Aims & Objectives

Aims:

This course is designed for health professionals or graduates with health management experience who expect to move into senior and top management roles in a health system. The program is set primarily within the context of the public and national health services, but it is also relevant for managers of NGOs, and international organisations and of private hospitals. It is expected that students will be able to draw on their own knowledge of health management in class work and assignments, and applicants without any hospital experience will normally be expected to gain such experience before starting the program.
The course aims to develop the ability to think analytically and to handle the management and development issues faced by hospital senio and mid- level managers. These include structure and organisation, planning and managing resources, reviewing and evaluating services and understanding the local / national and international context of a health system.
 

Objectives:

In order to achieve the goals of the program, the following objectives were developed:

• To provide graduates with a sound understanding of complex health systems across the world focusing on the Hellenic health care system
• To develop sector-specific management knowledge together with the technical and managerial skills to successfully pursue a career in the health sector
• To support the development of the next generation of senior managers and leaders in the Hellenic health sector
• To support the development of a skill set to manage health entrepreneurship, innovation and change
• To enable students to acquire critical appraisal skills for evidence based decision-making

At the end of this program students should be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the field of health management, planning and policy-making in developing health systems with particular reference to governmental & NGO sectors;
• Identify, describe and critically analyse the major issues in management, planning and policy in the health and health related sectors in developing countries;
• Identify and explain the context, challenges and opportunities involved in the formulation and implementation of health policy within the health systems of developing countries;
• Review types of policies, situations and issues in the field of health management, planning and policy-making in developing country health systems;
• Apply knowledge and skills in selected areas of health management, planning and policy to local circumstances;
• Conform to accepted modes of professional behavior and work in a team in an appropriate role; build upon the concepts and methodologies developed during the program through completion of a dissertation;
• Evaluate economic activities whose primary purpose is to promote, restore or maintain health;
• Describe the role and apply selected techniques of health economics for financial planning;
• Develop and use a methodology for managing and planning for a decentralised health system;
• Describe and use concepts of organisation and structure, methods of planning and managing resources, and systems for reviewing and evaluating services;
• Analyse and develop hospital service policies in the relevant local and national context;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of good governance and professional ethics;
• Communicate effectively, work in groups, set priorities and manage workload effectively;
• Develop their capacity for independent learning and continuing professional development;
• Describe and critically analyse contemporary issues of health sector reforms and their relevance to human resources development;
• Analyse contemporary approaches to health human resources management and develop a strategic approach to development for the health sector;
• Construct a human resources development framework including the planning, training and management functions in health care;
• Conduct primary and secondary research in order to understand and develop evidence-based practice;
• Critically evaluate different training strategies and organise a training strategy for health personnel in a decentralised organisational structure;
• Describe and critique concepts of project appraisal, and design a framework for monitoring and evaluating a project or program;
• Describe and critique current concepts, models and theories of quality assurance;
• Construct a quality management policy for health care institutions.
• Demonstrate an understanding of theories and practices of public sector organisations and their management and leadership;
• Demonstrate an understanding of theories and practices which underpin effective, efficient and equitable public health policies and practices;
• Understand the role of management and leadership roles in public health;
• Possess conceptual understanding of management and leadership thinking that enables students to reflect on and evaluate critically both current research and its application to the practice of leadership in a public health context;
• Improve the understanding of management and leadership at the public health workplace by research-informed teaching into practice;
• Introduce students to the main scientific disciplines that contribute to modern public health.

Didactic Organization

TThe Master’s course lasts one academic year corresponding to 60 ECTS credits structured in videolessons, seminars, exercises, conferences, tutoring activities, research activities and training periods. The Master’s course includes ten modules and a research dissertation:

Module 1 – Principles of Health Management
Coordinator: Mr. Athanasios Kosmopoulos

Module 2 – Human Resources Management and Health Organisations
Coordinator: Dr. Evaggelia Lappa

Module 3 – Decision Making, Planning and Leadership
Coordinator: Dr. Kyriakos Kouveliotis

Module 4 – National Health Systems and Health Policy
Coordinator: Dr. Dr. Alexandra Skitzou

