100% Online MSc Healthcare Management

This module will present an introduction to the health of populations as examined from the state to the local level. A comparative examination of the structures and functions of healthcare systems will be offered, as well as a review of: the history of public health; basic classifications of diseases and disease outbreaks; concepts of disease transmission; basic indicators of morbidity and mortality; disease prevention and hygiene; primary healthcare and community health; economic impacts on healthcare; healthcare access; and One Health, Ecohealth, and Planetary Health.

This module will present an overview of healthcare systems, their functions, and modes of operation. The implications of different types of health systems in terms of access, financing, equity, and quality in health services will also be examined. Furthermore, we will problematise a solely top-down representation of healthcare and demonstrate the role of grass roots organisation and bottom-up healthcare initiatives, as well as the role of medical pluralism in determining how people actually use healthcare. We will also examine the different forms of primary healthcare and the successes and failures of decentralising the healthcare sector. Fundamental concepts of healthcare management and administration will also be reviewed.

Within this course you will explore the nature of the employment relationship and contemporary human resources management (HRM), the links between organisational strategy and HRM and the role of line management and HR-performance outcomes. Contextualised within healthcare provision, you will critically evaluate employee resourcing; employee performance and development; employee relations; and high-performance workplaces.

This course aims to develop a critical understanding of leadership within a healthcare setting by linking principles and practices together for the betterment of health-oriented organisations. Through asynchronous, online development, you will develop a critical understanding of the role of healthcare leaders in the development of strategy; the key models of leadership; the motivation and influencing of others; how to explore and shape organisational culture; the importance of ethical practice; and the principles of change management.

This module aims to develop a comprehensive and critical understanding of the theory and practice of health promotion in the context of interagency and multidisciplinary partnership collaborations. Topics covered include: Partnerships between disciplines, communities and statutory and non-statutory public bodies; Co-production and stakeholder involvement; Health equity; Individual and community dimensions of empowerment; and Social justice.

This module is designed to provide you with the knowledge and skills required to successfully carry out a research project at master’s level. Topics include the philosophical underpinnings of research, good research design, data collection and analysis methods, and research ethics. Research is key to management decision-making as there is a strong correlation between the quality of evidence and the decision taken. While this module develops you for your research project, the knowledge and skills generated will last a lifetime. 

This course seeks to provide a critical understanding to the concepts and analytical techniques in management accounting that can provide relevant information for managerial decision-making in planning and controlling the activities within a healthcare environment. On completion, you should be able to identify, interpret, and evaluate the results of cost analysis techniques and critically understand the treatment and structure of master budgets for planning and control purposes. Topics include accrual accounting, cost behaviour and forecasting, activity-based costing, break even analysis, relevant information for managerial decision-making, preparation of master and flexible budgets, responsibility reporting and investment appraisal will be explored and contextualised within a healthcare environment.

Local level and primary health care will be the focus of this module, with a special emphasis on mental health and psychosocial support. The challenges of working and intervening at local, community levels, and the access to resources, will be examined. Sociocultural factors, including the social determinants of health will be central to this module. The means to build community support, social cohesion, social capital, and resilience in fostering more self-sufficient communities will also be exam

This module considers a range of different analytical approaches; descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, regression analysis and correlation, and logistic regression, and links these to the theory around decision-making including trees and decision analysis.

This module prepares you to design, implement, and monitor and evaluate health programmes and projects. You will be equipped with the critical skills needed to assess and overcome obstacles and challenges in the application of project design approaches to health programming. The logical framework will be used as a model for project design, monitoring and evaluation. 

The Research Project is the pinnacle of achievement in the master’s programme. It is equivalent to two taught modules in terms of credits (30) and is expected to involve 300 hours of student effort. The research project must reflect sufficient evidence of independent thought to justify the award at master’s level. It enables you to further develop subject area specialisms drawn from the taught modules of the programme, and to utilise research techniques outlined in the Research Methods for Management module.