Learn to improve healthcare processes at the organisational level from a strategic point of view.
Quality improvement and process optimisation are important topics within any healthcare organisation. When healthcare processes are not well-organised, they can lead to inefficiencies, increased workload, waste, delays, unsatisfactory outcomes, and public dissatisfaction. So what does it take to get processes better aligned within a healthcare organisation? How do you deploy capacities (i.e. resources, people, spaces) in the most intelligent and efficient way, and how could this reduce workload? And how do you minimise costs without compromising patients’ health and safety? If you are eager to find ways to improve healthcare processes at the organisational level, with a focus on the strategic component of healthcare management, then the specialisation in Optimisation of Healthcare Processes is right for you.
what is optimisation of healthcare processes?
In essence, this specialisation is about finding ways to keep healthcare accessible and affordable with existing resources in money and in human capacity. Guided by three subthemes – process optimisation, quality management, and finance and purchasing – you will aim to find solutions to problems that many healthcare organisations are dealing with, from hospitals to home care institutions, but also health insurance companies or mental health institutions, for example. You might focus on finding solutions for the healthcare staffing crisis: is there really a shortage, or could workflow improvements and other changes help staff to work smarter, not harder – thereby reducing workload? And what role could patients play in decision-making processes?
Examples of courses you will follow during this specialisation:
- Operations Management is a broad topic that involves planning, capacity, maintenance and inventory management, storage, and transport. It’s been studied extensively for applications in industry, but not much for healthcare. In the course Optimising Healthcare Processes you will acquire the tools to analyse and optimise care processes.
- In the course Quality Management in Healthcare, you will learn to examine trends and developments in society and their effect on the quality of healthcare, and explore possible ways of monitoring healthcare quality.
- How to reduce healthcare costs without losing healthcare quality? How can healthcare providers contract suppliers more efficiently and effectively? And how to smoothen negotiations between care providers, insurance companies and municipalities? You will learn all about the purchasing side of healthcare in the course Finance and Healthcare Purchasing.
This specialisation puts a strong emphasis on data-driven decision-making – helping you to get to the forefront of the transformation towards data-driven healthcare. For example, how can data help to reduce waiting times for surgeries or appointments in hospitals? Or to compare the outcomes of different treatments to determine which was most effective? And how can you measure the performance of certain processes within a healthcare organisation? You will learn all about benchmarking using key performance indicators. There is a great variety of challenges you can come across, all closely related to the professional field – often even in collaboration with healthcare institutions, such as hospitals MST or Rijnstate, for example.
After completing this Master’s specialisation, you:
- have solid knowledge and understanding of how the quality and safety of healthcare organisations can be improved, can explain the use and design of indicators in process improvements, know the dynamics of (virtual) accreditation and quality control, and can explain the role of professional culture in quality improvement activities;
- have broad knowledge of how to perform and manage professional purchasing in the healthcare sector;
- have solid knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of healthcare delivery processes, the effects of variability on operational performance, interventions in capacity planning and their effects, and the application of optimisation tools.
After successfully finishing this Master’s specialisation, you:
- are able to work in an interdisciplinary context, apply risk assessments, indicator assessments, and risk analysis on quality issues in healthcare, and can communicate on the quality of care and provide recommendations for quality improvement;
- are able to diagnose root causes of operational problems, define and assess performance, and communicate with both clinicians and technical experts on these, and contribute to implementing and evaluating organisational interventions;
- are able to make conclusions and draw recommendations for healthcare finance and purchasing; explain the healthcare finance and purchasing roles in the Dutch healthcare context; develop healthcare purchasing strategy, specifications, supplier selection, negotiation, and contract management decisions; and suggest improvements for GPOs in the healthcare sector.
After completing this Master’s specialisation, you:
- have a transparent, though critical attitude towards quality improvement strategies for the optimisation of healthcare processes;
- have a holistic view and critical thinking about the pluralistic nature of healthcare organisations, aiming to improve finance and purchasing decision-making.
Other master's and specialisations
Is this specialisation not exactly what you’re looking for? Maybe one of the other specialisations suits you better. Or find out more about related Master’s:
