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MPC (Master of Primary Care)

Elective Courses

Achieving clinical effectiveness

This course is delivered as 11 x 2.5 hour teaching sessions in Semester 1 (September to November)

Day and time

Tuesdays
14.00 to 16.30

Purpose

Individual health care practitioners and the groups in which they work are to become accountable and responsible for the care they deliver through the framework clinical governance provides for the monitoring and continuous improvement of the quality of health care. Many practitioners studying at masters level are motivated in leading and managing the various changes required to assure the quality of such continuous improvement across the workplace.

Aim

To equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to critically assess and apply the principles and application of leadership and management in the pursuit of clinical effectiveness

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be able to:

  • Understand, synthesise, critically discuss and evaluate the principles of leadership and management
  • Reflect on and interpret how quality and standards relate to clinical effectiveness drawing on workplace examples and underpinned by current theory
  • Identify, critically evaluate and design effective strategies to deliver and sustain change in the workplace

Content

  • Setting, delivering and monitoring standards
  • Organisation and power
  • Change management
  • Sustaining clinical governance: the infrastructure, integration across interfaces, clinical guidelines
  • Leadership
  • Risk management
  • Professional ethics: accountability, dealing with poor performance, models for professional development
  • Team working: skill mix, how to delegate/support, organisational dynamics, devolved management, project management
  • Writing a business case

Assessment

  • Essay 3000 word business case
  • Week 1 Briefing
  • Week 3 Students submit justification for business case and essay plan
  • Week 6 Students receive formative feedback
  • Week 10 + 2 Students submit assessment

Reading

  • Clinical governance in primary care. Eds. van Zwanenberg and Harrison. Pub. Radcliffe.
  • Accreditation in primary care; towards clinical governance. Eds. Walshe, Walsh, Schofield and Blakeway-Phillips. Pub. Radcliffe.
  • Appropriate web sites and policy documents.

What students have said about this course

  • "Has encouraged me to be more reflective, but also more flexible in my assumptions"
  • "Informative and innovative"
  • "Much less afraid of audit now..."
  • "Left feeling enthused"
  • "Has given me some really good tips, and insight into how people tick"
  • "Superb course. Delivery was excellent"

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Cardiovascular disease management in primary care

This course is delivered as 11 x 2.5 hour teaching sessions in Semester 2b (April to June)

There are various ways to sign up for this course i.e.

  • as an optional choice as part of the Master of Primary Care programme
  • as an accredited CPD course (worth 20 credits at masters level)
  • as individual/stand-alone, non-assessed sessions (at a cost of £60 per 2.5 hour teaching session), where participants can pick and choose the sessions that are of most interest/relevance. Participants will be issued with a University of Glasgow certificate of attendance. Should you wish to take up this option, a booking form will be made available in Spring 2014, once speakers and session titles are confirmed.

Day and time

Tuesdays
14.00 to 16.30

Purpose

Cardiovascular disease is a growing global challenge in the context of ageing populations.  Primary and secondary care professionals and policymakers have much to contribute to improving outcomes through health promotion strategies, primary and secondary prevention and improved access to an ever increasing range of pharmacological and non pharmacological interventions. Understanding the scale of the problem, the risks and opportunities for systems of care will enhance our capacity to meet this challenge.

Aims

  • To provide an in-depth grounding in the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease, risk assessment and management
  • To provide an overview of current management of common cardiovascular conditions in primary care
  • To highlight key challenges and emerging research issues/findings.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to

  • Synthesise and discuss the population context of cardiovascular disease and key issues in primary and secondary prevention
  • Describe current approaches to management of a range of cardiovascular conditions and critically assess  recent developments in cardiovascular management from a primary care perspective
  • Analyse the key components of effective cardiovascular disease management programmes and consider the challenges in different types of population
  • Consider and critically evaluate key challenges in cardiovascular disease management in primary care, and assess potential solutions locally, nationally, and internationally
  • Critically discuss and interpret the importance of patient-centred care

Format

Sessions are delivered in by a mix of face-to-face lectures, short didactic presentations, small group working and discussions.

