Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Evidence Based Health Practice

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
PUBH1391	City Campus	Undergraduate	155T Vocational Health and Sciences	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2015, Sem 2 2015, Sem 1 2016
PUBH1391	City Campus	Undergraduate	174T School of VE Engineering, Health & Science	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2018, Sem 2 2019, Sem 2 2020, Sem 1 2021
PUBH1391	City Campus	Undergraduate	535T Social Care and Health	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2022, Sem 1 2023, Sem 1 2024

Course Coordinator: Tino D'Angelo

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 4380

Course Coordinator Email: tino.dangelo@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 051.08.02

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment only

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

Course Description

This course enables you to develop your ability to examine the availability of information from existing research in human health care and policy, including evaluation, statistical sources and expert knowledge on related topics. It will encourage you to investigate, evaluate, analyse and reflect critically on a range of health issues and enable you to apply findings to determine whether an intervention, prevention, treatment or health program is likely to be effective and make better decisions in health care settings.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for Associate Degree in Health Sciences:
1. Access up to date discipline information/knowledge and ensure that decisions and actions are informed by a critical assessment of information
2. Analyse and interpret information to determine appropriate solutions to predictable and unpredictable situations
5. Manage and develop your own work and lead and manage others within a health or community context

On completion of this course you should be able to:
1. Describe the basic principles of qualitative and quantitative research methods and how it is applied in health practice.
2. Determine key criteria used to conduct a literature search and retrieve all relevant evidence from a range of sources for a health related issue.
3. Analyse and interpret the evidence in systematic reviews of primary research.
4. Undertake and apply methods required to critically appraise evidence to make informed decisions about the quality of research evidence in a health care setting.
5. Communicate and evaluate the performance of practice and reflect on the adherence to ethical research practices and activities required to maintain the integrity of research.

Overview of Learning Activities

In this course you will learn through the following activities:

• Face to face teaching to obtain an understanding of basic concepts that are required to undertake further study

• Online learning to understand the foundation concepts that support and guide evidence based health practice

• Personal reading (e.g. prescribed sections of textbooks and online materials): to reinforce/strengthen your understanding of both quantitative and qualitative research designs

• Tutorial activities to consolidate theoretical concepts covered in lecture material.
 

Overview of Learning Resources

You will be provided with a range of texts and online materials as information sources for this course. 
Lecture material will be available as handouts and you will be expected to access and download these handouts in preparation for each lecture.

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

Assessment tasks

Early Assessment Task:   Test
Weighting 10%
This assessment task supports CLO 1,2,3,4 and 5.

Assessment Task 2: Research assignment
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLO 2,3 and 4.

Assessment 3: Critical Appraisal Assignment
Weighting 25%
This assessment supports CLOs 2,3 and 4

Assessment Task 4: Test
Weighting 25%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2,3,4 and 5.