MSc Audiology

This unit will provide students an introduction to professional practice within a health service setting. The unit will introduce the frameworks and academic literature underpinning professional practice and enable students to gain the knowledge, skills, experience and tools to develop, improve and maintain high standards of professional practice at all times.

This unit will also provide students with an introduction to the core practical skills required of a trainee audiologist. It will introduce clinical communication skills and explore the importance of patient centered care.

This unit will provide students an introduction to professional practice within a health service setting. The unit will introduce the frameworks and academic literature underpinning professional practice and enable students to gain the knowledge, skills, experience and tools to develop, improve and maintain high standards of professional practice at all times.

This unit will also provide students with an introduction to the core practical skills required of a trainee audiologist. It will introduce clinical communication skills and explore the importance of patient centered care.

Students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding:

• Understand the ethical foundations of professionalism, including critical reflection, and how these relate to the audiologist, the patient, the practice of healthcare science and the wider healthcare environment.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the structures, processes and methodologies that underpin the quality of the service provided by the NHS and quality improvement initiatives to promote high-quality patient care and enhance patient safety and discuss the quality mechanisms relevant to their division/specialism.
• Explain the principles of effective written and verbal communication and feedback, considering the needs and dignity of patients, the public, health professionals and scientists.
• Describe the basic principles and structures underpinning history taking, clinical examination and clinical decision making and discuss their role in your division.
• Have a knowledge and understanding of a range of leadership models, including those that underpin current NHS Leadership and Competency Frameworks, and identify and critically evaluate how your personal values, principles and assumptions affect your personal leadership style.
• Explain the current structure and management of health and social care systems and services at a national (UK-wide) and local level and the way in which the voice of patients and the public is embedded in all aspects of healthcare and healthcare education.

Intellectual skills:

• Critically analyse scientific and clinical data.
• Present scientific and clinical data appropriately.
• Formulate a critical argument.
• Evaluate scientific and clinical literature.
• Compare and contrast a range of leadership models.
• Appraise the ethical foundations of professionalism, including critical reflection, and how these relate to the clinician, the patient, the practice of audiology and the wider healthcare environment.

Practical skills:

• Present information clearly in the form of verbal and written reports.
• Communicate complex ideas and arguments in a clear and concise and effective manner to both clinical professional and lay individuals.
• Work effectively as an individual or part of a team.
• Demonstrate leadership.
• Take a patient history.

Transferable skills and personal qualities:

• Be able to communicate effectively with professional colleagues and service users.
• Consistently operate within sphere of personal competence and level of authority.
• Manage personal workload and objectives to achieve quality of care.
• Work in partnership with colleagues, other professionals, patients and their carers to maximise patient care.

1. Leadership and ethics assignment (1000 words, 50%)
2. Communication and reflection (1000 words, 50%)
3. Mandatory training (pass/fail)

Written feedback.

Tony Hope; Medical Ethics A Very Short Introduction: Oxford University Press 2004.

Chloe Baxter, Mark G Brennan, Yvette Coldicott, Maaike Moller; the practical guide to Medical Ethics & Law 2nd Edition: PasTest (2005).

Barr J and Dowding L (2008) Leadership in Health Care Sage Publications (London).

BSA Procedures (http://www.thebsa.org.uk/resources/)

Health and Care Professions Council ( HCPC) http://www.hcpc-uk.co.uk/

British Academy of Audiology ( BAA) http://www.baaudiology.org/

http://www.healthtalkonline.org/

http://www.england.nhs.uk/2013/03/26/nhs-constitution/