Ethical Decision-Making in Care (FutureLearn)

Ethical Decision-Making in Care (FutureLearn)

Raise your awareness of everyday ethical issues in care and learn techniques to make ethical decisions. Learn how to use ethical frameworks to make decisions in care. On this course, you’ll explore ethical issues that arise in daily care, and learn the best practices for reflecting on and making moral decisions.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

You’ll consider different ethical frameworks, including human rights, virtue ethics and the ‘Four Principles’ of medical ethics: nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and respect for autonomy.
You’ll compare methods of analysing a caregiving scenario, and identify the moral and ethical problems of a care situation. You’ll also learn how to apply a deliberative framework, where deliberation on a decision from multiple points of view is essential.

What topics will you cover?
Different ethical frameworks:

  • Four Principles of Biomedical Ethics
  • Human Rights
  • Virtue Ethics
  • ETHICS Deliberative Framework

Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explain the meaning of 'ethics' in relation to care.
  • Explain how ethics differs from related concepts.
  • Explain The Four Principles Approach to care ethics.
  • Apply the Four Principles to a midwifery scenario.
  • Identify why ethics in care now receives a lot of media attention.
  • Describe human rights frameworks that impact on care-giving.
  • Evaluate the role of human rights in care.
  • Apply insights in human rights to decision-making regarding disagreements in care.
  • Describe the key elements of Virtue Ethics.
  • Identify moral problems that arise in care.
  • Debate the usefulness of Virtue Ethics in relating to care-recipient choices.
  • Apply Virtue Ethics to public health decision-making.
  • Identify ethical aspects of an elder care scenario.
  • Compare and contrast three different ways of analysing an elder care scenario.
  • Apply a Deliberative Framework to care-giving scenarios.
  • Discuss the role of ethical decision-making in care during a pandemic.
  • Reflect on your learning from this course.

Who is the course for?
This course is primarily designed for caregivers, care assistants and nurses.
However, the course will also be of interest to anyone engaged in health and social care, or who uses health and social care services.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Inside the UK Supreme Court: Its Role, Its Work, and Cases that Affect Us All (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Royal Holloway, University of London,Judicial Committee of The Privy Council,The Supreme Court of The United Kingdom

Inside the UK Supreme Court: Its Role, Its Work, and Cases that Affect Us All (FutureLearn)

Law

Explore the role of the UK Supreme Court, hear from its Justices and staff, and learn about some of the Court’s landmark rulings. Delve into the UK Supreme Court and its inner workings. If you’d like to learn more about the UK Supreme Court, what it does, and what it’s like to work there, then this Royal Holloway course, produced in collaboration with the Supreme Court, is for you.

Mar 14th 2022
2 Weeks
Introduction to Research Ethics: Working with People (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Introduction to Research Ethics: Working with People (FutureLearn)

Find out how to conduct ethical research when working with people with this online course for academic researchers. Ensure your research is up to the highest ethical standards. On this course, you will learn the principles of ethical research, and how to manage human subject research in sensitive and appropriate ways. You will consider issues like gaining consent, making sure that personal information is handled safely, and recruiting vulnerable participants.

Feb 16th 2026
2 Weeks
Preparing for an International Health Elective: Training in Global Health, Ethics and Safety (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
King's College London,St George's, University of London

Preparing for an International Health Elective: Training in Global Health, Ethics and Safety (FutureLearn)

Prepare for undertaking an International Health Elective, in this course developed in collaboration with King's College London. International health electives (IHEs) are highly variable, student-organised placements that offer important opportunities for student-directed learning about health and healthcare in unfamiliar contexts. They enable medical and healthcare students to take responsibility for their own learning and to explore areas of interest relevant to future careers.

Oct 19th 2020
3 Weeks
Inclusive leadership in health and care (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
NHS Leadership Academy

Inclusive leadership in health and care (FutureLearn)

Develop inclusive and compassionate leadership skills to ensure diversity and equality in the health and care industry. Manage health and care teams with powerful inclusive leadership strategies. The importance of inclusive leadership is increasingly understood and sought after across almost every industry. This includes the health and care sector, and managers and supervisors need to develop these leadership skills if they want to stay relevant in the workplace. This six-week course from the NHS Leadership Academy will help you to do just that.

