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Unit Code: HSM708

Unit Name: Health Services Management

Description: Health managers have been struggling a long time with the appropriate managing of health resources in the entire health systems. This is due to the complexity of the health systems and the need to meet the health need and demand from our clients within our scarce health resources. The challenge for our health managers is to meet these expectations from our clients and key stakeholders and at the same time the delivery of quality health services. Some of the management challenges include internal targets like meeting the goal of the organization, management of manpower strength, conflict resolution, decision making, quality management, leadership, and external targets like clinical governance and negotiations with other key stakeholders to name a few. This course aims to highlight all the important areas that are encountered by health managers in the day to day operations of health services. It is designed to provide essential and practical knowledge and skills in the health services management. Practically, health professionals spend approximately 40 – 50% of their time in managing resources such as people, medical supplies, finance, assets, planning and supervision. The course intends to address these issues and draws experience from all levels of care, i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary level care and focuses on the development of a multi-skilled health workforce. The course is designed to offer the following benefits to students: o Multi-skilled workforce o Well versed with management principles, communication and planning o Improved collaboration with the stakeholders in the health sector o Better understanding of the roles, responsibilities, accountability and transparency of the health professionals o Efficient and effective delivery of the health services o Well managed public sector resources and assets o Institutional capacity building

Learning Target Outcomes: On successful completion of this course, the students will be able to : 1. Distinguish managerial functions, roles, skills and competencies and discover health economics. 2. Analyze the importance of communication in health care management and assess the Fijian Health Information System structure. 3. Examine financial reports in health care management and demonstrate financial management skills. 4. Explain the decision making and conflict resolution process to be used as a general guide. 5. Discover the importance of quality management and clinical governance in health care management. 6. Examine leadership in health care and discover strategic and corporate planning 7. Assess the importance of delegation, negotiation, ethics, equity and social responsibility in health care.

Prerequisite: NA

Prerequisite Sentence: N/A

Credit Point: 15

Offered In: Semester 1