Module 5 – Management of Health Organisation
Coordinator: Mr. Athanasios Kosmopoulos

Module 6 – Financial and Economic Management of Health Organisations
Coordinator: Dr. Dr. Despena Andrioti

Module 7 – Information Technology in Health Systems
Coordinator: Dr. George Gkoutos

Module 8 – Psychology and Sociology of Health
Coordinator: Professor Nicolas Vernicos

Module 9 – Ethical, Cultural and Behavioural Aspects of Health
Coordinator: Professor Nicolas Vernicos

Module 10 – Socioeconomic Research in Health Services
Coordinator: Dr. Loukia Tsaprouni

Module 11 – Dissertation
Coordinator: Master’s Scientific Committee

In order to get the master’s title, that will be issued by the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO, the student ha to prepare a final thesis on a topic agreed with the Master’s course Scientific Committee.

Didactics

Didactic activity takes place through the Internet, in the “Master” section of the portal: www.uninettunouniversity.net, the first portal in the world where teaching is delivered in four languages: Arabic, French, English and Italian.The adopted psycho-pedagogic model implements the shift:

• from the central role of the teacher to that of the student;
• from the transmission of knowledge to the building of knowledge;
• from passive and competitive learning to active and collaborative learning.

The students play an active role in their learning progress and can study whenever and wherever they wish to. In the course of their learning, the students are guided by an online tutoring system which is able to facilitate their learning and web-based communication process and to supply them with the tools to carry out their study of their particular subject successfully. The online tutoring is organised into classes of students, with an advanced agenda system that is able to recognize each individual and to obtain the tracking of didactic activities and the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the learning process of each single student.

How to study

The didactic activity on the Internet unfold within the WEB macro-area known as the Didactic Cyberspace. In the Didactic Cyberspace the learning and developmental process is implemented and the access are differentiated through login and passwords on the basis of the three different roles of those who participate in the learning process: Professors, Tutors and Students.The three categories of those who utilize the service can access information linked to each teaching subject.

In particular, the Professor and Tutor can modify or substitute didactic materials and add new ones for the duration of the teaching period, while the student has his or her own area where data, information and personal notes can be inserted. The student can access:

• the Page of the Appointed Teaching Professor
• the Tutor Page.

Within these pages the Learning Environments are inserted and it is possible to access:

• Didactic Materials which constitute the course contents: digitized video-lessons with bookmarks allow the hypertextual and multimedia link to books, selected
  bibliographical references, texts of the exercises, lists of selected websites. The system of dynamic bookmarks gives the Internet-based video-lessons a hyper-textual character allowing different levels of navigation: from one lesson to the other one, between the subjects of a single lesson, between the materials referring to the same subject.
• Distance Tutoring.
  The students enrolled in the Master’s course will be able to be followed during every step of their study path by theTelematic Professor-Tutor, who represents a guide as well as a constant presence during your Learning Process. The long distance Tutoring activities can be carried out in two ways:
  • in a synchronic manner, by using the chat rooms, the videochat rooms, video and audio-conference systems activated in the Didactic Cyberspace, but also the three-dimensional classroom created on the UTIU Island of knowledge on Second Life.
  • in a diachronic manner, through tools such as e mail and discussion forums on the Internet.The discussion forums, related to the topics of a given teaching subject, allow you to extend the dialogue and activate a collaborative learning and to organize your thoughts regarding the discussion topic and study activity that you are engaged in.
• The virtual classroom in UNINETTUNO Island of Knowledge on Second Life
  In UNINETTUNO (International Telematic University) Island of Knowledge we realised an 3D Auditorium devoted to the Master’s course.This is where the students’ avatar and professors/tutors’ avatars interact in the three-dimensional world of UNINETTUNO by them voice. Practice works, assessment tests and videoconferences with the protagonists of the European Union attending through their avatars are carried out, as well as direct practice activities guided by the professors/tutors’ avatars. In the virtual classroom of Second Life on the UNINETTUNO Island of Knowledge the students and the professors/tutors teach and learn in a collaborative and cooperative way, they build and share knowledge with people belonging to different political, cultural and religious realities, they dialogue, cultural differences are compared, socialization processes are activated as well as the creation of new knowledge.