In HAD2005H, students get a general grounding on quality improvement theory and practice using these concepts through simulation exercises. This course is designed to give students the opportunity to apply these new skills in a real-world context, by working on a quality improvement project in a low-resource setting or for disadvantaged populations.

Objectives: The overall objective of the practicum is to broaden the student's appreciation for and skills in quality improvement. The practicum will allow students to evaluate, test, and further develop their quality improvement competencies learned in HAD2005H in a practical setting. Practicum placements are tailored to individual student needs given their past work experience, current level of competency development, areas of interest and career objectives. While the student is expected to synthesize and apply the academic knowledge gained in HAD2005H to a specific project, the focus of the practicum is on providing each student with an individual developmental experience based on their specific learning goals. The practicum is designed to provide supervision and mentorship from experienced senior health care leaders.

Now, more than ever, there is a need for health systems leaders to have the skills to leverage analytical insights, patient experience and research evidence to make health systems decisions that will result in higher quality, safer, more efficient care for patients. Health systems leaders need training to align "science, informatics, incentives, and culture" to promote "continuous improvement and innovation, with best practices seamlessly embedded in the delivery process and new knowledge captured as an integral by‐product of the delivery experience" (Institute of Medicine, 2015). Building on the concepts of learning health systems, this online seminar course will equip leaners with the foundational skills required to lead health systems innovation research.

Objectives: at the completion of this course, students will be able to: 1) Systematically gather and apply evidence in real time to guide health systems innovation. 2) Integrate patients' values and technological advances to transform health care delivery. 3) Assess outcomes refine processes for continuous quality improvement. 4) Demonstrate the outcomes and outputs of the innovation in patient care and quality.

This graduate-level course will draw on key concepts from health economics, international health system financing, health system performance and quality improvement, and policy studies to equip you with a foundation of knowledge in health systems and policy. You will use a combination of independent and guided reading, as well as problem-solving seminars to apply your lecture learning to the Ontario context. Students will be able to critically think about economic aspects of health systems issues, and the policy process in the health sector.

Objectives: by the end of the course, students are expected to demonstrate: 1) An understanding of why the competitive market model fails health care. 2) An overview of the different ways of financing health systems, and funding providers. 3) An understanding of why quality improvement has garnered such attention. 4) An appreciation for the challenges of measuring health system performance. 5) A grasp of the health policy process.

AI innovations are increasingly pivotal to healthcare transformation, reshaping clinical care, organizational processes, and policy frameworks. Yet, the adoption of AI in healthcare encounters significant obstacles, rooted in the intricate dynamics between micro, meso, and macro-level systems, governance structures, and the readiness of organizations to integrate AI.

These challenges are further exacerbated by the need for specialized healthcare AI talent and the indispensable role of public-private partnerships in driving innovation. These partnerships introduce additional layers of complexity, involving value paradoxes, misaligned economic incentives, and stringent regulatory landscapes.

This is a continuation of HAD2040Y (Systems Innovation Capstone). This course requires students to prepare the results of their capstone project as a manuscript in a format acceptable for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, though it need not necessarily be accepted for publication in order to receive credit for the course. Specifics of the course are described below:

Learner competencies: Write scholarly abstracts. Prepare an academic manuscript based on a journal requirement. Appreciate the scientific writing and publishing process. Identify critical elements required to write clear, concise, and evidence-based academic publications. Submit a manuscript for publication. Respond effectively to reviewers' comments.

This required three-semester capstone course provides MSc HSLI students with hands-on experience in the leadership of health systems innovation and transformation. Students in this course will work on a systems innovation project related to one of the following health systems building blocks: Health Care Financing. Health Workforce Planning. Health Services Delivery and Redesign. Data and Information Systems. Healthcare Governance. Health Technologies.

