professional ethics - Students will consider the relationship between ethics and being a ‘professional’, between personal and professional ethics and between individual and organisational ethics. What does it mean to belong to a profession? Do different professions prioritise different values? What ethical issues and dilemmas arise in professional practice and how might these be responded to? There will also be discussion regarding the role of professionals in clinical ethics and research ethics.
Theoretical ethics - This examines the development of ethical theory and provides opportunities for student to engage critically with approaches to applied ethics. Students will be introduced to principle-based ethics, virtues-based ethics and consequence-based ethics. A framework for ethical analysis will be introduced to facilitate the application of ethics to practice situations.
Empirical ethics - There is a growing body of research relating to professional ethics. Rather than prescribing what professionals ought to do (as theoretical ethics) this describes what they actually do and what they think about particular issues. Empirical ethics also examines the perspectives of service users, families and others regarding ethical aspects of health and social care. Students will be facilitated to critically examine a sample of empirical ethics reports.
Regulatory ethics - Professionals are guided and bound by a range of policies, protocols and professional codes. This section of the module considers the role of such guidelines and prescriptions and the role of regulatory bodies in supporting ethical practice. Professional codes will be compared and discussed and the meaning of misconduct and good conduct explored.
Global ethics - Globalisation has had a significant impact on our personal and professional lives. It has resulted in ethical challenges (relating, for example, to professional migration, war, natural disasters and pandemics) and ethical opportunities. The opportunities include sharing and learning from ethical perspectives from other parts of the world. Students will be enabled to debate the meaning and possibility of a global professional ethics.
