Description
Healthcare is becoming unsustainable. Twenty years ago, it was possible to have a national health system that provided healthcare for all, based on need. However, the expansion of healthcare options and their spiraling upwards costs mean that there is more demand than a nation can supply. Different forms of healthcare rationing are becoming commonplace. In some countries, people are consuming healthcare to the point of being harmed, while others receive none, and many health resources are wasted. Approximately two-thirds of health interventions have been found to be useful, and about a third are ineffectual or cause harm. In this subject you will examine the reasons for this, and explore possible responses. These include: audit and feedback of the quality of clinical services delivered by any single clinical unit; establishing processes for changing disease definitions that include input from the community; antibiotic stewardship programs; and carefully assessing any clinical incentives before applying them.
Subject details
| Type | Postgraduate |
| Code | HPER71-117 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine |
| Credit | 10 |
| Study areas |
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Learning outcomes
1. Articulate the reasons for variations in healthcare quality.
2. Discuss how to measure quality in healthcare, and critically evaluate the quality of a service for overdiagnosis and over-treatment.
3. Recognise diagnostics, prognostics, and changes in the disease definitions and thresholds that can lead to overdiagnosis.
4. Describe how the drivers for expanding disease definitions are causing overdiagnosis and over-detection of disease, in both clinical practice and screening.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of shared decision making.
6. Explain the issues surrounding inequality of healthcare delivery in populations, and propose solutions.
7. Track how waste in research contributes to downstream waste in clinical services.
Enrolment requirements
| Requisites: ? | Nil |
|---|---|
| Assumed knowledge: | Assumed knowledge is the minimum level of knowledge of a subject area that students are assumed to have acquired through previous study. It is the responsibility of students to ensure they meet the assumed knowledge expectations of the subject. Students who do not possess this prior knowledge are strongly recommended against enrolling and do so at their own risk. No concessions will be made for students’ lack of prior knowledge. An understanding of the health system and evidence based practice. |
| Restrictions: ? | Nil |
Subject dates
Future offerings not yet planned.