This course is designed to fulfill two primary goals: 1) To provide students with an opportunity to apply the conceptual and theoretical grounding obtained in HSLI core courses. Students will think analytically and practically about basic concepts of health systems, innovation, entrepreneurship, health sector strategy, and innovation and change management and participate in and/or observe the role of leaders and leadership in these processes. 2) To provide students with experiential knowledge in designing and developing a creative solution to a specific health systems problem, using technological, managerial, or business model innovation. The innovation should address at least one of the following health systems performance goals: access, quality, efficiency, and safety.

Students will pursue several specific course objectives: 1) Learn how to collaborate in the development of solutions to real needs using any or all of data, literature, peer/colleague interviews, and health systems innovation methodologies. 2) Develop expertise in one particular health systems area, thus understanding the social, political (including any or all of interpersonal, interprofessional, departmental, hospital, institutional, provincial or federal politics), and economic context and leverage points that influence the innovation process in the health sector. 3) Gain an understanding of the local health care context for implementing health care innovation. 4) Develop working relationships with stakeholders to define the innovation challenge and develop an appropriate solution set. 5) Build leadership skills in disciplined problem analysis, stakeholder management, innovation design, business plan preparation, solution development, validation, presentation and public speaking, performance evaluation of tasks and managing people and expectation.

This will provide core improvement concepts for students in the new Masters of Science in Improvement stream. Students will have varying experience with health care improvement and patient safety and will have different professional backgrounds. The fundamentals course will provide a solid baseline for future courses; an understanding of the prerequisite knowledge base; areas of focus (key themes) for the program; an understanding of critical quality and safety issues facing health care today, an appreciation of the research elements of the program and an introduction to statistical process controls used in improvement processes. Specifically the course provides an introduction to program themes related to quality improvement skills and capacity; the rate of uptake, spread, and sustainability of evidence-based quality improvement; leadership, innovation and change management skills; coordination and implementation of improvements across organization and between levels of health care.

Course content by module: all classes will combine didactic and small group interactive exercises, and guest lecturers will be invited to share expertise from the field for approximately one hour during most of the modules. This course will provide a framework for improvement science, and introduce key concepts that will be applied and expanded upon in subsequent courses in this master’s stream.

Objectives: 1) Describe the objectives and expectations of the MSc program. 2) Explain a conceptual framework for improvementApply this conceptual framework to a personal improvement plan. 3) Appreciate structural contributors to system qualityDescribe important features of measurement in improvement. 4) Understand the role of human factors in improvement. 5) Apply small-scale testing principles to improvement projects. 6) Analyze factors associated with successful implementation. 7) Critically appraise improvement studies. 8) Demonstrate skills in persuasive presentations. 9) Integrate all of these concepts to an improvement project protocol.

This course will cover concepts and methods used for quality improvement in health care and will build on the basics covered in the Fundamentals of Improvement Science course. Topics will include methods and tools required to design and implement a quality improvement project from start to finish. The course will begin with an organizational context for conducting quality improvement work at a micro-system level, identification of team-based enablers for successful improvement, and three key approaches/models for improvement. The course will subsequently focus on the most common methods, tools, and measurement techniques used to improve health care delivery, and will conclude with essentials for sustaining change at a microsystem level, as well as incorporating a workshop on Experience-Based Design, a method for engaging patients in improvement work. The course structure will mirror the flow of an improvement project, beginning with initial design, and continuing through the diagnostic, solution generation, testing, measuring, and implementation phases. Students will be expected to apply the concepts introduced throughout the course to their individual improvement projects. The course is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skill necessary to plan and implement a successful quality improvement project, and to distinguish the most appropriate methods and tools to include in project design, based on the specific improvement challenges being addressed.

Objectives: 1) Describe the history and evolution of quality improvement science. 2) Critique a quality improvement project to identify the presence or absence of factors that contribute to a success, including strategies for influencing and sustaining change at the micro-system level. 3) Describe and apply the principles of Lean methodology and distinguish the conditions under which Lean, Six Sigma, and the Model for Improvement are most applicable. 4) Apply basic improvement tools to a quality improvement project, and demonstrate an ability to distinguish the use of specific tools to address different types of improvement challenges. 5) Summarize key principles for measurement for improvement, and develop and interpret statistical methods used to display data. 6) Discuss and experiment with different strategies for generating innovative ideas for improvement. 7) Integrate fundamental principles, methods, and tools for quality improvement in order to design and implement a quality improvement project. 8) Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of common evaluation designs for quality improvement initiatives through application of the rules of evidence to the published literature.

