Course Information

The Master of Health Leadership and Policy (MHLP) in Seniors Care offers a bold approach to professional graduate education in health care. Seventy per cent of the courses you’ll take are health care focused and offered through the UBC Faculty of Applied Science. The remaining 30 per cent are business courses offered through UBC Sauder’s Robert H. Lee Graduate School.

Many courses use a flipped classroom format. This means you are expected to independently review course content ahead of classroom time through assigned readings and lecture videos. The classes themselves are then an opportunity for engaged learning – discussing and applying what you’ve learned through case studies, group project work and demonstrations.

Depending on their academic and work schedules, some students do continue to work casual shifts while completing the 12- or 24-month MHLP in Seniors Care.

Course Overview

MHLP SC Course Information-01

Part-Time Study Class Schedule

While there is some flexibility, if you’re completing the MHLP in Seniors Care part time over 24 months, you’ll generally take your business classes and two health-care courses in the first 12-month period. In the second year of the program, you’ll typically focus on your health-care classes. Over the two years of part-time study, you’ll attend classes alongside both full-time and part-time students, giving you enhanced opportunities to build your professional network.

Winter term: January to April

NURS 542: Social Epidemiology: Special Populations

This course examines the trends and social and institutional policies and practices that influence the health and illness profiles of particular population groups, with a particular focus on seniors; it also explores trends in the social organization of service delivery and their impact on the health of seniors.

NURS 542 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Draw upon evidence to analyze the ways that population trends and social and institutional policies shape the health and illness experiences of older people.
Critically analyze the relationships between population trends and subsequent development of social and institutional policies and resource allocation.
Apply insights about the relationships between population trends and social and institutional policies to the appraisal of older peoples’ health and illness experiences.
Propose strategies that support the development of person-centered, evidencebased policies to support older people experiencing health and illness trajectories of aging.

NURS 585: Special Topics in Nursing

Enacting philosophies of care: This course examines the interface between aging and health and examines how different philosophies to care are enacted in a range of practice settings and considers indicators of their impact on seniors’ health. The course includes field work and site visits.

NURS 585 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Draw upon evidence to analyze different philosophies of care and how they are enacted in Seniors’ health across care settings.
Critically analyze the relationship between enacting philosophies of care and the broader socio-political-cultural contexts.
Apply insights about the relationships between enacting philosophies of care and the broader socio-political-cultural contexts to leadership in Seniors’ Care.
Propose leadership strategies that support the enactment of philosophies of care within the broader socio-political-cultural contexts of Seniors’ Care.

APPP 503: Organizational Leadership

Understand the behaviour of people and groups and how this applies to management and leadership within professional organizations. This course explores motivation, group dynamics, organizational structure, leadership styles and tools for assessing organizational effectiveness. The course is collaboratively delivered with the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration.

APPP 503 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Apply theoretical principles of leadership and organization behaviour in a variety of organizational contexts and industries.
Diagnose organizational behaviour and people management challenges and find solutions that deliver business results and ensure employee engagement.
Understand what it takes to build effective manager-employee relationships, given the realities of power, motivation and commitment in an organizational setting.
Develop and present recommendations for organizational leadership challenges using the case study analysis approach.

APPP 501: Project Management & Leadership

Develop skills for leading complex multidisciplinary projects by using management processes that include: project management frameworks, standards, planning, scheduling and estimating, communication and risk management. Case studies in industry-relevant project management will be incorporated into the course. This course is collaboratively delivered with the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration.

APPP 501 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Define project management and compare common project frameworks.
Evaluate project management processes for projects within an organization.
Describe and apply stakeholder analysis and management.
Explain the importance of scope definition to project planning.
Demonstrate use of project planning processes by developing core project plans including schedules, budgets, risk matrices and communication management.
Demonstrate use of project managing processes including change control.
Examine factors that contribute to project success and failure.
Assess impact of team leadership on the success of projects.

Summer term: May to August

NURS 504: Research & Evidence-Based Practice – April & May

This course will help students critically appraise and evaluate evidence related to seniors care and consider strategies for fostering uptake of evidence in organizational policies and practice. The course is delivered in the summer term in a condensed intensive fashion. This hybrid course includes both face-to-face classes and online classes; in-person classes are typically scheduled at the beginning and end of the term.

NURS 504 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Describe the nature of evidence and its contribution to knowledge development in nursing.
Identify research that is relevant to a particular problem or topic area in nursing.
Systematically assess and evaluate the quality of this research and the usefulness of the evidence it provides.
Synthesize and interpret this evidence to develop justifiable conclusions and identify knowledge gaps.

NURS 586E: Specialized Domains of Nursing Practice – May & June

This course is specifically designed for the MHLP in Seniors Care and focuses on the organizational considerations for fostering health and managing health threats for seniors. This course is offered in an intensive format, includes classroom and online classes and immediately follows NURS 504.

