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

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.

1. Leadership in the healthcare context of change, complexity and ambiguity

2. Applying frameworks, models and tools for change in a healthcare environment

3. Resolving conflict – values, discourse and dialogue

4. 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

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Specific reading list for the module

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