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Throughout history, people have been given health care interventions that we now know to be ineffective or even harmful. It is therefore important to evaluate health care interventions so that health services deliver care that is beneficial to patients. The objective of this module is to give students an understanding of how to evaluate health care interventions in low-, middle- and high-income countries. It focuses on the scientific methods used to evaluate different aspects of a health care intervention:

1. its effectiveness
2. its efficiency (or cost-effectiveness)
3. whether it is being delivered humanely to patients, as reflected in their experience of care, and
4. whether it is delivered equitably.

The overall module aim is to describe and illustrate a range of methods which can be used to evaluate health services in high, middle and low-income countries. The module is aimed at enabling students to develop an understanding of the principles involved in designing studies to evaluate whether health care interventions are effective, efficient, and are delivered humanely and equitably. The module considers relatively simple interventions, such as a new drug or surgical techniques, it does not cover evaluations of large-scale public health interventions.

Intended learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the module, a student should be able to:

1. Describe the main methods used for evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, equity and humanity of health care interventions
2. Assess the main advantages and limitations of each method
3. Explain the key steps involved in evaluating specific health care interventions.

Mode of delivery

This module is delivered predominantly face-to-face. Where specific teaching methods (lectures, seminars, discussion groups) are noted in this module specification these will be delivered by predominantly face-to-face sessions. There will be a combination of live and interactive activities (synchronous learning) as well as recorded or self-directed study (asynchronous learning).

Assessment

The assessment for this module has been designed to measure student learning against the module intended learning outcomes (ILOs) as listed above. Formative assessment methods may be used to measure students’ progress. The grade for summative assessment(s) only will go towards the overall award GPA.

The assessment for this module will be online. The module is assessed using a time-limited assessment. Students are required to answer any four of five short-answer questions. Each question is typically broken down into sections that require short answers (rather than an essay style response). Students will be able to download the examination at a given time at the end of the module and be required to return their answer script within a specified time. The assessment will not require group work.

Credits

• CATS: 15
• ECTS: 7.5

Module specification

For full information regarding this module please see the module specification.