The main focus of this course is to help participants acquire the necessary skills to teach quality improvement and patient safety to peers and trainees in their own practice setting. Participants will develop the ability to utilize a variety of different pedagogical approaches to teach quality improvement and patient safety, including large group interactive lecturing, facilitating small group discussions, case-based learning (including re-vamped patient safety M&M rounds), use of role play/video debrief, and experiential quality improvement projects.

Objectives: 1) Define key educational terms used in health professions education. 2) List the core patient safety and quality improvement competencies for all health professionals. 3) Apply 5 different teaching methods to teach patient safety and quality improvement. 4) Describe effective strategies to supervise others in their quality improvement work. 5) Create an educational plan that outlines the key components of a patient safety or quality improvement curriculum.

Efforts to improve patient safety have thus far fallen into two different but, not mutually exclusive categories: 1) a "safety science approach," drawing on lessons from other high risk industries to develop systems for reporting and learning from safety problems, recognizing the degree to which human errors are often facilitated by latent system problems, attention to human factors design principles affecting everything from equipment use to shift schedules and clinical environments, as well as the importance of teamwork, communication strategies, and organizational culture. 2) "evidence-based medicine approach": as with much clinical research, this approach targets common problems (in this case, harms caused by medical care as opposed to diseases), looks for interventions to prevent such complications (e.g., prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism, bundles for preventing central-line associated infections, bar-coding to prevent medication administration errors), assesses the evidence supporting these interventions and the degree to which effective implementation strategies also exist.

Beginning with a brief history of patient safety in health care, including high-profile cases and seminal studies that launched the widespread interest in patient safety, the course will cover key concepts and examples from both of the approaches to studying and reducing patient safety problems. The course will use examples of commonly discussed patient safety practices to convey the state of the evidence supporting the practices as well as key underlying concepts. For instance, the discussion of order sets and computerized decision support will include a review of what is known about their current effectiveness, but also include human factors concepts related to optimal order set design. Similarly, the discussion of checklists will include not just the evidence supporting their benefit (e.g., in peri-operative settings) but also the importance of attending to teamwork and communication issues that support successful implementation.

Objectives: 1) To describe the impetus for improving safety in health care. 2) To describe fundamental issues in human error and systems thinking related to improving patient safety. 3) To describe lessons from other high reliability organizations, including the importance teamwork and culture. 4) To analyze an evidence based approach to common health care safety problems. 5) To describe key elements of organizations that support safer care. 6) To analyze quantitative and qualitative measurement strategies in patient safety. 7) To identify strategies to gather patient perspectives to expand their role in supporting effective outcomes of care. 8) To describe and choose strategies to identify, analyze, and address patient safety issues.

This course will utilize some of the principles learned in Quality Improvements Methods course to illustrate patient safety issues (e.g., Analysis of Statistical Process Control charts).

This course will provide the learner with comprehensive working knowledge of Human Factors (HF) and how it relates to and affects health-care quality and safety. It focuses on key concepts and frameworks in HF research and practice and identifies how these can be applied to and tailored depending on the health-care issue. This knowledge is relevant to policy makers, practicing clinicians, health-care managers, and health services researchers.

