Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics in Queensland

With the commencement of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) and the establishment of the Legal Services Commission, the legal profession and legal services market in Queensland has experienced significant changes to its regulatory environment. Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics in Queensland provides a detailed explanation and analysis of these changes. The book will assist lawyers to plan for successful practice within this new environment by examining such topics as: • The scope and application of key provisions within the Legal Profession Act; • The role, functions and policies of the Legal Services Commission; • The ethical and regulatory implications of operating as an Incorporated Legal Practice or as a Multi-Disciplinary Partnership; • Developments affecting trust accounts and client money dealings more generally; • Recent case law, Tribunal decisions and Legal Services Commission guidelines in relation to the new conduct standards of Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct and Professional Misconduct; and • The impact of the new legislation and regulatory environment on a range of traditional ethical duty categories such as the duty to communicate, costs and billing practices, as well as the paramount duties to the court and to the administration of justice. An invaluable reference for legal professionals, this book is also an important resource for law students grappling with questions raised by legal ethics and their application to the workplace.

Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics in Queensland [2nd Ed.]

Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics in Queensland offers a proven, practical approach to identifying and resolving ethical issues that may arise in daily legal practice in Queensland. It is an excellent resource for practitioners and students alike who need to navigate relevant legislation and understand legal ethics through accessible, problem-based scenarios. The introduction of the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules and Barristers’ Rule 2011, and changes to enforcement mechanisms where breaches have occurred, make the Second Edition essential reading for solicitors, barristers and law students in Queensland. Diverse practice structures, the enactment of the new rules, and other legislative developments will affect lawyers’ work and the way they must interact with their clients, with each other and with the court. Providing detailed explanation and analysis of these changes, the authors explain the ethical and regulatory environment for Queensland lawyers as the national legal services market continues to evolve.

Is scholarship of teaching and learning in practical legal training a professional responsibility?

In Australia, applicants for admission to the legal profession must hold appropriate academic qualifications, and competently complete practical legal training (PLT). The author's research investigates institutional PLT practitioners' engagement with scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). The theoretical framework for the research draws on Bourdieu and Passeron's reflexive sociology of education and culture. This article focuses on responses to a paramount obligation proposition put to 34 PLT practitioners during semi-structured interviews: Might lawyers' paramount obligations to the court intersect with PLT practitioners' teaching and assessment practices? The proposition elicited responses and insights about field forces within the individual and organisational dimensions of teaching and learning in PLT. These include top-down/bottom-up pressures that impinge on PLT practitioners' engagement with SoTL.

The current context of Queensland primary teacher engagement with professional learning through professional associations

Engaging Queensland primary teachers in professional associations can be a challenge, particularly for subject-specific associations. Professional associations are recognised providers of professional learning. By not being involved in professional associations primary teachers are missing potential quality professional learning opportunities that can impact the results of their students. The purpose of the research is twofold: Firstly, to provide a thorough understanding of the current context in order to assist professional associations who wish to change from their current level of primary teacher engagement; and secondly, to contribute to the literature in the area of professional learning for primary teachers within professional associations. Using a three part research design, interviews of primary teachers and focus groups of professional association participants and executives were conducted and themed to examine the current context of engagement. Force field analysis was used to provide the framework to identify the driving and restraining forces for primary teacher engagement in professional learning through professional associations. Communities of practice and professional learning communities were specifically examined as potential models for professional associations to consider. The outcome is a diagrammatic framework outlining the current context of primary teacher engagement, specifically the driving and restraining forces of primary teacher engagement with professional associations. This research also identifies considerations for professional associations wishing to change their level of primary teacher engagement. The results of this research show that there are key themes that provide maximum impact if wishing to increase engagement of primary teachers in professional associations. However the implications of this lies with professional associations and their alignment between intent and practice dedicated to this change.

Standards-based accountability : reification, responsibility and the ethical subject

Over the last two decades, teachers in Australia have witnessed multiple incarnations of the idea of ‘educational accountability’ and its enactment. Research into this phenomenon of educational policy and practice has revealed various layers of the concept, particularly its professional, bureaucratic, political and cultural dimensions that are central to the restructuring of educational governance and the reorganization of teachers’ work. Today, accountability constitutes a core concept of neoliberal policy-making in education, both fashioning and normalizing what counts as teacher professionalism in the ‘audit society.’ This article focuses specifically on the recent introduction by the Australian Federal Government of standardised literacy testing in all states across Australia, and raises questions about the impact of this reform on the work practices of English literacy teachers in primary and secondary schools. We draw on data collected as part of a major research project funded by the Australian Research Council, involving interviews with teachers about their experiences of implementing standardised testing. The article traces the ways in which teachers’ work is increasingly being mediated by standardised literacy testing to show how these teachers grapple with the tensions between state-wide mandates and a sense of their professional responsibility for their students.

