Administration of effective health programs at the population level

Rationale

Knowing the organization of the health care and public health systems in Canada as well as how to determine the most cost-effective interventions are becoming key elements of clinical practice. Physicians also must work well in multidisciplinary teams within the current system in order to achieve the maximum health benefit for all patients and residents.

Key Objectives

1. Know and understand the pertinent history, structure and operations of the Canadian health care system.
2. Be familiar with economic evaluations such as cost-benefit / cost effectiveness analyses as well as issues involved with resource allocation.
3. Describe the approaches to assessing quality of care and methods of quality improvement.

Enabling Objectives

1. Describe at a basic level:
   1. methods of regulation of the health professions and health care institutions;
   2. supply, distribution and projections of health human resources;
   3. health resource allocation;
   4. organization of the Public Health system; and
   5. the role of complementary delivery systems such as voluntary organizations and community health centres.
2. Describe the role of regulated and non-regulated health care providers and demonstrate how to work effectively with them.
3. Outline the principles of and approaches to cost containment and economic evaluation.
4. Describe the main functions of public health related to population health assessment, health surveillance, disease and injury prevention, health promotion and health protection.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of ethical issues involved in resource allocation.
6. Define the concepts of efficacy, effectiveness, efficiency, coverage and compliance and discuss their relationship to the overall effectiveness of a population health program.
7. Be able to recognize the need to adjust programs in order to meet the needs of special populations such as new immigrants or persons at increased risk.
8. Participate effectively in and with health organizations, ranging from individual clinical practices to provincial organizations, exerting a positive influence on clinical practice and policy-making.
9. Define quality improvement and related terms: quality assurance, quality control, continuous quality improvement, quality management, total quality management; audit.
10. Describe and understand the multiple dimensions of quality in health care, i.e. what can and should be improved.