A grad cert in health management is a university course for professionals involved in medical, healthcare or social welfare industries. You might consider one if you’re interested in performing management and administration in a healthcare setting.
Upgrade Your Credentials and Skills
Many people choose to do a grad cert in health management when they start to be considered for management roles or want to be considered. You may have strong training in delivering medical services but haven’t actually studied management and leadership before.
By doing a grad cert in health management, you learn to think more like a manager and, of course, also gain a university qualification in management. The extra credentials might be enough to get you interviews and to be seriously considered for supervisory and leadership positions.
About the Grad Cert in Health Management Course
Grad cert in Health Management is an abbreviation for a Graduate Certificate in Health Management.
- “Graduate certificate” or “grad cert” courses are postgraduate courses, meaning they’re intended for university graduates. In some cases, professionals without a degree but extensive work experience are also eligible to join a grad cert course.
- “Health management” in this context refers to the administration and delivery of health services to people. It’s not about managing your own personal health. Instead, health managers work in places such as hospitals, clinics and social welfare agencies. They help ensure the smooth running of services to patients and clients.
A grad cert in health management is typically a four-subject course that is ideal for professionals with healthcare experience, including nurses, therapists and social-welfare case workers. You benefit from having some experience in a sector before training to manage services in that sector.
Example Subjects
Here are some examples of subjects you might take as part of a grad cert in health management course. They come from university courses in Australia.
Communication Practices for Health Managers and Leaders
This unit helps students to value excellent verbal and written communication concerning health management and leadership. Your understanding is then used in particular contexts, such as when conducting meetings, presenting health data and making decisions. The goal is to assist you to become an impactful communicator. Source: Charles Sturt University.
Clinical Governance and Risk Management
Students explore the role of healthcare systems and, in particular, examine causes and consequences of quality breakdowns that threaten patient safety. You will conduct root cause analysis. We’ll also investigate why breakdowns often prove difficult to remedy, despite the best efforts of healthcare managers, professionals, policymakers and consumers. Several tools and methods to improve quality and safety are studied. Source: UNSW Sydney.
Healthcare Operations
The subject explores healthcare operations, presenting strategies and methods to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. Students are given a toolkit to better understand and manage queueing, scheduling, capacity plans and the design of processes. You learn how to identify, analyse and solve the many potential causes of delays. Graduates are able to apply learned methods and tools to health systems in Australia and abroad. Source: Deakin University.
Study Pattern for Online Courses
Most professionals studying for a Grad Cert in Health Management are enrolled in online courses. 100% online programs are actually designed for busy people and are meant to be done part-time only.
The usual practice is to do one subject at a time, allocating around 8 to 12 hours each week. Each subject is completed with a 2 month period. You can earn a grad cert over 8 months of part-time study, all while working full-time if you wish.
More information about online courses
For more information about grad cert in health management online courses, see Lerna Australia.
Ridge Harris
With the health care field constantly growing and changing, it’s easy to see where a health management graduate certificate would be needed. I don’t know how people can handle all the work that comes with health management. It takes a special person to work in health care but managing a clinic or hospital? Wow.