Unit Outline

Innovation in Medicine Safety will help you identify and analyse medication-safety issues encountered in a variety of clinical settings.

You will initially learn and appraise existing issues and interventions that attempt to improve the Quality Use of Medicines or address medication-safety issues. You will then create your own service and communicate the concept verbally. From this, you will devise ideas to overcome these issues and develop evidence-based solutions that could be implemented in the real world.

Particular emphasis is placed on the combined skills of practice-based mitigation of medication-safety risks, while using research skills and knowledge gained in CSA288 Evidence-Based Health Care and CSA321 Clinical Pharmacy Research, to intervene in identified problematic areas in an evidence-based manner.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1	Identify and explain factors involved in medication safety.
2	Apply research skills and evidence-based decision making to medication safety scenarios, using appropriate resources.
3	Reflect on the role of pharmacists in reducing and resolving medication safety issues in clinical practice.

Requisites


REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Pre-requisite	CSA288 and CSA321 and CSA357

Alterations as a result of student feedback

This is the first delivery of this unit, and the teaching team will greatly appreciate your feedback both informally during the delivery of the unit in 2024, and formally through the University of Tasmania’s eVALUate surveys following your completion of the unit.

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Individual in-class written assessment	Week 4	40 %	LO1, LO2, LO3
Assessment Task 2:	Pitch	Week 12	30 %	LO1, LO2
Assessment Task 3:	Verbal Exam	Exam Period	30 %	LO1, LO2, LO3

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Individual in-class written assessment

Task Description:

You will complete two in-class written assessments reflecting on medication safety scenarios and how they could be resolved using best practice.
Due: Weeks 4 & 6

Task Length:

Approximately 500 words x 2

Due Date:

Week 4

Weight:

40 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Critically appraise a pharmacist-led quality use of medicine activity.	LO1, LO2
2	Justify the strengths, limitations and enablers and barriers related to incorporating the activity.	LO1, LO2
3	Reflect on and explain the pharmacist’s role in the medication-safety area.	LO3

Assessment Task 2: Pitch

Task Description:

In groups (4-6 students), you will pitch an innovative intervention to improve medicines safety in a critical area of Australia’s health care system.
Appropriate evidence should be used when describing why the intervention is needed, how the intervention should be implemented to be effective, safe and practical, and what outcomes should be measured to determine the success of the intervention.

Task Length:

10 minutes

Due Date:

Week 12

Weight:

30 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Justification for area of intervention	LO1, LO2
2	Describe and justify the intervention methodology.	LO2
3	Justify the types of outcome monitoring required.	LO2
4	Demonstrate teamwork to constructively contribute to a health intervention pitch (peer assessed).	LO2
5	Clearly communicate health intervention information.	LO1, LO2

Assessment Task 3: Verbal Exam

Task Description:

You are required to complete a verbal exam on content covered within this unit.

Task Length:

15 minutes

Due Date:

Exam Period

Weight:

30 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Demonstrate ability to reflect on causes of, discuss factors involved in, and offer solutions to medication safety issues that you may encounter in practice.	LO1, LO2, LO3

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is about acting responsibly, honestly, ethically, and collegially when using, producing, and communicating information with other students and staff members.

In written work, you must correctly reference the work of others to maintain academic integrity. To find out the referencing style for this unit, see the assessment information in the MyLO site, or contact your teaching staff. For more detail about Academic Integrity, see Important Guidelines & Support.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.