Course Title: New Directions in the Australian Health System

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: New Directions in the Australian Health System

Credit Points: 12.00

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
PUBH1396	City Campus	Undergraduate	155T Vocational Health and Sciences	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2013, Sem 1 2015, Sem 1 2016

Course Coordinator: Judith McCann

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 8366

Course Coordinator Email: judith.mccann@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 51.7.06

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

Course Description

This course will explore the trends, pressing challenges and major factors impacting and expected to impact the Australian health system. Topics will include the changes in demography and disease patterns with the fast growing ageing population and the increasing burden of chronic illness, and the consequences of global growth. .Students will investigate current policies and effective policy proposals for future challenges, with a focus on prevention and better chronic illness management.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following program learning outcomes for the Associate Degree in Health Sciences:
7. Apply the knowledge and skills of your study stream in community or health care settings

On completion of this course you should be able to:
1. Identify the major trends and challenges that are currently affecting Australia, and the major contributing factors responsible for the burden of disease rates.
2. Identify and access key Australian Government reports and policies and other documents that may inform future health policies.
3. Communicate effectively using a range of resources to research factors which may impact on the introduction of new ways of working in health.
4. Explore effective responses for challenges in policies aimed at chronic disease management in Australia and internationally.
5. Understand various health sectors including: private v. public; indigenous; ehealth; aged care and mental health.
6. Source relevant and contemporary articles, and then distinguish fact from opinion.
7. Understand the basics in health literacy and basic clinical terminology.
8. Identify the sources and basic procedure of policy reform in Australia.

Overview of Learning Activities

In this course you will learn through some of the following activities:

• Class room based learning to understand some of the basic concepts
• Online learning to access, explore and interrogate the range of government and other reports on Health
• Seminars/tutorial to explore case studies.
• Guest speakers

Overview of Learning Resources

You will need to access this course on Blackboard (my RMIT) on a regular basis, to prepare for your lectures and tutorials. Your main resources for this course will be:
http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129548150

and http://www.preventativehealth.org.au/
(National Preventative Health Taskforce); but a range other websites will be recommended.

In addition you may need to use other resources available in the RMIT Library, such as videos, and the subject learning guide at:
http://rmit.libguides.com/sb.php?subject_id=67926

Overview of Assessment

This course has no hurdle requirements.

Assessment tasks:

Early Assessment Task: Multiple Choice Test
Weighting 0%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1 and 2.

Assessment Task 2: Case Study:
Weighting 50%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7. and 8.

Assessment 3: Semester Examination
Weighting 50%
This assessment supports CLOs 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7. and 8.