School: Nursing and Midwifery

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Midwifery Therapeutics
  • Unit Code

    MIT6203
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    2
  • Credit Points

    20
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Mitra JAVANMARD

Description

This unit will introduce the student to pharmacodynamics and pharmacology related to midwifery, and screening and diagnostics assessments. A range of diagnostic tests will be introduced with the objective of enabling students to engage with other health professionals in the assessment and review of clients in their care. Students will be required to undertake culturally-safe health assessments and related diagnostic reasoning as applied to the practice of the midwife. Content focuses on the wellbeing of women in relation to their sexual health and pregnancy.

Non Standard Timetable Requirements

Online

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Integrate knowledge of anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology as it relates to drug therapy for the childbearing woman/person.
  2. Develop strategies to ensure careful selection, management, monitoring and review of drug therapy, and promote the quality use of medicines.
  3. Critically evaluate information sources and discuss drug therapies with women, their support team and other health professionals to ensure that informed decisions are made about prescribed and non prescribed medications.
  4. Interpret and apply midwifery responsibilities related to the legal, professional and regulatory frameworks that govern midwives prescribing in Australia, ensuring risks related to prescribing medications included.

Unit Content

  1. Pain relief in labour.
  2. Sexually transmitted infections and blood-borne viruses (taking a sexual history, sexual health screening, contraception and sexual health).
  3. Informed choice related to screening and diagnostics.
  4. Health and wellbeing of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women/persons - cultural safety – medicinal use of bush remedies.
  5. Safety of alternative therapies.
  6. Impact of social lifestyle habits.
  7. Principles of immunology and the increased risk of infection during parturition.
  8. Vaccinations during pregnancy.
  9. Medication safety during pregnancy - blood-brain and placental barriers.
  10. Legal, ethical, moral and professional (PBS) (MBS) responsibilities.
  11. Pharmacology and quality use of medication classification.
  12. Breastfeeding and adverse reactions, drug safety teratogenic effects, the impact on pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium on drug therapy.
  13. Medications used during pregnancy, prescribed and non-prescribed.
  14. National Prescribing Standards.
  15. Clinical and ethical decision-making related to screening and diagnostics.
  16. Pharmacodynamics, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion.

Learning Experience

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures, guest speakers, discussion, group work activities, quizzes, readings and videos

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Due to the professional competency skill development associated with this Unit, student attendance/participation within listed in-class activities and/or online activities including discussion boards is compulsory. Students failing to meet participation standards as outlined in the unit information may be awarded an I Grade (Fail - incomplete). Students who are unable to meet this requirement for medical or other reasons must seek the approval of the unit coordinator.

ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentPrescribing Workbook20%
Essay ^The prescribing role of endorsed midwives40%
Case StudyCase study on vaccinations in pregnancy40%

^ Mandatory to Pass


Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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