Content

Session titles and speakers for 2013 are as follows:

  1. Cardiovascular epidemiology: the big picture
    Graham Watt (Tues 16 April 2013)
  2. The big picture: depression and cardiovascular disease 
    Jonathan Cavanagh (Tues 23 April 2013)
  3. Current management of angina
    Colin Berry (Tues 30 April 2013)
  4. Atrial fibrillation: current management/future direction
    Derek Connelly (Tues 07 May 2013)
  5. Heart failure
    Frances Mair (Tues 14 May 2013)
  6. Primary prevention of CVD 
    Kate O'Donnell (Tues 21 May 2013)
  7. Palliative care for heart failure
    Karen Hogg (Tues 28 May 2013)
  8. Use of e-health for cardiovascular disease
    Frances Mair (Tues 04 June 2013)
  9. Quality assurance in cardiovascular disease management
    Susan Kennedy (Tues 11 June 2013)
  10. Arrhythmias and devices
    Derek Connelly (Tues 18 June 2013)
  11. Treatment burden, cardiovascular disease and the need for minimally disruptive medicine 
    Frances Mair (Tues 25 June 2013)

Assessment

  • Individual formative assignments consisting of:
    • Close reading of a text
      Small group assignments
      Interactive discussions
  • Summative assessment
    3000 word essay, drawing on the course, professional experience and the literature. 100%

Reading material

Papers provided during the course, including:

  • Guidelines
    • SIGN Heart Disease Guidelines 2007
    • NICE Guidelines Hypertension Update 2011
    • Chronic heart failure: management of chronic heart failure in adults in primary and secondary care. NICE Guideline 2010
    • The Management of Stable Angina NICE Guideline 2011
    • The Management of Atrial Fibrillation NICE guideline 2006
  • Papers
    • Gallacher K, May CR, Montori VM, Mair FS. Understanding patients' experiences of treatment burden in chronic heart failure using Normalization Process Theory. Annals of Family Medicine
    • Gruer L, Hart CL, Gordon DS, Watt GCM. Effect of tobacco smoking on survival of men and women by social position: a 28 year cohort study. BMJ 2009; 338 b480
    • Tunstall-Pedoe H, Woodward M; SIGN group on risk estimation. By neglecting deprivation, cardiovascular risk scoring will exacerbate social gradients in disease. Heart 2006; 92 (3): 307-10. Epub 2005 Sep15.
    • Woodward M, Brindle P, Tunstall-Pedoe H. Adding social deprivation and family history to cardiovascular risk assessment: the ASSIGN score from the Scottish Heart Health Extended Cohort (SHHEC). Heart 2007: 93(2):172-6.
    • Risk Estimation and the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. SIGN guideline 97. (The context within which the ASSIGN score was developed and within which it is being implemented in clinical practice in Scotland).
    • Anderson KM, Odell PM, Wilson PW, Kannel WB. Cardiovascular disease risk profiles. Am Heart J 1991; 121:293-8. (The Framingham cardiovascular score with which ASSIGN was compared).
    • Hippisley-Cox J, Coupland C, Vinagradova Y, Robson J, May M, Brindle P. Derivation and validation of QRISK, a new cardiovascular disease risk score for the United Kingdom: a prospective open cohort study. BMJ 2007; 335:136
    • Pell JP, Haw SJ, Cobbe S, Newby DE, Pell ACH, Fischbacher C, McConnachie A, Pringle S, Murdoch D, Dunn F, Oldroyd K, MacIntyre P, O'Rourke B, Borland W. Smoke-free legislation and hospitalizations for acute coronary syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine 2008;359:482-491

What students have said about this course...

  • "A great course, with very useful information."
  • "Really enjoyed the more clinical aspect of this module. Will be useful within my job role."
  • "Enjoyed - informal and relaxed."

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International primary care

This course is delivered as 11 x 2.5 hour teaching sessions in Semester 2 (January to March)

Day and time

Tuesdays
14.00 to 16.30

Purpose

Societies around the world are facing huge health challenges, as identified by the Millennium Development Goals and the UN Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases, requiring strong primary health care systems providing comprehensive care characterised by first contact, continuity, coverage and gate-keeping to secondary care. The World Health Organisation, in updating its support for primary health care, from the Alma Ata Declaration in 1978 to the “World Health Report Primary Care Now More Than Ever” in 2008 identified the need for reforms in universal coverage, service delivery, public policy and leadership. This course addresses the challenges of developing primary care in different contexts and of sharing experience and evidence from a wide variety of countries.