The broad learning goal for the project course is to effectively apply principles, theories, and methods of improvement science to a workplace issue. More specifically, students will learn to exercise creative and critical thinking, analyze a process, model, or situation to determine where specific interventions should be targeted, determine if an intervention is even necessary, and determine whether desired outcomes have been achieved and to assess the impact and sustainability of the interventions The project course includes the fundamentals of project management, practical skills and tools for rigorous design and implementation of a QI project, statistical methods for QI, methods for critiquing the literature related to the interventions identified and skills for writing for publication, and what QI journals typically look for when reviewing articles. Students will learn to evaluate their projects from a broader perspective, assessing how an intervention fits within a broader health care context and how to design quality improvement projects to answer more complex questions. Instructional time will be embedded into each required course to cover the learning objectives that relate specifically to the project practicum and a session in each module will be dedicated to project development and discussion. For example, the Fall term courses will include instruction on literature reviews, research methods that are appropriate for quality improvement projects, discussion about research ethics, and project charters, reporting project progress to executive sponsors, development of indicators and measures. Students will meet regularly with their project mentors for guidance on their projects.

Objectives: 1) Identify theoretical concepts of improvement science relevant to their workplace projects. 2) Appraise and apply research methods that are appropriate for assessing the impact or implementation of their workplace projects. 3) Demonstrate effective communication skills in the presentation of the projects. 4) Identify the elements of an effective plan for communicating the project to the sponsoring organization. 5) Select and apply methods for assessing the literature related the workplace project that assesses the strength and weaknesses of the interventions proposed. 6) Develop the skills needed to write an article suitable for publication that describes the project.

The required project development course "thesis-based" option is a research project that students will focus on for the duration of their program to which they will apply principles and theories from the core curriculum. A key knowledge component of the curriculum is the bridge between theoretical knowledge and the application of theory to practice. In the "thesis-based" option students will be required to exercise essential creative and critical thinking, break down and apply theory rigorously study the impact and sustainability of a change concept, critique research methods appropriate for quality improvement, lead and communicate a quality improvement project, and learn the skills required to design studies to evaluate cause-effect relationships and test the changes. In this course, students will also learn the fundamentals of project management and skills for writing for publication. The thesis must be presented and defended at a departmental oral examination before a committee of at least two graduate faculty members (one from IHPME) in addition to the thesis supervisor(s).

Objectives: 1) Evaluate whether or not research ethics board (REB) approval is required for a project. 2) Explain what to include in the REB application. 3) Apply effective library search strategies and demonstrate an ability to search databases and cite sources. 4) Evaluate and critique the quality and safety literature related to a specific improvement issue in a specific environment. 5) Measure early on in a project, the relevant sample size considerations, and how measurement can help decide readiness for a more formal evaluation of improvement. 6) Select appropriate qualitative method to address specific quality improvement question. 7) Select appropriate interventional (experimental) or observational (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods) study designs to address specific research questions. 8) Use sound quantitative and/or qualitative evidence to defend or evaluate a health care quality improvement or safety projects. 9) Explain the theory behind qualitative analytic methods. 10) Choose appropriate strategies for analyzing and presenting qualitative and quantitative data. 11) Describe the considerations involved in rigorous qualitative and quantitative analysis. 12) Use appropriate analytical methods to clarify associations between variables and to delineate causal inferences. 13) Distinguish improvement science and planned experimentation objectives. 14) Distinguish parametric and nonparametric procedures. 15) Demonstrate skills in effective written communication. 16) Understand how to advance the QI/PS research agenda through a program that interconnects controlled and representative methodologies to contribute to theoretically sound evidence and practical applications.

The course will cover the knowledge domains of systems thinking and theories derived from social science, organizational theories, and psychology related to influencing transformational change and overcoming resistance to change at the clinical micro-system level and will cover a number of topic areas including: 1) A self-assessment of personal leadership skills. 2) Change management theories and application; overcoming resistance to change and modeling the environment for change. 3) Leadership strategies using cases and role playing exercises. 4) Distributive leadership for embedding and sustaining improvement and safety into practice at all levels. 5) Negotiation, coaching and conflict management. 6) Physician and other stakeholder engagement. 7) Strategic alignment of quality from the top and from the bottom. 8) Definition of knowledge translation and its application to quality improvement and safety.

