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Unit of Study HLT10598 - Introduction to Complementary Medicine (2016)

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Unit Snapshot

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Unit description

Introduces students to the diverse field of complementary medicine, its community usage, its role in health care and society. Legal and ethical issues including regulation of the medicines and practitioners are examined. Includes an overview of the major complementary medicine modalities. Adopts a student-focused strategy aimed at allowing students to critically explore the topic while providing them with basic knowledge of the discipline.

Unit content

Topic 1: Defining complementary medicine
Topic 2: Patterns of complementary medicine use and why people use complementary medicine
Topic 3: Complementary medicine and mainstream healthcare
Topic 4: Regulation of complementary medicines and of complementary medicine practitioners
Topic 5: Efficacy and safety of complementary medicine
Topic 6: Scientific evidence base for complementary medicine
Topic 7: Introduction to the major complementary medicine modalities:

  1. Naturopathy
  2. nutritional medicine
  3. herbal medicine
  4. homeopathy
  5. tactile therapies (massage)
  6. Traditional Chinese Medicine (incl. acupuncture)

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Online Session 1 Session 1

Learning outcomes and graduate attributes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

GA1: Intellectual rigour, GA2: Creativity, GA3: Ethical practice, GA4: Knowledge of a discipline, GA5: Lifelong learning, GA6: Communication and social skills, GA7: Cultural competence
Learning outcome count Learning outcome description GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 describe the characteristics of complementary medicine and compare and contrast it with mainstream medicine
2 profile patterns of complementary use and identify reasons why people use complementary medicine in general and within allied health fields
3 outline and discuss the regulation, legal and ethical issues of pertaining to complementary medicines and complementary medicine practitioners
4 critically evaluate the issues of evidence, safety and efficacy in relation to complementary medicine
5 analyse the characteristics of major complementary medicine modalities and their potential role in health care with application and integration into current practice.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. describe the characteristics of complementary medicine and compare and contrast it with mainstream medicine
    • GA1:
  2. profile patterns of complementary use and identify reasons why people use complementary medicine in general and within allied health fields
    • GA1:
  3. outline and discuss the regulation, legal and ethical issues of pertaining to complementary medicines and complementary medicine practitioners
    • GA3:
  4. critically evaluate the issues of evidence, safety and efficacy in relation to complementary medicine
    • GA3:
  5. analyse the characteristics of major complementary medicine modalities and their potential role in health care with application and integration into current practice.
    • GA6:

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
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Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.