Mediating teacher professional identity : The emergence of humanness and ethical identity

Over the past couple of years, international vocational education and training has been much debated at the nexus of the commercialisation of vocational education and social justice for international students. This nexus has significantly affected the professional identity and responsibilities of teachers who are directly involved in providing vocational education and training for international students. Drawing on a research project funded by the Australian Research Council, this paper offers an alternative lens on vocational teachers' process of mediating professional identity in response to the flow of international students and the commercialisation of vocational education. It employs the logic of relationality as a conceptual framework to interpret teachers' journey of identity re-construction. The humanness and ethical dimensions of identity have been at the heart of the teachers' negotiation over the kind of teachers they are and to which they aspire. The teachers in this research draw on humanness and ethical dimensions to engage in critical reflection of their own teaching practices, their interaction with international students and the socio-political context shaping international vocational education and training. They perceive their professional responsibility not only in relation to the facilitation of students' development of vocational skills and knowledge, but also the provision of pastoral care for international students and the advocating for social justice for this student cohort.

Imaginative construction of care: the nursing professional experience in a remote care service

The direction of care delivery goes from the action to the being; a process built from professional experience, which gains special characteristics when the service is delivered by telephone. The goal of this research was to understand the interaction between professionals and users in a remote care service; to do so, a research is presented, using Grounded Theory and Symbolic Interactionism as theoretical references. Data were collected through eight interviews with professionals who deliver care by telephone. The theoretical understanding permitted the creation of the theoretical model of the Imaginative Construction of Care, which shows the interaction processes the professional experiences when delivering care by telephone. In this model, individual and social facts are added, showing the link between the concepts, with special emphasis on uncertainty, sensitivity and professional responsibility, as essential components of this experience.

The spiritual and professional impact of stillbirth

Stillbirth is without question one of the most devastating experiences of grief for parents and families. The death of a baby is also a distressing experience for healthcare professionals who share hopes of a live healthy baby at the end of pregnancy. It is a sad reality however, that in Ireland one in 238 babies will die before birth. The creation and nurture of new life in pregnancy is a spiritual experience as a new baby is at the same time experienced and anticipated. There is little in the published literature concerning the spiritual impact of stillbirth on healthcare chaplains who are the main providers of spiritual care for parents and staff colleagues in Irish maternity units. In addition there are few qualitative studies that explore the impact of stillbirth on consultant obstetricians and no published studies on the spiritual impact of stillbirth on bereaved parents. This study explored the spiritual and professional impact of stillbirth on Irish maternity healthcare chaplains, consultant obstetricians and bereaved parents. Following an overall review of spiritual care provision following stillbirth in the Irish maternity services, thematic analysis was used in the first phase of the study following in-depth interviews with maternity healthcare chaplains. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used in the second and third phases with consultant obstetricians and bereaved parents respectively. The data from both maternity healthcare chaplains and consultant obstetricians revealed that stillbirth posed immense personal, spiritual and professional challenges. Chaplains expressed the spiritual and professional impact of stillbirth in terms of perception of their role, suffering, doubt and presence as they provided care for bereaved parents. A review of spiritual care provision in the Irish maternity services revealed a diversity of practice. The data from consultant obstetricians identified considerable personal, professional and spiritual impact following stillbirth that was identified in superordinate themes of human response to stillbirth, weight of professional responsibility, conflict of personal faith and incongruence between personal faith and professional practice. Data from bereaved parents revealed that stillbirth was spiritually challenging and all parents expressed that stillbirth posed considerable challenge to their faith/ belief structure. The parents of only three babies felt that their spiritual needs were adequately addressed while in hospital. The data had six superordinate themes of searching for meaning, maintaining hope, importance of personhood, protective care, questioning core beliefs and relationships. Other findings from the data from bereaved parents outlined the importance of environment of care and communication. This study has revealed the immense impact of stillbirth on healthcare chaplains, consultant obstetricians and most especially the spiritual impact for bereaved parents. Recommendations are made for improvements in clinical and spiritual care for bereaved parents following stillbirth and for staff wellbeing and support initiatives. Further research areas are recommended in the areas of spiritual care, theological reflection, bereavement care, post-mortem consent procedures and staff wellbeing.

Entry into Valhalla : contextualising the learning of legal ethics through the use of Second Life machinima

An ability to recognise and resolve ethical dilemmas was identified by the Australian Law Reform Commission as one of the ten fundamental lawyering skills. While the ‘Priestley 11’ list of areas of law required to qualify for legal practice includes ethics and professional responsibility, the commitment to ethics learning in Australian law schools has been far from uniform. The obligation imposed by the Priestley 11 is frequently discharged by a traditional teaching and learning approach involving lectures and/or tutorials and focusing on the content of the formal rules of professional responsibility. However, the effectiveness of such an approach is open to question. Instead, a practical rather than a theoretical approach to the teaching of legal ethics is required. Effective final-year student learning of ethics may be achieved by an approach which engages students, enabling them to appreciate the relevance of what they are learning to the real world and facilitating their transition from study to their working lives. Entry into Valhalla comprises a suite of modules featuring ‘machinima’ (computer-generated imagery) created using the Second Life virtual environment to contextualise otherwise abstract concepts. It provides an engaging learning environment which enables students to obtain an appreciation of ethical responsibility in a real-world context and facilitates understanding and problem-solving ability.

Second Life machinima enhancing the learning of law : Lessons from successful endeavours

A traditional approach centred on weekly lectures, perhaps supported by a tutorial programme, still predominates in modern legal education in Australia. This approach tends to focus on the transmission of knowledge about legal rules and doctrine to students who adopt a largely passive role. Criticisms of the traditional approach have led to law schools expanding their curricula to include the teaching of skills, including the skill of negotiation and an appreciation of legal ethics and professional responsibility. However, in a climate of limited government funding for law schools in Australia, innovation in legal education remains a challenge. This paper considers the successful use of Second Life machinima in two programs, Air Gondwana and Entry into Valhalla and their part in the creation of engaging, effective learning environments. These programs not only engage students in active learning but also facilitate flexibility in their studies and other benefits. The programs yield important lessons concerning the use of machinima innovations in curricula, not only for academics involved in legal education but also those in other disciplines, especially those that rely on traditional passive lectures in their teaching and learning approaches.

Teaching dispute resolution ethics in the law curriculum

Dispute resolution processes such as mediation are now central to contemporary legal practice. For this reason it is critical that the law curriculum includes instruction on mediation ethics, so that law graduates enter the profession equipped to deal with ethical dilemmas arising in this context. However, our recent content analysis of the unit outlines for professional responsibility subjects in Australian law schools indicates that this important area of legal ethics is often excluded from the curriculum. In most Australian law schools, dispute resolution subjects (where mediation ethics might also be considered) continue to be offered as stand-alone electives in the law degree. This means that many law students are graduating without the ethical knowledge and judgment-making skills needed in dispute resolution environments. This is contrary to the intentions of the Threshold Learning Outcomes for Law. This paper argues that the current paucity of mediation ethics instruction in the Australian law curriculum is problematic, given mediation’s relevance to contemporary legal practice. The paper discusses the importance of including mediation ethics in the law curriculum, and the importance of dispute resolution more broadly as a mandatory component of the law degree in Australia. It offers an outline of a possible mediation ethics module that could be included in professional responsibility subjects.

A systematic review of community pharmacist therapeutic knowledge of dietary supplements

Background: Internationally, the use of dietary supplements has been growing rapidly. Patient support for pharmacist sales of nutritional and dietary supplements is also strong. The increase in demand for nutritional and dietary supplements and subsequent advice about these products, however, makes it necessary that pharmacists maintain a contemporary knowledge of the area. Aim of review: This systematic review was conducted to examine the current evidence regarding the level of the nutritional and dietary supplement knowledge of community pharmacists and their understanding of their therapeutic effects. Method: Electronic databases including Medline, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL, Scifinder and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched. Studies assessing nutritional knowledge of pharmacists in community pharmacies were eligible for inclusion. All languages and study designs were considered. Study results were analysed and pharmacist knowledge scores were given out of 100 . Results: From 5594 studies identified, nine met the inclusion criteria. Each study tested pharmacist knowledge with predetermined questions calculating results as the number of questions answered correctly. These knowledge scores were converted to a percentage score for the purpose of this paper. The median knowledge score across all papers was 64%. A lack of studies assessing community pharmacist's knowledge of commonly sold vitamins and minerals was observed. Conclusions Global community pharmacist knowledge of dietary supplements appears to be poor. Community pharmacists have an professional responsibility to provide accurate health information about dietary supplements as they do for any other therapies they provide to patients. Further research including that which assesses pharmacist's therapeutic knowledge of commonly sold vitamins and minerals is suggested.