Objectives: the overall course objective is to enhance individual leadership capacities and provide leadership tools for influencing organizational effectiveness around quality improvement and patient safety at the clinical microsystem level. Upon completion of this course it is expected that students will: 1) Demonstrate the integration of knowledge and application of different conceptual frameworks for basic leadership, change management, systems theories, and knowledge translation theories and competencies required to improve quality and enhance patient safety at the clinical microsystem level linked to organizational (meso) and system (macro) levels. 2) Describe their personal leadership style and explain how it relates to leading and managing change in health care at the clinical microsystem/team level. 3) Identify key leadership, change management (negotiation, coaching, and conflict management skills) and knowledge translation strategies for creating and sustaining practice/process change and innovation, including the senior leadership practices required to support and enable microsystem level improvement. 4) Understand strategic alignment of the quality and safety agenda with other key organizational priorities and initiatives. 5) Describe various strategies for engaging physicians and other stakeholders to improve quality improvement and patient safety. 6) Identify the characteristics of high-performing health care systems and judge the effectiveness of current systems in adopting and implementing these strategies.

This course focuses on understanding how health care organizations and broader health systems create and implement strategies to improve care. The course builds upon the quality knowledge, skills, and methods provided in the Leadership and Managing Change course, the Concepts and Strategies in Patient Safety course and Fundamentals course. In this course we shift focus from an emphasis on quality improvement and patient safety at a team or microsystem level to emphasize the key elements of organizations and broader health care systems needed to implement, spread, and sustain improvements in turbulent health care environments. What knowledge do leaders need to support improvement? What is the role of governing boards? What benefit and how can we include patients in the design of care processes and systems? How do electronic health records help to promote quality improvement and patient safety? Case studies, guest lectures, readings, discussions, and exercises will be use to identify key issues facing health care systems, strategies for addressing these issues and the factors that influence successful implantation of organizational and system-wide improvement efforts.

Objectives: 1) Analyze the critical skills and knowledge that leaders need to lead change in health care organizations. 2) Assess the strategies leaders use to create effective quality and patient safety strategies in organizations and broader systems. 3) Understand how organizations need to assess risk and deal with organizational failures. 4) Identify the strategies needed for effective governance of quality and patient safety and appraise their implementation in various settings. 5) Explain the impact that engaging patients can have on improvement strategies and assess the approaches used to engage patients in these efforts. 6) Appraise the role of electronic health records in large scale improvement. 7) Assess the role of quality councils, Ministries of Health and other support groups in monitoring and guiding system change. 8) Identify the characteristics of high performing health care systems and judge the effectiveness of current systems in adopting and implementing these strategies.

This course will cover a number of topic areas including: The risk management process (i.e., identification, assessment, mitigation), methods for identifying and ranking top clinical and other risks using data from a range of patient safety and risk management sources; Strategies for integrating organizational risk management, quality improvement and patient safety activities; Methods for identifying, managing, and investigating critical incidents, and for implementing and sustaining effective commendations for improvement; Principles and practices for disclosure of adverse events; Relevant legislation and regulations (e.g., the public hospital act, disclosure, apology, consent and capacity, etc.); The rationale and legal protection for quality assurance activities; The medical-legal claims process and the effect of claims on patient safety and quality; The role of professional colleges in ensuring quality care, and potential issue related to the systems approach to patient safety and implementation of a just culture; The role of the coroner in patient safety; The role of accreditation in ensuring quality and in influencing organizational priority setting in patient safety and quality. The course will include didactic pre-reading, lectures from leading experts, group discussion, and in-class simulations.

