Healthcare Management MSc
1 Year Full-Time | September Start

On this module you will appreciate the knowledge and skills needed to undertake research. You will learn about research philosophy, methodology and the different methods associated with a range of research traditions. You will explore the value of research evidence in informing public health and healthcare management practices and be able to apply the principles of research to critically appraise research quality. Specifically on this module you will learn about:
• Locating and organising literature
• Philosophical assumptions and foundations of enquiry
• Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methodological approaches
• Data collection, data analysis and interpretation
• Research governance and ethical issues
• Analysis and interpretation
By the end of the module you will be able to prepare a research proposal on a topic of interest to yourself and of value to public health / healthcare management.

This module will enable you to understand and critically appraise theories and concepts of strategic management approaches in relation to healthcare organisations. You will be introduced to the conceptual foundations of management, focussing on the essential strategic tasks of leadership and management. In particular research and theory on organisational behaviour will foster your understanding of the impact of positive and negative relationships within the organisational healthcare culture. You will learn how leadership and change management skills are addressed as an integral part of management in relation to communication and project planning for healthcare leaders. The module is particularly relevant if you are a senior or aspiring manager working in healthcare but is also very relevant if you have an interest in management in healthcare organisations. As a manager in a strategic role, you could be setting objectives for the organisation and creating the routes towards reaching these goals.
Key area you will study include:-
Understanding healthcare organizations: Challenges for Healthcare Management: global perspectives
Strategic Management: levels of strategy; Strategic planning
Service Area Competitor Analysis: Determining obstacles and boundaries
Internal Environmental Analysis: Resources Management for high performance healthcare
The Organizational setting: The meaning of organizational behaviour; Organizational practices
Managers and managerial behaviour: Principles of management; Managerial roles; Managerial effectiveness
Culture and climate in healthcare organizations: Cross-cultural leadership
You will critically apply knowledge within areas of your discipline and /or healthcare management that will support your future employability and long term career prospects.

This research rich module will enable you to bring together the knowledge, understanding and skills that you have accrued from other modules on your programme. Prior to the undertaking this module, you will have completed the appropriate level of study that prepares you for engagement with a Masters dissertation process. The module provides you with a vehicle for developing, refining and applying your research skills in an independent project.
You will identify a topic with which you are familiar, and which you believe has scope for development or change that will be the focus of your independent study. You can chose one of two methods to structure your dissertation.
- Systematic Review :A structured analysis of evidence
- Empirical research: Based on primary data analysis or secondary sources

In the module, you will revisit and deepen your understandings of a range of key topic areas linked to the research process within your chosen method. This may include discussion of worldviews and research paradigms, research design, working with literature and theory, developing ethical codes, collecting robust research evidence, ensuring quality assurance within your research work, and writing and disseminating the research dissertation work.
There will be a series of research seminars during the module and you will have access to a named supervisor for one to one supervision work. Both the seminars and supervision will enable you to critically examine how the research process will work best for your dissertation goals and design.

Through studying this module you will learn about the theories and models of leadership and management relevant to public health and / or healthcare management.
You will explore models of partnership working and the importance of working collaboratively to improve the health of the public. You will explore the application of leadership and management within contexts responsible for the provision of public health and / or healthcare management. You will gain an increased understanding of the importance of working in collaboration with partners to maximise resources and lead on health activities that aim to improve the health of the public and develop health services. You will critically evaluate a range of core concepts, theories and frameworks which are fundamental to understanding leadership and management theories and models of partnership working. You will have the opportunity to reflect on your own skill base and identify developmental needs in becoming an effective leader who is responsive and adaptive to change. Your learning on this module will include some of the key tasks involved in leadership and management within public health and / or healthcare management.

Specific areas that you will study will include:-

• Leadership and management theories
• Performance management and resource allocation in public health and healthcare management services
• Collaborative leadership skills development.
• Effective partnership working
• Approaches to negotiation and influencing
• Using tools for service improvement
• Leading in different public health and / or healthcare management contexts.

This module will support you in developing your personal and professional competencies as an existing or aspiring manager. You will develop your self-awareness and self-management, interpersonal skills and your abilities in working with others. You will focus specifically on developing core management and leadership skills and understanding the theories, concepts and models that underpin those skills. The broad areas covered by this module include:

Self -awareness and reflection
Interpersonal skills including emotional Intelligence
Team dynamics and team working
Communication

You will work on further enhancing your personal effectiveness by focusing on how you work effectively with others, through collaborating, influencing, and negotiating. You will have opportunities to consider ways in which leadership and management skills can be applied in a healthcare context. The importance of self- awareness and reflection will be a key feature of this module. On completion of the module, you will be able to critically analyse your own competence in relation to your professional practice or future career aspirations and present a personal development plan, which is appropriate to your chosen career context.

In this module, you will learn what health improvement is and how to critically understand the role that health behaviours, practices, interventions and forms of health communication play in health improvement. You will explore the origins, content and organisation of health improvement practices in the UK and beyond (including cross-national comparisons and international policies and practices). The module will enable you to identify and critically reflect on the main theoretical principles underlying health improvement and critically apply these to improving health and in response to health inequalities and inequities. You will examine how various forms of intervention in health improvement (including community development, social marketing and critical health communication) can be (and have been) used to influence health and social change. You will learn how to effectively solve real-world problems and develop skills to enable you to plan, implement and evaluate appropriate health improvement interventions. You will also engage in peer-learning, drawing on the wide variety of practice experience possessed by our cohorts. Key topics you will study include:-
• Introduction to Health Improvement: Origins, Content and Organisation
• Theories of Behaviour Change and Health
• Health Communication: Theories, Approaches and Practice
• Cross-national Case-studies in Health Promotion: Developing Critical Understandings of Wellbeing
• Social Marketing and Health Improvement
• Health Improvement and Community Development (including Community Wealth Building, Asset based, Foundational Economy etc)
Health Informatics and ‘Learning Health Systems’
• Evaluation, Ethics and Public Participation in Health Improvement
• Health Improvement: Comparisons and Lessons

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.