The quality of diabetes care in the community: practice, policy and culture

Aim: Diabetes is an important barometer of health system performance. This chronic condition is a source of significant morbidity, premature mortality and a major contributor to health care costs. There is an increasing focus internationally, and more recently nationally, on system, practice and professional-level initiatives to promote the quality of care. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the ‘quality chasm’ around the organisation and delivery of diabetes care in general practice, to explore GPs’ attitudes to engaging in quality improvement activities and to examine efforts to improve the quality of diabetes care in Ireland from practice to policy. Methods: Quantitative and qualitative methods were used. As part of a mixed methods sequential design, a postal survey of 600 GPs was conducted to assess the organization of care. This was followed by an in-depth qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 31 GPs from urban and rural areas. The qualitative methodology was also used to examine GPs’ attitudes to engaging in quality improvement. Data were analysed using a Framework approach. A 2nd observation study was used to assess the quality of care in 63 practices with a special interest in diabetes. Data on 3010 adults with Type 2 diabetes from 3 primary care initiatives were analysed and the results were benchmarked against national guidelines and standards of care in the UK. The final study was an instrumental case study of policy formulation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 members of the Expert Advisory Group (EAG) for Diabetes. Thematic analysis was applied to the data using 3 theories of the policy process as analytical tools. Results: The survey response rate was 44% (n=262). Results suggested care delivery was largely unstructured; 45% of GPs had a diabetes register (n=157), 53% reported using guidelines (n=140), 30% had formal call recall system (n=78) and 24% had none of these organizational features (n=62). Only 10% of GPs had a formal shared protocol with the local hospital specialist diabetes team (n=26). The lack of coordination between settings was identified as a major barrier to providing optimal care leading to waiting times, overburdened hospitals and avoidable duplication. The lack of remuneration for chronic disease management had a ripple effect also creating costs for patients and apathy among GPs. There was also a sense of inertia around quality improvement activities particularly at a national level. This attitude was strongly influenced by previous experiences of change in the health system. In contrast GP’s spoke positively about change at a local level which was facilitated by a practice ethos, leadership and special interest in diabetes. The 2nd quantitative study found that practices with a special interest in diabetes achieved a standard of care comparable to the UK in terms of the recording of clinical processes of care and the achievement of clinical targets; 35% of patients reached the HbA1c target of <6.5% compared to 26% in England and Wales. With regard to diabetes policy formulation, the evolving process of action and inaction was best described by the Multiple Streams Theory. Within the EAG, the formulation of recommendations was facilitated by overarching agreement on the “obvious” priorities while the details of proposals were influenced by personal preferences and local capacity. In contrast the national decision-making process was protracted and ambiguous. The lack of impetus from senior management coupled with the lack of power conferred on the EAG impeded progress. Conclusions: The findings highlight the inconsistency of diabetes care in Ireland. The main barriers to optimal diabetes management center on the organization and coordination of care at the systems level with consequences for practice, providers and patients. Quality improvement initiatives need to stimulate a sense of ownership and interest among frontline service providers to address the local sense of inertia to national change. To date quality improvement in diabetes care has been largely dependent the “special interest” of professionals. The challenge for the Irish health system is to embed this activity as part of routine practice, professional responsibility and the underlying health care culture.

Understanding the Patient Experience Through the Power of Film: a Mixed Method Qualitative Research Project

Film is a highly attractive teaching instrument for the study of different terminal diseases, exploring bioethics (Beauchamp and Childress, 2009) and is a preferred medium over traditional lectures (Edmunds, 2013) to provide realistic examples for adult learners. It can tap into ethical issues; facilitate decision-making; and examine underlying issues such as euthanasia; assisted suicide; and professional responsibility. Contrast this with standard means of teaching, such as scenarios- although a useful pedagogic tool, these are limited because students must imagine the clinical scenario. Film can fill that imaginative gap (Volandes, 2007). It can be utilised as an active teaching strategy for a variety of topics in nursing (Edmunds, 2013) providing a unique way to promote active learning in nursing education (Herrman, 2006). The objectives of the study, aim to help pre registration student nurses from each year of study to engage with their role as health care professionals; provide open discussion and debate on how they view the personal experience of illness/disease/disability/death and to reflect on their role and provision of patient care. It is delivered in 3 tiers to provide a range of data for thematic analysis; 1) Film screening followed by a ‘5 minute reaction’ discussion and post screening questionnaire; 2) Pre screening guided activities for reflection and discussion; 3) Focus groups. This project meets identified aims from the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) by fostering creative and innovative approaches to teaching and learning; facilitating and supporting the design and delivery of continuing education development programmes and activities; and demonstrates professionalism that staff and institutions bring to teaching. Preliminary feedback and themes will be presented.