Objectives: 1) Identify and assess the range of clinical and non-clinical risks within a health care organization and apply a structured methodology to identify high priority risks requiring leadership and governance attention; 2) Recognize the linkage between risk management, quality improvement and patient safety functions and understand how they can be effectively integrated within an organization; 3) Categorize the multiple sources of risk management data (including incident reports, critical incident investigations, patient complaints, medical legal claims, M&M reviews, alerts, audits, etc.), and outline strategies to obtain actionable information from data mining efforts; 4) Recognize the significant laws and regulations which govern health care quality and safety; 5) Understand the unique relationship between physicians and hospitals and describe the important role of credentialing of health care professionals in ensuring quality care; 6) Formulate arguments both for and against the protection of quality assurance information in health care; 7) Understand the civil litigation process and factors which may contribute to an adverse event proceeding to a medical malpractice claim; 8) Describe the challenges associated with identifying and managing critical incidents and outline the elements of successful investigation and follow up; 9) Outline the rationale for disclosure of adverse events to patients, debate the evidence regarding the effect of disclosure on medical malpractice claims, and analyze and critique disclosure skills; 10) Understand the mandate and activities of the coroner's office, professional colleges, and accreditation, and debate their role in advancing health care quality and safety.

This is a 0.5 FCE course that comprises 120 hours in a work environment that is external to a student's usual work environment and takes place after the student successfully completes the required courses in the MSc QIPS concentration. The external practicum is intended to be a focused work experience with measurable student-initiated learning goals that are not only tailored to each student's learning needs, but also agreed to formally by a sponsoring organization and the IHPME MSc QIPS Program Director. Specifically, the external practicum provides students with unique opportunities to further develop their knowledge and leadership skills applied to quality improvement and patient safety. The practicum is structured so that students will receive supervision and support from experienced senior health services professionals and academic faculty.

Objectives: the overall objective of the external practicum is to broaden and consolidate the student's skills and knowledge in leading and supporting quality improvement and patient safety by allowing students to evaluate, test, and further develop their quality improvement and patient safety competencies in a practical setting. The focus of the practicum is on the student's individual learning goals. The student is thus required to reflect on their quality improvement and patient safety knowledge and leadership skills and identify areas for further development.

Health care remains a top policy priority in Canada and a key defining characteristic of Canadian identity. Under Canada's universal, publicly funded health insurance plan (Medicare), all Canadians have access to medically necessary hospital and doctor care regardless of the ability to pay. Yet, like health systems across the industrialized world, Canada's faces growing challenges. An aging and increasingly diverse population, global pandemics, emerging and more costly medical technologies and drugs, and rising public expectations about timely access to care, put additional demands on already stretched health care resources. The site of care is shifting as more care moves out of hospitals and into home and community. Individuals and communities are demanding a greater role in decision-making. There are increasing pressures to harmonize domestic health care policies with global "benchmarks." In spite of billions of new health care dollars, public concerns about wait times for non‐emergency care continue to fuel debate about health system sustainability and the need for private pay care options.

This course (and HAD5011H, its counterpart for students in the MSc and PhD research stream) is the first of two courses which develop and apply a policy analysis "tool kit" to critically analyze key issues and trends in Canada's health care system and health policy. Course sections examine the current state of health care in Canada, the public-private mix, the influence of powerful interest groups, and the determinants of health, paying particular attention to the ideas, interests, and institutions which have shaped the Canadian health care system in the past and which now shape its future. This graduate course is designed for health professionals and students of health policy who need to "make sense" of a rapidly changing and increasingly politicized health care environment in which "evidence" is often only one factor driving the pace and direction of change.

Objectives: upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 1) Identify major elements of Canada's health care system. 2) Explain current health policy issues and trends in Canada and internationally. 3) Apply a conceptual policy analysis tool kit to "make sense" of a volatile health policy environment. 4) Write short, concise briefing notes which synthesize academic articles, policy papers, and reports. as the basis for evaluating and recommending policy options. 5) Value the need for a policy analytic approach.

Learner competencies (competencies refer to the National Center for Healthcare Leadership Competency Model): analytical thinking; communication skills; information seeking; initiative; innovative thinking; self-confidence.

