The ways in which individual people subjectively experience illness and care, particularly nursing care, is the focus of this unit of study. The unit encourages students to think critically about their own attitudes, beliefs, and ideas about health, illness, and care, and to examine how these might have a bearing on the experiences of those in their care. Theories that inform understanding of what it is to be human are examined. Attention is drawn to such factors as embodiment, illness and the body, emotions arising in illness, issues of self-identity and social attitudes to illness and disability. The unit also introduces students to qualitative research methodologies that are used to explore illness experiences. A variety of illness experiences are then examined. With this knowledge, the nurse-patient relationship is then critically examined. From within a communication-based framework, students focus on ideas about therapeutic listening and use of self as well as the concept of knowledge transfer as it is relevant to nurse-patient interactions. Students also engage with contemporary debates about the nature of nurse-patient interactions and relationships today and explore the ways in which these might vary in different health care settings, and with people from different cultural backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Unit details and rules
| Academic unit | Nursing and Midwifery |
|---|---|
| Credit points | 6 |
| Prerequisites
?
|
NURS5081 and NURS5042 or NURS5083 |
| Corequisites
?
|
None |
|
Prohibitions
?
|
None |
| Assumed knowledge
?
|
None |
| Available to study abroad and exchange students | No |
Teaching staff
| Coordinator | Janice Gullick, janice.gullick@sydney.edu.au |
|---|
