96802 Delivering Best Palliative Care Any Place Every Time
Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a
particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Subject level:
Postgraduate
Result type: Grade and marksThere are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
This subject takes a public health approach to palliative care to help students understand how they can be the drivers of change to improve access to best practice evidence-based specialist and primary palliative care among under-served groups within their communities to deliver equity of outcomes.
Students learn how adopting a public health approach to palliative care can be used to appraise palliative care needs at the population level, shape models of care to population need, and harness community support for palliative care through a health-promoting approach.
The subject engages students in considering:
- principles of public health as these apply to palliative care, including key concepts such as social determinants, epidemiology, a preventative approach, and health promotion
- a range of information sources, approaches and tools for assessing population-level determinants of health, appraising needs and barriers in relation to access and equity, and planning service improvements, and
- how various policy, social and economic drivers impact on palliative care outcomes across diverse health care settings and systems.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| A. | Examine needs at a population level, recognising core functions of public health as it applies to palliative care; |
|---|---|
| B. | Devise a population-based approach to the planning of palliative care services to improve access for populations who currently have inadequate access; |
| C. | Analyse and integrate models of care to enhance delivery of best palliative care practice any place every time; |
| D. | Recommend and justify a persuasive written business case to reimagine service solutions. |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes specifically to the following graduate attributes:
- Prioritise inter-professional collaborative practice to ensure the highest quality palliative care for all (3.0)
- Provide effective, creative and responsive leadership that promotes optimal palliative care (4.0)
- Create adaptive professionals who continuously analyse, critique and reflect on their role (5.0)
Teaching and learning strategies
The subject will be delivered exclusively online, enabling students to participate remotely. Students will be actively engaged in enquiry-based learning through a range of multimedia interactive activities, including those involving collaboration with others. The online learning platform ‘Canvas’ will be used for all subject materials and announcements.
Assessment activities will include individual and group tasks in the form of presentation, discussion and writing. Feedback will be shared by peers as well as tutors to establish a learning community that will provide ongoing support to students throughout their course. Activities are aimed at preparing students to undertake the assessments, including collaborative learning.
Content (topics)
Subject content will be structured within three modules as follows.
1. Understanding palliative care needs at a population level
- Applying public health principles to palliative care
- Working with population data to profile communities
- Assess palliative care needs
2. Identifying gaps to inform service planning
- Mapping services to needs at the population level to prioritise a focus for improvement
- Analysing models of care
3. Developing health service solutions
- Building workforce capacity for primary palliative care
- Applying relevant policies to delivering a public health palliative care approach, including the Palliative Care Service Development Guidelines and National Palliative Care Workforce Development Framework
- Measuring the quality of current palliative care to benchmark progress
- Making the business case for health service solutions to enable delivery of best palliative care any place every time
- Identifying assets and supports beyond the health system
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Profiling a palliative care population
| Intent: | To develop students’ ability to derive meaning from available population data to inform palliative care health services planning. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses subject learning objective(s): A This assessment task contributes to the development of graduate attribute(s): 5.0 |
| Weight: | 15% |
| Length: | 2 - 3 minute recorded presentation (side-by-side slides and speaker) |
Assessment task 2: Prioritising targets for service improvement to improve access and equity to palliative care
| Intent: | To develop student skills in prioritising foci for service improvement. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses subject learning objective(s): B and C This assessment task contributes to the development of graduate attribute(s): 3.0 and 4.0 |
| Weight: | 40% |
| Length: | 2,500 words (excluding references) |
Assessment task 3: Developing and presenting a business case
| Intent: | To develop student skills in constructing a business case for a service improvement initiative that will improve access and equity to palliative care, with immediate application within their workplace. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses subject learning objective(s): D This assessment task contributes to the development of graduate attribute(s): 4.0 |
| Weight: | 35% |
| Length: | 2,000 words (excluding title page, table of content and references) |
Assessment task 4: Student contribution and engagement
| Intent: | Preparation and meaningful engagement with a variety of resources is essential to collaboration and teamwork, skills that are critical to the role of a palliative care clinician. The intent of this assessment is to emphasise and encourage students’ contribution to team work via engagement with the online modules and Zoom meetings. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses subject learning objective(s): A, B and C This assessment task contributes to the development of graduate attribute(s): 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 |
| Weight: | 10% |
| Length: | 400 words |
Required texts
There is no prescribed textbook for this subject. Links to references and electronic resources will be made available in Canvas.
Other resources
UTS Student Centre
Building 10
Monday to Friday: 9am - 5pm
Tel: 1300 ASK UTS (1300 275 887)
Details for student centres: www.uts.edu.au/current-students/contacts/general-contacts
For other resources/ information refer to the Faculty of Health website (www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-health) and Canvas at: https://canvas.uts.edu.au/.
UTS Library
The Library has a wide range of resources, facilities and services to support you including textbooks, subject readings, health literature databases, workshops and bookable study rooms. There is also a team of librarians to help you with your questions available via online chat, phone and in person. W: lib.uts.edu.au, Facebook: utslibrary, Twitter: @utslibrary Tel: (02) 9514 3666.
Improve your academic and English language skills
Marks for all assessment tasks such as assignments and examinations are given not only for what you write but also for how you write. If you would like the opportunity to improve your academic and English language skills, make an appointment with the HELPS (Higher Education Language & Presentation Support) Service in Student Services.
HELPS (Higher Education Language & Presentation Support)
HELPS provides assistance with English language proficiency and academic language. Students who need to develop their written and/or spoken English should make use of the free services offered by HELPS, including academic language workshops, vacation intensive courses, drop-in consultations, individual appointments and Conversations@UTS (www.ssu.uts.edu.au/helps). HELPS staff are also available for drop-in consultations at the UTS Library. Phone (02) 9514 9733.
Please see www.uts.edu.au for additional information on other resources provided to students by UTS.
The Accessibility and Financial Assistance Service
The Accessibility Service can support students with disabilities, medical or mental health conditions, including temporary injuries (e.g., broken limbs). The Accessibility Service works with Academic Liaison Officers in each Faculty to provide ‘reasonable adjustments’ such as exam provisions, assistive technology, requests and strategies for managing your studies alongside your health condition. If you’re unsure whether you need assistance, we recommend getting in touch early and we can provide advice on how our service can assist you. Make an appointment with an Accessibility Consultant (AC) on +61 2 9514 1177 or Accessibility@uts.edu.au.
The Financial Assistance Service can assist you with financial aspects of life at university, including Centrelink information, tax returns and budgeting, interest-free student loans and grants to assist with course-related costs. Check eligibility and apply online and make an appointment on +61 2 9514 1177 or Financial.assistance@uts.edu.au.