Jun 20th 2022
5-12 Weeks
Caring for Older People: a Partnership Model (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Deakin University

Caring for Older People: a Partnership Model (FutureLearn)

As our lifespans increase, more and more of us are faced with the question: how can we care for older people more effectively? Discover practical ways to better support and care for older people. Ageing and some of the challenges it represents can be a daunting experience for older people, their family, friends and healthcare teams alike. The purpose of this course is to help you better understand and address these challenges by exploring a partnership model of care that aims to build stronger and more beneficial relationships between older people and those who care for them in a variety of care settings.

Aug 1st 2022
2 Weeks
Protect the Protest: Using Our Rights to Freedom of Assembly and Expression (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Amnesty International

Protect the Protest: Using Our Rights to Freedom of Assembly and Expression (FutureLearn)

Investigate the concept of protesting as a tool for social change, as well as how the freedom to protest is under threat. Examine the power of protest and its part in protecting human rights. Protesting is a powerful tool for promoting and defending human rights, used throughout history to change mindsets and agendas. On this three-week course from Amnesty International, you’ll investigate the power of protest as a force for change and explore current challenges to the right to protest.

Jul 25th 2022
3 Weeks
The School for Change Agents (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
NHS Leadership Academy,NHS Horizons

The School for Change Agents (FutureLearn)

Develop the skills to make a difference and create change in your organisation on this course targeted to health and care staff. Build the confidence needed to make change happen. Do you want to make a difference in your organisation? On this course, you will build the skills, confidence, and supportive community needed to create change in an evolving environment.

Nov 11th 2024
5-12 Weeks
Ethical Cities: Shaping the Future of Your City (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
RMIT University

Ethical Cities: Shaping the Future of Your City (FutureLearn)

Understand the problems cities face and learn how they can be resolved with ethical solutions. On our urbanizing planet, we need inclusive city economies that work for all. Who runs your city? What makes your city liveable? Using stories from cities around the world, this course will introduce you to the importance of ethics in civic leadership, planning, and business, and citizen engagement.

Mar 29th 2021
5-12 Weeks
Decision Making in a Complex World: Using Computer Simulations to Understand Human Behaviour (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Groningen,University of Warsaw,Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society,ACTiSS

Decision Making in a Complex World: Using Computer Simulations to Understand Human Behaviour (FutureLearn)

Understand how humans make decisions by exploring illustrative videos, short articles, and simulations on your own computer. Gain insights into the social phenomena around making choices. People use social cues to help them make decisions in diverse situations. This information is often scarce and uncertain but is also sometimes overwhelmingly abundant. With so many variables, how does the human decision-making process actually work?

Apr 25th 2022
3 Weeks
Research Ethics and Vulnerability: Ethical Research in Adults with Impaired Decision-Making Capacity (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Malaya

Research Ethics and Vulnerability: Ethical Research in Adults with Impaired Decision-Making Capacity (FutureLearn)

Learn how to conduct ethical research with adults who have impaired decision-making capacity. Effectively protect research participants with impaired decision-making capacity. It is your responsibility to protect research participants. Those who have impaired decision-making capacity are incapable of giving informed consent. They may not be able to protect their own interests and merit special consideration by researchers and research ethics committees.

May 16th 2022
2 Weeks
Using Virtual Scenarios to Create Effective Learning (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
St George's, University of London,Waves

Using Virtual Scenarios to Create Effective Learning (FutureLearn)

Learn how to use virtual scenarios to help people practice their decision making and prepare for real world challenges. Virtual scenarios are online educational resources which help learners explore real world decisions, making both good judgements and errors in a safe environment. They are used to prepare professionals to deal with a range of workplace challenges.

Mar 1st 2021
3 Weeks
Develop Conceptual Thinking for Problem-Solving (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
FutureLearn

Develop Conceptual Thinking for Problem-Solving (FutureLearn)

Use critical thinking and the conceptual thinking framework to approach problems effectively and communicate your solutions. Learn to solve complex problems with strategic thinking Life and business are getting faster and more complex every day. The faster pace ramps up the pressure to act quickly but this complexity demands careful, strategic, conceptual thinking, which takes time.

Jul 26th 2021
4 Weeks