The Canadian health care system (Medicare) remains a top policy issue and a key-defining characteristic of Canadian identity. There continues to be strong public and political support for Medicare's guiding principles: universality, comprehensiveness, accessibility, public administration, and portability. Yet, as recent federal and provincial reports on health care have emphasized, Medicare faces tremendous challenges. An aging and increasingly diverse population, new diseases, new and more costly medical technologies, as well as changing values and expectations have generated rising and more complex demands. There is an increasing emphasis on community-based health promotion and social support in contrast to more traditional care in hospitals and institutional settings. Individuals and communities are demanding a greater role in decisions about their health and the use of scarce health resources at the same time as the pressures of globalization begin to constrain the capacity of governments to implement domestic policy solutions. In spite of billions of new health care dollars, public concerns about long waits for care in Canada continue to fuel debate about the "sustainability" of publicly funded health care and the need for commercial health care options. This course (and HAD5010H, its counterpart for students in the professional stream) is the first of two courses which develop and apply a policy analysis "tool kit" to critically analyze key issues and trends in Canada's health care system and health policy. Course sections examine the current state of health care in Canada, the public-private mix, the influence of powerful interest groups, and the shift toward home and community care, paying particular attention to the ideas, interests, and institutions which have shaped the Canadian health care system in the past and continue to shape its future. HAD 5010H/5011H is designed for health professionals and students of health policy who need to "make sense" of a rapidly changing and increasingly politicized health care environment in which "evidence" is often only one, but rarely the most important factor driving change. This course is directed towards students in research streams (MSc/PhD) who must demonstrate strong analytical skills and a more developed mastery of the research literature.

Objectives: this course has two purposes: 1) introduce students to some key content about current trends and issues in Canada's health care system and health policy; and 2) develop analytic tools for critically analyzing them. By bringing together students, tutors, and faculty from a range of different disciplines and backgrounds, the course also aims to increase understanding and awareness of the range of interests, ideas, and approaches, which shape ongoing health policy debates. This course develops analytic tools for critically analyzing current trends and issues in Canada's health care system and health policy. Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to: 1) Identify and discuss major elements of Canada’s health care system. 2) Describe key issues and trends in health care delivery and health policy. 3) Demonstrate a developed understanding of basic tools for policy analysis. 4) Apply these tools to analyze critically current issues and trends in Canada's health care system.

The study and practice of patient and caregiver engagement in research are growing across the globe. Engagement of patients and caregivers (i.e., including family), in research is encouraged broadly by patient groups and advocates, government and other funding programs, and researchers keen to enhance relevance and application/uptake over the course of their work. There are many approaches and methods relevant to the different stages of the research cycle. These methods have been used in various domains of research and quality improvement initiatives to address challenges in clinical care, the organization and delivery of health care, as well as at the population health level, and in health policy. Evaluation in patient and caregiver engagement is also growing and there are multiple tools available to assess perceptions and experiences of engagement from the perspectives of researchers, patients, and caregivers.

In this course the student(s) will learn and critique: underlying theories and frameworks that have influenced this phenomenon; emerging definitions of partnership and engagement; the predominant methods for engagement; their application in different settings and types of problems; and efforts in evaluation. The aim of this course is to provide exposure to the breadth of the current knowledge and approaches in researcher-patient partnerships, as well as an understanding of strategies to overcoming the challenges and pitfalls associated with this work so that its true value and impact can be realized. As a growing body of evidence suggests, patient and caregiver engagement in research is an important skill set and contributes toward a higher quality and better functioning health care system.

Objectives: upon completion of this course you will be able to: 1) Analyze and evaluate the underlying theories, trends and frameworks that contributed to the emergence of patient and caregiver engagement in research as a valued approach, area of study and area of expertise. 2) Understand current definitions and meanings of key terms (e.g., patient and caregiver engagement, patient-oriented research, etc.). 3) Examine selected methods adopted by research teams and patient and caregiver groups to engage patients and caregivers across the research cycle, and the types of settings and/or problems within health care where these approaches are applied. 4) Evaluate the benefits and challenges of engagement from different perspectives and strategies to address these challenges. 5) Identify available tools and resources to support the evaluation of actual/perceived value, impact and implications of engagement — from different perspectives (e.g., researcher, patient or caregiver, policy maker, or research funder). 6) Apply patient and caregiver engagement concepts to a research topic of choice.

