HLTHMGT721 Health Management is offered for students who want to enrol in postgraduate programmes at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS), such as Master in Health Leadership as a core paper, Master in Public Health (MPH) and other PG courses as elective papers. Most of the MPH students opted to study this paper as part of their master's degree. This is the only management course available at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. Potential students are encouraged to enrol in this course as soon as possible because the maximum intake for this course is only 40 students.
This course is helpful for prospective students who want to become managers in the health systems and health services sectors, including the Ministry of Health, Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ), World Health Organisation (WHO), private and public hospitals, primary care, Human Resources(HR) management sectors and private healthcare organisations.
This course follows problem-based learning (PBL) principles, introduces key issues, and provides the student with a wide range of general management principles in the health sector. There are six modules in this course to teach the following topics.
- The Role of Healthcare Professionals
- Organisational Culture & Self Care
- Organisational Management Theories
- Change Management & Framing of Leadership
- Workforce Development and Health Innovation for the Future of Health
- Human Resource Management & Health Systems
- Performance Management and Gap Analysis
- Clinical Governance & Health Management
- Financial management for value-based healthcare
Management tools such as SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces and Value-Values Matrix for team management will be used to identify the challenges and competencies required to function as an effective healthcare manager. Guest lectures by healthcare professionals, leaders and clinicians may be organised so that the students can learn directly from the healthcare organisations' perspectives on various topics.
In light of health organisations being heavily human resource-intensive, there is a focus on human resource management, team management and the role of innovation in workforce development for the future of the health workforce.
A feature of the course is the active participation of all involved. As we reflect and build on our experiences and share these with others in a theoretical context, learning takes place in the applied field of health management.
The course is taught on-site at the University Grafton campus. The students are required to attend all lectures as per the timetable provided and are expected to actively participate in class group work exercises to achieve effective learning outcomes. The material is applied throughout the course through case studies, discussions and in-class debates.
The course will help students critically evaluate how to be an effective healthcare manager and address the various demands of working in a healthcare organisation's complex, dynamic environment.
There is no written exam in this course, and 100% of the work is based on individual assignments for the learning outcome assessments.