92847 Planning and Evaluating Health Services
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particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Subject level: Postgraduate
Result type: Grade and marksAnti-requisite(s): 96331 Planning and Evaluating Health Services
Description
This subject aims to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to understand and apply the major concepts involved in health and social care services planning and evaluation. Topics covered include the relationship between evaluation and planning; the importance of assessing need, and understanding data and data sources; and the perils of health care forecasting, whole of nation and beyond hospital walls planning, and the challenges ahead for futuristic planning. Workforce planning and service capability frameworks are addressed as well as planning capital infrastructure for health services. How to evaluate and implement a health services plan is also described. In order to highlight the complexities of health services planning and provide an opportunity for students to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of selected health services approaches, a range of case studies are utilised covering an existing health service, a new purpose-built facility, primary and community health service, disease type, age type, and service model type. An emphasis is placed on the importance of stakeholder consultation and engagement within the health services planning environment.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| A. | Evaluate local circumstances and use evidence based health planning principles, frameworks and processes. |
|---|---|
| B. | Identify and assess community health status, demographics and social conditions that impact health. |
| C. | Determine the issues impacting health planning and health plan evaluation, including enabling and impeding factors. |
| D. | Effectively communicate complex health service planning issues. |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes specifically to the following graduate attributes:
- Demonstrate leadership in health and social care through communication and collaboration with specialist and nonspecialist audiences to optimise individual and system outcomes. (2.2)
- Critically reflect on the intersection between Indigenous contexts and health services management to inform ethical work practices with and for Indigenous Australians. (4.1)
Teaching and learning strategies
Teaching and learning strategies
This subject is taught using a variety of teaching and learning strategies. The strategies used emphasise active and applied approaches to developing students’ ability to understand management in health services and organisations, and apply this knowledge to generate effective, practical solutions to health system challenges. An overarching theme of the approaches to teaching and learning is to support students to actively learn in the classroom (individually and in collaboration with others), where they can interact with each other and the facilitator who can observe, assist and coach them.
Understanding and critical thinking skills will be encouraged via a range of activities, including:
- Pre-class learning via on-line resources to prepare for active participation in workshops.
- Mini lectures and briefings, which include whole class brainstorming sessions.
- In-class problem solving, discovery-based and critical thinking activities via cooperative group work (pairs and small groups).
- Whole class teaching with examples, illustrations and data.
- Time while on campus for students to reflect on, explain and record assessable tasks under continual advice and guidance.
- Student led activities.
- Real-time in-class feedback.
Online learning activities
Students will be guided in accessing and utilising online learning resources including podcasts, videos, professional and grey literature and other activities. Engaging with online resources and completing online activities enables students to clarify complex and new concepts and terminology at their own pace. Online activities are then discussed in tutorials and discussion board activities. to share learning, experiences and reflections.
Case studies and stories from practice
Case studies and stories from practice depict available technologies and implementation histories locally, nationally and internationally. Students use these scenarios to learn concepts, appreciate how selected digital health interactions have been embedded in practice, apply these technologies to their own clinical specialty or area of the health sector, and interpret the value of the technologies to health service efficiency and effectiveness and patient-centred healthcare. Critical thinking is developed through analysis, interpretation and application of existing evidence and application of data and knowledge management principles.
Assessment range
Students will be exposed to a variety of assessment modes, including quizzes, evaluation of a data collection and data exchange process and design of a digital health intervention and data analysis project. Feedback will be provided on assessments to ensure students can identify areas for development and areas of sufficient expertise or knowledge. Students are encouraged to use contemporary educational technology.
Continual feedback will be provided via:
- Peer communication, individual and lecturing staff contributions to online discussions, where a range of topics are controversial and will lead to debate;
- Progressive assessment tasks, worth 15%, 20%, 25%, and 40%.
