Order Description
Research Methods for Health Service Management.

Report and individual research plan, for evaluating a health service (2000 words)

Report title/topic:
Preventing and controlling infectious diseases and managing personnel health and safety concerns related to infection control in Accident and Emergency settings/department.

Format: Essay

Word count:2000 words
Weighting: 30%

Turnitin: This assignment does have to be submitted through Turnitin.

This assignment is intended to assess the following learning outcomes:
a) Explain the use of descriptive and inferential statistics in the design and interpretation of health and healthcare research, and in service improvement.
b) Identify the nature and sources of information and data needed to write a research proposal and report using appropriate research process criteria
c) Plan a research project appropriate to a field of study
d) Select and implement appropriate analytical techniques
e) Constructively critique the research of others, identifying strengths and weaknesses in technique, analysis and conclusions.
f) Evaluate an existing healthcare or service programme

Details of the task In your report and plan you will be expected to:
1) Select a health outcome relevant to your programme (Health Service Management) and critically evaluate research studies relating to a service designed to improve this health outcome.

2) Your critical evaluation should include discussion of the creation, expansion, contracture or closure of the service.

3) Discuss the significance of the service in terms of its health, economic and social impact by providing critical analysis of research.

4) Describe populations (geographically, socially, economically, etc) that may benefit most from this service (please make reference to specific research evidence to support the information presented).

5) Identify research priorities relating to this service. i.e. Is further research/evaluation required?

6) Provide a plan to describe how research/evaluation may provide more information about the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of this service
.
You are expected to collect information using various data sources including reports; electronic databases; and scientific publications. When using statistical data, graphs etc. and/or academic literature, the sources of data should be clearly indicated and referenced using the Harvard system (see guidelines on Moodle). Your report and plan should provide supporting evidence and citations throughout.

Reassessment details
This component will be re assessed in the reassessment period in August.

Suggested Structure of the HSM Assignment Report Research Methods

Choose a form of Health Technology of interest or relevance to you.

My choice
“Preventing and controlling infectious diseases and managing personnel health and safety concerns related to infection control in Accident and Emergency settings/department”

Search for Economic Evaluation evidence in the literature, or in places like the NIHCE website
.
NB you will need to pick technology that HAS economic evidence

Your report can be up to (check with students) 2000 words in length +/- 10% and should cover the following areas:

1. A brief introduction (200 words)
Eg definition of health technology (eg, Health technology is the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives), identification of an illness or Problem in healthcare management that could benefit from economic evaluation evidence.
State briefly what studies you have found , state briefly what you are going to do in the next sections

2. A description of the studies you have found/chosen,(about 2 or 3) and an assessment of the strengths/weaknesses of each study design – use the relevant CASP checklist
.Please use relevant references and the Harvard technique as required. 500 words.

3. A similar section briefly assessing the ECONOMIC evidence for its strengths and Using the Economic CASP Checklist. Please use relevant references and the Harvard technique as required.
500 words.

4. Discuss briefly how a manager might implement these methods in practice and the advantages and disadvantages of that. You could use a project
management GANTT chart for example 500 words/

5. A brief conclusion outlining the benefits of bringing in this new technology or treatment and summarizing the issues you have discussed and what you have learned. 300 words.