Module 1: What Makes a High-Performing Healthcare Organisation?

Every healthcare provider needs to deliver high quality care to patients.  But how do we define “high quality care” and what are the practices and behaviours through which it is achieved?  In this module we consider the types of performance outcome that define a successful healthcare service and the characteristics of high-performing healthcare providers.  The topics covered in this module include:

• the standards that must be achieved in order for a healthcare organisation or service to be described as ‘high-performing’
• the characteristics of high-performing healthcare organisations
• what ‘high performance’ means for your unit or department

Module 2: What Makes a High-Performing Healthcare Team?

Despite the wealth of evidence-based research that demonstrates a consistent link between teamwork and patient outcomes, we frequently undervalue and neglect the importance of co-ordination and integration in the delivery of care. In this module we therefore take a detailed look at how to lead effective teams and transform their performance.  The topics covered in this module include:

• the impact of effective teamwork and why it is so important in healthcare
• the major obstacles to effective team-working in healthcare
• how to measure and observe the effectiveness of a healthcare team
• how to develop your healthcare team and improve their performance

Module 3: What Makes a High-Performing Healthcare Leader?

In this module we will be exploring the most influential factor that shapes the culture and success of healthcare organisations: leadership.  We will review the evidence on what makes a high-performing healthcare leader and explore how you can develop your own leadership qualities.  The topics covered in this module include:

• the personal leadership behaviours associated with superior performance in healthcare organisations,
• the role of competencies and competency models in defining what leadership means, and
• how to assess and reflect on your personal leadership qualities and continuously develop yourself as a healthcare leader.

Module 4: Developing a Strategic Plan

For many healthcare organisations, success means delivering high quality, safe, patient-centred care.  But for others there is the additional challenge of gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage over rivals.  In this module we examine how healthcare providers can understand their “marketplace” and the needs of their patients in order to plan for success.  The topics covered in this module include:

• what is meant by ‘strategy’ and ‘strategic planning’ and why they are essential to the success of healthcare organisations
• how to understand the threats and opportunities facing your healthcare service or organisation by analysing your macroeconomic environment, your competitive environment and your customer’s needs
• how to critically reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your unit, department or organisation and identify priorities for improvement

Module 5: Executing a Strategic Plan

In our previous module we looked at how to analyse the internal and external factors that influence a healthcare organisation’s strategic choices and identify priorities for improvement in order to develop a strategic plan.  In this module we shift our focus to how healthcare leaders make strategy happen.  The topics covered in this module include:

• how to communicate our vision and goals using Strategy Maps
• how to use Balanced Scorecards containing measures, targets and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track progress towards achievement of our strategic goals
• how to design a portfolio of strategic projects and initiatives capable of delivering our strategic goals

Module 6: Managing Healthcare Operations

In this module we explore what healthcare operations management is and why the performance it results in can make or break a healthcare organisation or service.  The topics covered in this module include:

• how volume, variety, variation and visibility explain the differences between different types of healthcare service
• how healthcare services align their resources, capabilities and processes with their performance objectives
• the four major decision areas of the healthcare operations manager: capacity, purchasing and supply, process technology and improvement

Module 7: Digital Healthcare Transformation

Technology has far too profound an impact on the delivery of healthcare services for decisions about its use to be left solely to technical specialists.  In this module we explore the role a healthcare leader should take in deciding what digital innovations to invest in and when to use them.  The topics covered in this module include:

• what are digital healthcare innovations and why do they matter in healthcare?
• using a digital innovation roadmap to identify your service’s potential future needs
• how to evaluate a new technology and decide whether to use it

Module 8: How Healthcare is Paid For

In our final module we’re asking a simple question: how is healthcare paid for?  Frequently complex, never perfect, healthcare payment systems are constantly changing and evolving in response to both economic and political pressures.  The topics covered in this module include:

• the four main funding models used by states to pay for healthcare services
• the main payment models used to pay healthcare providers such as hospitals and primary care clinics
• how funding and payment models are combined in different ways by the world’s main healthcare systems