Content (topics)
- Overview of health and social care service planning
- Health service plan types and characteristics
- Health service plan development process
- Data and information used in health service planning
- Equity considerations in health service planning
- Stakeholders in health service planning
- Health service planning facilitators and barriers
- Different provider approaches to health and social care service planning
- Prevailing political and policy impacts on health service planning
- Evaluation strategies and methods for health and social care planning
- Acute, primary and social care planning environments
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Health Planning and Chronic Disease
| Intent: | This assessment task provides students with the opportunity to analyse the health planning literature in the context of rising chronic disease rates. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses subject learning objective(s): A, C and D This assessment task contributes to the development of graduate attribute(s): .0, .0 and 2.2 |
| Type: | Annotated bibliography |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 20% |
| Length: | 1200 words |
Assessment task 2: Developing a Draft Community Health Profile
| Intent: | Provides students with the opportunity to understand, collect, analyse and succinctly provide data and information relevant to health planning. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses subject learning objective(s): B, C and D This assessment task contributes to the development of graduate attribute(s): .0, .0 and 4.1 |
| Type: | Report |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 30% |
| Length: | 2000 word report (must include relevant graphs and tables that are fully developed by students). |
Assessment task 3: Health or Social Care Plan
| Intent: | Provides students with the opportunity to investigate a key challenge in health planning and explore and generate potential solutions and their underlying rationale. They will also have the opportunity to effectively transmit knowledge and solutions regarding the planning challenge to the facilitator and peers. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses subject learning objective(s): A, C and D This assessment task contributes to the development of graduate attribute(s): .0, .0, 2.2 and 4.1 |
| Type: | Presentation |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 50% |
| Length: | 2500-3000 words in the plan (the use of appendices and references is acceptable where necessary and will not be included in the word count). |
Required texts
Due to the highly varied and complex nature of health service planning, there is no single mandatory text for this subject
Recommended texts
These texts may further support in-class learning:
Eagar, K., Garrett, P., & Lin, V. 2001, Health planning: Australian perspectives, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.
Dwyer, J., Liang, Z., Thiessen, V., and Martini, A., (2013) Project management in health and community service: Getting good ideas to work, Allen and Unwin, 2nd Edition.
Issel, L., M. 2014, Health program planning and evaluation: a practical, systematic approach for community health, 3rd edn, Jones and Bartlett, Sudbury, Massachusetts.
FitzGerald, Gerry , Tarrant, Michael, Aitken, Peter, & Fredriksen, Marie (2017) Disaster Health Management: A Primer for Students and Practitioners. Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY.
Thomas, R. 2003, Health services planning, 2nd edn, Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York. (Available as an eBook through the UTS Library)
N.B. Academic readings and other relevant resources are provided on UTSOnline throughout the duration of the subject.
Other resources
UTS Student Centre
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Monday to Friday: 9am - 5pm
Tel: 1300 ASK UTS (1300 275 887)
Details for student centres: www.uts.edu.au/current-students/contacts/general-contacts
For other resources/ information refer to the Faculty of Health website (www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-health) and UTSOnline at: https://online.uts.edu.au/webapps/login/ or Canvas at: https://canvas.uts.edu.au/.
UTS Library
The Library has a wide range of resources, facilities and services to support you including textbooks, subject readings, health literature databases, workshops and bookable study rooms. There is also a team of librarians to help you with your questions available via online chat, phone and in person. W: lib.uts.edu.au, Facebook: utslibrary, Twitter: @utslibrary Tel: (02) 9514 3666.
Improve your academic and English language skills
Marks for all assessment tasks such as assignments and examinations are given not only for what you write but also for how you write. If you would like the opportunity to improve your academic and English language skills, make an appointment with the HELPS (Higher Education Language & Presentation Support) Service in Student Services.
HELPS (Higher Education Language & Presentation Support)
HELPS provides assistance with English language proficiency and academic language. Students who need to develop their written and/or spoken English should make use of the free services offered by HELPS, including academic language workshops, vacation intensive courses, drop-in consultations, individual appointments and Conversations@UTS (www.ssu.uts.edu.au/helps). HELPS staff are also available for drop-in consultations at the UTS Library. Phone (02) 9514 9733.
Please see www.uts.edu.au for additional information on other resources provided to students by UTS.
The Accessibility and Financial Assistance Service
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