The purpose of this seminar is to provide doctoral students with an understanding of the fundamental constructs of emotions and ethics within the organizational context. Drawing on literature in psychology, social psychology and organizational behaviour, this course will focus on the functioning of human affect and behavioural ethics, how these two domains can mutually influence each other and how they can be harnessed to inform our understanding of individual and group behaviour within the workplace. The course is designed to provide an overview and introduction to these literatures and an understanding of their central concepts. The intention for this course is to provide students with the knowledge to integrate approaches and insights from the emotions and ethics literatures to their own research agendas.

Objectives: 1) To gain knowledge of the dominant theories of affect and (un)ethical behavior as they pertain to both individual and organizational functioning. 2) To understand the cognitive and affective processes through which unethical attitudes, behaviours, and decisions permeate an organization. 3) To utilize concepts and theories of affect and ethics to create viable research questions that provide insight into questions faced by individuals and organizations working in the health services sector.

Public health is inherently a data-driven and data-intensive domain. The demand for timely generation and dissemination of public health information and findings has skyrocketed over the last few years. This course is intended to expose students to various visual representation techniques and tools and offers them the opportunity to learn how to successfully transform different data types and structures into compelling and interactive visual reports with the purpose of promoting informed decisions and engendering a clear and shared understanding.

In this course, students will learn about design principles and become familiar with exploratory and explanatory data visualization techniques to accurately distill complex datasets into coherent and informative insights for audiences with varying levels of data literacy. The class will also focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, and sound analysis practices to avoid cognitive biases when designing, thinking, analyzing, and making decisions based on data. The course materials, in-class datathons, and the course project are designed in the context of real-world application.

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to applied machine learning techniques within the context of public health and healthcare systems. Students will learn how to develop, evaluate, and deploy machine learning models to solve real-world problems in healthcare, ranging from patient outcome prediction to disease diagnosis and treatment optimization.

The course will emphasize both the theoretical foundations of machine learning algorithms and their practical application using Python programming. Throughout the course, students will gain hands-on experience by working on various healthcare-related projects and participating in datathons. These activities will provide students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world healthcare datasets, thereby reinforcing their understanding of machine learning concepts and techniques.

In this course, students will have an opportunity to apply their foundational understanding of Canadian health policy in two ways: to analyze complex policy issues and to have direct impact on policy-making process.

Health technologies (drugs, devices, diagnostics, information and communication systems, surgical interventions, etc.) have complex roles in health systems with the potential to improve health outcomes and quality of life and to support change in service delivery for more effective, sustainable and person-centred care. But though real, this potential is often not realized due to the partial alignment between R&D interests and public health needs, as well as cost or access issues, evidence limitations, the risk that technologies will prove ineffective or harmful and challenges of misuse, overuse or underuse. Adding to these challenges for health policy and health systems are the broader roles of technologies within political economies and public policy. Governments play significant roles in the development of health technologies, sometimes advancing policies that are in conflict with the aims of population health or health equity, but which may be seen to align with the aims of science, industry or trade policy. As well, there is increased policy attention to the role of health systems as generators of both "health" and "wealth" with the latter aim served by health system support for research and development as well as the adoption and use of novel products and services. Whether and how this "double promise" can be realized, and whose health and wealth will be enhanced, remains politically contentious.

The aim of this course is to explore these complex contexts. Specifically, we look at the developmental and regulatory institutions through which public policy seeks to shape health technology development, adoption and dissemination and we consider the health and innovation systems within which these institutions operate. As well, we consider the underlying interests and ideas that shape the operation and effect of these institutions and systems. Throughout, we consider the implications of these policies, systems, institutions, interests, and ideas for the meaning of population health and its equitable distribution (i.e., health equity).

Objectives: 1) To understand the role of health technologies within health systems and political economies. 2) To learn about institutions in Canada and internationally that have particular relevance to the development and dissemination of health technologies. 3) To support critical and reflective thinking and writing about key course concepts: health technologies, policies, systems, institutions, ideas, interests, population health, and health equity.