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Health Sciences |
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China Health ProgramShort Course Training for China Health Sectors Capability StatementBackgroundSince 1997, China has accelerated its reform in health sector, involving changes in arrangement for health insurance, primary health care, pharmaceutical, health organisation ownership, public health services, and health governance. Meanwhile, the MOH has been aware of the need for a new approach for workforce development, in particular, with related to the new knowledge and skill requirements for all health service managers and the training for community health workers such as general practitioners and community nurses. The La Trobe University China Health Program has been involved in health management training in China for the last nine years. We have worked in a range of different cities and settings. The La Trobe China Health Program is well placed to contribute to the implementation of the MOH Policy on the Training of Health Service Managers and Community Health Service Workforce. According to the MOH, all managers will access no less than three months training over the next five years including at least ten days of face to face training. General practitioners and community nurses have to participate in in-service training before they can take the role of community health workers. La Trobe UniversityLa Trobe University is one of the top ten universities in Australia. It is one of the younger Australian universities (founded in 1967) and has a strong research profile as well as teaching around 26,000 students each year (including about 6,000 postgraduates). The University is committed to student-centred learning and graduates have consistently accorded a very high rating to the quality of the teaching in the annual surveys conducted by the Graduate Careers Council of Australia. The University has a particularly strong commitment to internationalisation and it seeks not only to attract students and staff from all around the world but also to provide opportunities for local students and staff to gain international experience through a scheme of exchange programs. In particular it leads the International Network of Universities which is a consortium of universities specifically designed to promote student mobility. Currently the University has links with some 250 institutions in more than 40 countries including China. School of Public HealthThe La Trobe China Health Program is based in the School of Public Health at La Trobe. This School is one of the largest schools of public health in Australia with a very good reputation in health services management, health policy and health promotion (among other fields). In addition to the School, extensive public health research is conducted by the Australian Institute for Primary Care, the Australian Centre for Research in Sex, Health and Society, the Mothers and Children’s Health Research Centre and the Centre for Refugee Health. It is a feature of the policy and management departments of the School that they are staffed by people who have been practitioners, such as senior managers and leading policy makers(Steven Duckett, Vivian Lin, David Legge, Judith Dwyer, Sandy Leggat, Ken Harvey, Heather Grain, Geoffrey Prideaux etc. see www.latrobe.edu.au/publichealth/staff/contacts.htm) as well as being teachers and researchers. We have very strong capacity in bilingual teaching. Our bilingual teachers have extensive teaching and research experience in China; have been senior academic staff in top Chinese universities, and have overseas doctoral degrees (Pei Likun, Liu Chaojie, Ji Xudong, Yang Hui, Zhao Hongwen, Gong Zhiping, Zhang Yan, Xue Bin etc, see www.latrobe.edu.au/chp ). History of the La Trobe China Health ProgramWe have been researching and teaching health service management in China for over ten years (including training primary health care workers) and have worked in a range of settings, urban and rural, east and west, north and south (including Yunnan, Sichuan, Beijing, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, Fujian, Gansu). Our program commenced with training needs research which led to the development of teaching programs oriented around the needs of Chinese managers. These programs developed and extended to other provinces and other partnerships. Our partnershipsAll of our teaching and research programs are undertaken in close partnership with leading Chinese universities and national centres/institutes. These partnerships are based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. They include cooperation in teaching, research and academic staff development. Several of our partner universities are also members of the International Network of Universities. Our principlesWe are committed to building long term relationships (based on mutual respect and mutual benefit) with leading Chinese universities and national centres/institutes. Our teaching draws upon international movements in theory and practice but in a ways which recognise and accommodate the specific issues and circumstances of China. We see ourselves as participating in the challenges of health sector reform in China through our teaching and research. Our teaching is informed by our research; our research is supported by our teaching. Our teaching programsWe teach bilingually. We do not require high level English skills as a condition for participating in our courses. We have been teaching health management in China since 1997. We teach a Master of Health Administration in association with Sichuan University, Peking University, Harbin Medical University and Kunming Medical College. Around 200 senior managers from hospitals, health bureaux and CDCs have completed this program with another 90 students currently studying. We teach a Graduate Diploma in China in association with these same partner universities. Around 700 managers from around China have completed this program including those who have then proceeded on to the MHA. We have also developed a primary health care training program in Panzhihua. Around 40 health workers and managers coming from township health centre have completed the training. The next step of training will be extended to village health workers. Based on the above teaching and training programs as well as our research done in recent years (see details below), we have provided a wide range of short-course training programs for China, including “Governance and Inter-governmental Relations”; “Health Regulation”; “Government Purchase of Health Services”; “Community Health Services”; “Health Promotion” and “Hospital Management” etc. We have had very positive feedback from our students about our teaching. Many of them have gone back to immediate promotion in their own work units and have published articles about issues which they have researched as part of their study. Our teaching philosophyWe are committed to research based curriculum, interactive teaching, drawing on and building upon students’ experience, knowledge and understandings, shared inquiry, practical focus of teaching, critical inquiry, multiple teaching and learning strategies tailored to the different kinds of knowledge, skills and attitudes we are seeking to impart. Teaching resourcesOver the last ten years we have assembled a large collection of teaching resources including bilingual lectures and specialist readings in Chinese and English. Much of our teaching is based on the use of CDs which provide easy access to our lectures and readings. In association with our academic partners in China we are presently writing a series of monographs on health policy and health management in China. These monographs will bring together contemporary international thinking in health management with the specifics of the current situation in China. They will address issues of human resource management, health information management, financial management in health care, quality and performance in health care and policy analysis and development in health care. The first volume of this series is expected to be published by late 2007. Different modes of course presentationsWe teach in various different modes, from short courses to the Graduate Certificate to the MHA. Visit the CHP website for more information about the Graduate Certificate and the Master of Health Administration. Academic capacity buildingOur group has a strong commitment to academic exchange and professional development. Some of the arrangements through which this objective has been advanced include:
A number of Chinese academics have participated fully in the Melbourne MHA and reported that it provides a particularly valuable foundation for generalist health managenment teaching. The assessment tasks and specialist study pathways for such academics have been oriented around the educational challenges of management development as well as the content issues. ConsultancyMembers of our group have provided consulting services directly to China, including projects in Xianyang and Tibet. Professor Vivian Lin provides consultancy services in a range of areas including NCDs, Health VII and Health VIII through her work with the World Bank, the WHO, and the AusAID. ResearchChina faces huge challenges in health sector reform during this current period of transition. There are no obvious answers to many of the questions which agency managers and jurisdiction officials are facing. Our group has a strong commitment to research based teaching as well as contributing through research to answering some of these policy related questions. Members of our group have made significant contribution in terms of research productivity in areas such as: management training needs, community health services, application of DRGs, use of pharmaceuticals, regulation of the market, health information, regional health planning, policy practice training needs. In addition we emphasise the importance of research to our students and encourage them to undertake their own policy relevant and health services research during and after their formal training. Many of our masters students have published the results of such studies after completing their studies. Mode of deliveryTraining will be provided mainly based on Bundoora campus of La Trobe University. Field visits will be arranged with respect to specific themes. Further informationFor further information about customised courses and costs contact Dr George Liu. Content Approved by: Director |
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