WM076-15 Leading Change in Healthcare
Introductory description
The landscape defining healthcare service delivery is undergoing rapid changes. While this has created unprecedented opportunities for providing high quality person-centred care, it also brings with it unique challenges on best ways to manage the changes that are redefining the service environment. Hence, leaders and managers must not only deal with changes that are redefining care delivery, equally important, they must anticipate trends that will lead to change; provide leadership in a work environment often characterized by unforeseen events that trigger change; find ways to address reactions and resistance to change while at the same time identify and harness the opportunities that arise from the change.
At times, they might even have to initiate change, develop a plan and communicate this to staff and other stakeholders, and oversee the implementation process so as to facilitate the intended impact.
Module aims
- Examine relevant evidence to develop an understanding on ways to respond to new challenges and uncertainties that can affect complex and highly distributed service organizations.
- Develop the self-awareness to be a leader of change by understanding leadership theories and gaining self-insight through experiential exercises of how change affects oneself and how to inspire change in others
- Understand and evaluate practical frameworks, tools and techniques in order to initiate and lead change, resolve conflicts and competing priorities in healthcare environments.
- Understand the sustainable impact of change on governance, ethics and values involving health services
- Analyze and synthesise critical evidence to enhance the effectiveness of change process to a given situation requiring interdependent decision making in the context of health service delivery
- Critically reflect how change processes affect organization wide improvement and performance.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
-
Leadership in the healthcare context of change, complexity and ambiguity
-
Applying frameworks, models and tools for change in a healthcare environment
-
Resolving conflict – values, discourse and dialogue
-
Embedding and sustaining change in healthcare contexts
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Articulate a comprehensive understanding of the different requirements for initiating change and describe how these could be implemented in selected scenarios involving complex health care organizations providing patient services
- Demonstrate critical understanding of the impact of change on the design, economics, governance and ethical considerations surrounding the management of healthcare service delivery systems
- Analyze critical evidence on tools, methods and concepts to be effective leaders of change in healthcare environments
- Demonstrate critical understanding of existing theories and concepts involving change, and be able to apply these to new problems and scenarios in health service delivery
- Critically evaluate suitability of factors necessary to initiate and manage change in health service and describe how these can be implemented in selected scenarios
Indicative reading list
Generic Reading lists can be found in Talis
Specific reading list for the module can be found on
Research element
This module incorporates elements of exploratory research, essence and importance of qualitative and procedural information, themes that arise from complex information and their interpretation surrounding quality improvement in the healthcare sector.
Interdisciplinary
Healthcare operational management is an emerging discipline that combines health science methodologies with engineering, statistics, quantitative elements of management with data science for quality and productivity improvement in the healthcare sector. In the context of this module, elements of leading change sit at the borders of these disciplines.
Subject specific skills
-Structuring healthcare system
-Organizational interdependencies
-Continuous improvement
-Ethics and values
-Strategies
Transferable skills
-Teamwork and collaboration
-Modelling complex decisions
-Stakeholders
-Negotiation
-Translating information into operational strategies
-Complexity and ambiguity
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 20 sessions of 1 hour (13%) |
| Seminars | (0%) |
| Practical classes | (0%) |
| Online learning (scheduled sessions) | 10 sessions of 1 hour (7%) |
| Online learning (independent) | 30 sessions of 1 hour (20%) |
| Private study | 30 hours (20%) |
| Assessment | 60 hours (40%) |
| Total | 150 hours |
Private study description
Students will be provided with a reading list which they will use to support their learning on the subject matter involving the module. Once students have read the articles from the reading list, they will be able to use the derived knowledge and information to conduct their own research and increase their understanding of topics taught through the module.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A3
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written Assignment-1 | 65% | 35 hours | Yes (extension) |
|
Develop a case for change in the health sector with underpinning evidence. |
|||
| Written Assessment-2. | 35% | 25 hours | Yes (extension) |
|
Critically evaluate theory guiding change process in the health sector. |
|||
Assessment group R
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written Assignment-1 | 65% | 35 hours | No |
| Written Assessment-2. | 35% | 25 hours | No |
Feedback on assessment
Written feedback on each assignment.
Courses
This module is Core optional for:
- Year 1 of TWMS-B9AA Postgraduate Healthcare Operational Management