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  2. Prehospital Policy, Ethics and Legal Issues [SCH2204]

School: Medical and Health Sciences

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Prehospital Policy, Ethics and Legal Issues

  • Unit Code

    SCH2204

  • Year

    2026

  • Enrolment Period

    1

  • Version

    6

  • Credit Points

    15

  • Full Year Unit

     N

  • Mode of Delivery

    Online

  • Unit Coordinator

    A/Prof David REID

Description

This unit addresses legal issues and ethical choices facing paramedics working in today's prehospital environment. In addition, the unit consolidates student understanding of the role of Ahpra, the Paramedicine Board and introduces the National Safety and Quality Standards in preparation for their role as a registered paramedic.

Prerequisite Rule

Must have passed or have advanced standing for PST1107 Perspectives in Paramedic Professional Practice

Only students enrolled in K89 can enrol in this unit.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Identify legal issues and statutes relevant to the prehospital environment.
  2. Apply knowledge of law within the prehospital health care system.
  3. Apply an ethical approach to resolve paramedic dilemmas.
  4. Demonstrate professional competency against the NSQHS standards.

Unit Content

  1. Ethical principles in the prehospital environment.
  2. Legal principles in the prehospital environment.
  3. National Safety and Quality in Health Care Standards.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

City CampusJoondalupSouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 1Not Offered13 x 1.5 hour seminarNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

Students will engage collaboratively during class to analyse legal and ethical situations and learn to apply their knowledge to real-life paramedic situations.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentLegal Interpretation40%
PortfolioLegal Portfolio60%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

  • Plagiarism: Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).
  • Unauthorised collaboration (collusion): Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).
  • Contract cheating: Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.
  • Cheating in an exam: Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment Procedure - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment Procedure - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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