Aim

To enable students to critically appraise the strengths and weaknesses of primary health care systems in different countries, drawing on principles of equity and human rights and interpreting the role of local and international factors. The course aims to establish common cause and to share experience and knowledge between students from different primary health care systems.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be able to:

  • Compare and contrast the health problems and health care challenges facing societies at different stages of economic development, including the emerging problems of non-communicable diseases and multimorbidity.
  • Synthesise and critically evaluate the impact of the WHO Alma Ata Declaration in 1978 and the reasons for the differences in approach to primary care in the WHO report “Primary Care (Now More Than Ever)” in 2008.
  • Critically evaluate the origin, content, successes and failures of the Millennium Development Goals, and assess the relative contributions of vertical and horizontal approaches to health systems development.
  • Examine and critically appraise the policies that may be adopted to recruit, train and retain primary care workforces in developing countries
  • Synthesise and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of national primary care systems (i.e. universal coverage, information, financing, health care delivery and manpower issues), in addressing the challenges of non-communicable disease.
  • Critically discuss the impact of the “right to health” as a factor influencing health systems development in different countries.

Content

The course comprises set lectures on key topics, country case studies, set reading and group discussion.

Assessment

Assessment will be based on a 3000 word appraisal of the features, strengths, weaknesses and challenges of the primary care system in a particular country, to be chosen by the student.

Reading material

A major resource for the course will be The Lancet Global Health Portal (http:/www.thelancet.com/global-health) 

Report

Primary Health Care. Now More Than Ever. The World Health Report 2008

Books

  • Global Health Watch 2. An alternative world health report. Zed Books London, 2008
  • Global Health Watch 3. An alternative world health report. Zed Books London, 2011

Journal articles

  • Starfield B. Is primary care essential? Lancet 1994;344:1129-33
  • Rawaf S DeMaeseneer J Starfield B. From Alma-Aa to Almaty: a new start for primary health care. Lancet 2008:372:1365-67
  • Starfield B. The hidden inequity in health care. International Journal for Equity in Health. 2011;10:15
  • De Maeseneer J et al. Tackling NCDs: a different approach is needed. Lancet 2012;379:1860-61

Journal

International Journal for Equity in Health http://www.equityhealthj.com/

What students have said about this course

Not applicable - this course runs for the first time in 2013/2014.

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Management of long term conditions in primary care

This course is delivered as 11 x 2.5 hour teaching sessions in Semester 1 (September to November)

Day and time

Tuesdays
14.00 to 16.30

Purpose

In the context of an ageing and declining population, the biggest challenge facing health carers in Scotland is managing long term conditions. Understanding the pressures and potential solutions for systems of care will enhance our capacity to meet this challenge.

Aims

  • To provide an in-depth grounding in the changing demography and context on the presentation of ill health in Scotland and elsewhere in the world.
  • To equip graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to engage in and contribute to the current debate around the future care of people in Scotland and other countries with long term conditions.
  • To encourage students to explore strategies that will contribute to the management of long term conditions.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Synthesise and discuss the population context of chronic disease management in Scotland, the UK, and internationally
  • Critically assess the recent developments in chronic disease management, and analyse and evaluate the drivers of change in Scotland, the UK and internationally 
  • Analyse the key components of effective chronic disease management programmes and consider the challenges in different types of population
  • Compare, contrast  and critically evaluate different models of chronic disease management in different countries, economies and cultures
  • Consider and critically evaluate the challenges of chronic disease management, and assess potential solutions locally, nationally, and internationally
  • Critically discuss and interpret the importance of patient-centred care as a driver for change in the health care systems.

Format

Sessions will be delivered by a mix of short didactic presentations, small group working and discussion.

