HEALTH CARE EVALUATION (1400)
ORGANISER: Dr David Cromwell
DATES: 9 January 2012 to 8 February 2012 (9:00am Monday to 12:30pm Wednesday)
AIM
To describe and illustrate a range of methods which can be used to evaluate health services in developed and developing countries. The course aims to enable students to develop an understanding of the principles involved in evaluation rather than to provide a practical toolkit for evaluation.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this module students should be able to:
- describe the main methods used for evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, equity and humanity of health care interventions;
- describe the main advantages and limitations of each method;
- identify the key steps involved in evaluating specific health care interventions.
CONSTITUENCY
This module is intended for students interested in the evaluation of health services in developed and developing countries. Students attending this module will be expected either to have taken the following Term 1 modules: Basic Statistics for PHP (1121), Basic Epidemiology (2001), Introduction to Health Economics (1103) and Principles of Social Research (1104) or to have an understanding of the material covered in those modules.
CONCEPTUAL OUTLINE
The module examines what is meant by scientific evaluation, describes the different aspects of health care that an evaluation might focus upon (e.g. effectiveness, efficiency, equity, patient experience), and the steps involved in designing an evaluative study. It will consider how key aspects (disease and ill-health, health status and quality of life, and costs) can be measured and will cover the principal study designs (randomized, observational and ecological) for evaluation. Please note that this module concentrates on evaluation and does not cover audit/monitoring or some aspects of programme assessment such as sustainability.
TEACHING STRATEGY
The aim is to present the technical aspects of evaluation in ten lectures. The format of seminars will encourage both a practical application and critical appraisal of methods. Students will be required to prepare for seminars in advance, work in groups during the seminars and will present the results of group work for discussion. To facilitate appropriate discussions, seminars will be divided into developing and developed country groups with approximately fifteen students in each group.
LEARNING TIME
The module is made up of 150 Notional Learning Hours – 22 hours contact time, 34 hours directed self-study, 59 hours self-directed learning, and 35 hours assessment, review and revision.
ASSESSMENT
Closed-book written examination, to be held on the Tuesday of the final (fifth) week of the module.
FEE
£1,600 including access to LSHTM library and learning resources, study materials and assessment.