Content

  • Long term conditions and quality of healthcare
  • Mental health and long term conditions
  • Mental health in chronic disease
  • Long-term Conditions Collaborative: improving quality and value
  • Multimorbidity
  • Use of new technologies
  • The chronic care model
  • The management of long term conditions in the context of deprivation
  • CHCPs
  • Self-care support/voluntary organisations

Assessment

3000 word essay, drawing on the course, professional experience and the literature 

Reading material

Papers provided during the course, including:-

  • Scottish Executive. A National Framework for Service Change in the NHS in Scotland. Building a Health Service Fit for the Future. Edinburgh.
  • Scottish Executive. 2005. www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/924/0012113.pdf
  • Scottish Executive. Delivering for Health. Edinburgh. Scottish Executive 2005. www.Scotland.gov.uk/Resouce/Doc/76169/0018996.pdf
  • Scottish Government. Better Health, Better Care: A discussion document to inform the development of the forthcoming health and wellbeing action plan. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/08/13165824/0
  • Mercer SW and Watt GMC. The inverse care law: clinical primary care encounters in deprived and affluent areas of Scotland. Ann Fam Med 2007; 5: 503-507
  • Fortin M, Soubhi H, Hudon C, Bayliss EA, van den Akker M. Multimorbidity’s many challenges. BMJ 2007; 334: 1016-1017
  • Greaves CJ, Campbell JL. Supporting self-care in general practice. BJGP 2007; 57: 814-821

What students have said about this course...

  • "As a front-line worker, I do now feel much more aware of the drivers behind practice"
  • "Welcoming, reassuring and motivating"
  • "Promoted great peer interactions"
  • "Very well organised - a lot of thought has obviously gone into planning this"
  • "Was able to apply knowledge and understanding quickly to day job!"

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Social justice

This course is delivered as 11 x 2.5 hour teaching sessions in Semester 2 (January to March).

Day and time

Wednesdays
14.00 to 16.30

Purpose

To give students the opportunity to consider what the principles of social justice might be with respect to health care and how these may be applied in their work place. Although a significant part of the module will deal with socio-economic deprivation there will also be consideration of other issues, such as ethnicity and gender.  The course will be directed at application locally within Scotland although the particular objectives of the students will be taken into account.

Aim

  • To provide students with an understanding of the interaction between issues of social justice and primary health care
  • To enable graduates to better meet the challenges to health and health care of socio-economic deprivation

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Understand, evaluate and discuss the concepts and causes of health inequalities.
  • Describe, reflect and critically assess the theoretical frameworks underpinning social justice.
  • Consider, discuss and evaluate how particular examples of inequalities of social justice relate to health.
  • Examine issues of social justice and relate these to their own practice, suggesting a range of possible strategies to meet these challenges.
  • Critically consider policy initiatives to tackle social injustice and evaluate these in the light of their experience and underlying principles.

Format

The teaching methods will include seminars, small group work, case studies and self-directed learning. There will be contribution from external contributors.

Content

  • Ideological and political context
  • Social determinants of health
  • Ethical principles
  • Social justice and health care
  • Socio-economic deprivation and health
  • Socio-economic deprivation and delivery of health care
  • Social exclusion and social capital
  • Student presentations
  • Population perspective
  • Impact of UK policy initiatives to tackle inequalities
  • Respect and choice

Assessment method

  • Summative assessment
    3000 word essay (100%)
  • Formative assessment
    Case studies

Reading material

  • Graham H. (ed.) 2001. Understanding health inequalities. (Open University Press) ISBN 0335205542. £17.99.
  • Leon D, Walt, G. Poverty inequality and health. Oxford University Press 2001
  • Shaw M, Dorling D, Gordon D, Davey Smith G. 1999. The widening gap. (The Policy Press, Bristol) ISBN 1861341423. £16.99.
  • Graham H. 2007 Unequal lives: health and socioeconomic inequalities. (Open University Press) ISBN:  9780335213696. £19.99

What students have said about this course

  • "Interesting and thought-provoking"
  • "Very relevant to my area of practice"
  • "Has broadened my knowledge base and perceptions"
  • "Has increased my personal confidence and inspired me to use this knowledge in work (and life!!!)"

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