NURS 586E Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Draw upon evidence to analyze selected organizational considerations to foster health in Seniors Care.
Critically analyze the relationship between selected organizational considerations and the broader socio-political-cultural contexts.
Apply insights about selected organizational considerations and the broader socio-political-cultural contexts to leadership in Seniors’ Care.
Propose leadership strategies for organizational considerations to promote excellence in Seniors’ Care.

APPP 504: Business Acumen for Technical Leaders

An asset to the aspiring technical leader, business acumen is knowing how business works and applying that knowledge with the goal of business improvement. This course offers an elevated perspective of how technical skills contribute to building value in a business. The course immerses aspiring technical leaders in the practical application of core business skills and the development of six core business competencies, which are presented as modules: Managerial Accounting, Strategy and Performance, Market Evaluation, Operations Management, Negotiations and Contract Management and Business-Case Building and Valuation. This course is collaboratively delivered with the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration.

APPP 504 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Apply theoretical principles of business in a variety of contexts.
Analyze and discuss common business situations encountered by managers from multiple angles using the case study analysis approach.
Appreciate the importance of each of the functional areas, as well as the inter-connectedness of business decision-making.
Appreciate the importance of excellent written and oral communication skills.
Understand the importance of effective team work and strong ethical standards in management.
Plan and present effective and meaningful presentations.

Fall term: September to December

NURS 576: Topics in Social & Environmental Planning to Foster Health of Populations

This course examines the characteristics of social and built environments that are developmentally appropriate to supporting and fostering the health of seniors with a range of abilities. Built environments, both public and private, institutional and community-based, are considered in the relation to health and aging. This course builds on learning around organizational considerations and care philosophies introduced in platform courses to focus on how built care and living environments shape and are shaped by older populations.

NURS 560 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Draw upon evidence to describe ways the social and built environment can positively, or negatively, impact functioning of seniors with a range of abilities.
Propose ways that social and built environments may be effectively adapted to foster optimal functioning of seniors with a range of abilities.
Select a specific setting common to seniors and analyze the characteristics of this setting in order to determine how it supports or impedes the health of seniors who use it.
Recommend strategies to enhance both the physical and social environment of the selected setting based on literature and evidence.

NURS 560: The Politics of Health Policy

This course will engage students in the study of the processes and strategies influencing health and social policy, and the social and political contexts in which policy is created.

NURS 560 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Critically examine the different theoretical and ideological perspectives from which policy is conceptualized.
Analyse the social, political and economic contexts in which policy is created and enacted.
Interpret health and social policy processes in the context of larger social trends and political mandates.
Examine how policies differentially affect particular populations and shape health and social inequities.
Identify new directions needed in health and social policy development. Critically examine how nurses and other health professionals can influence policy.

UBC Sauder School of Business Courses

Students can choose a UBC Sauder Business Course to gain greater exposure to a particular area of interest. Options include (subject to change):

BASC 550: Operations and Logistics

This course will introduce students to the key concepts and tools needed to understand and effectively manage supply chains and business operations in general. A key concept in this course is the “business process”, and managing and improving such processes.

BAMA 519: Building Brand with Purpose

This course explores the core principles of branding within the context of social and environmental responsibility including healthcare, sustainability and human rights. Fundamental marketing strategies are reinforced as they relate specifically to: 1) non-profits, 2) social marketing designed to change society’s behaviour and 3) cause-related-marketing within the corporate sector.

BA 563: Decision Making for Managers

This course is designed to make you a better decision maker by helping you understand your weaknesses and build on your strengths in decision-making. This is an integrative course that links material from Economics, Operations, Statistics, Marketing, Psychology, Finance, and Strategy.

*Course offering subject to change.

BAEN 580B: Special Topics in Business: Creative Destruction Lab

The Creative Destruction Lab Venture Program is a 3-credit course in entrepreneurship in which students will work with the Creative Destruction Lab West (CDL-West) team to help emerging technology and science focused start-ups. Students will become familiar with the CDL-West companies and will have the opportunity to support with market analysis, customer development, financial analysis, and other core activities related to building early stage start-ups. Students will be provided with visibility into how venture capitalists and angel investors make investment decisions.

APPP 502: Sustainability & Leadership

This course helps students build skills to lead change that influences the triple bottom line and explores concepts related to sustainability, change agency systems thinking, awareness and perspective for engagement and communication, adaptive leadership, and change dynamics. It also incorporates case studies in organizational and social change. This course is collaboratively delivered with the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration.

APPP 502 Additional Information

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

- Recognize tools, concepts, standards and frameworks used in sustainable business.
- Analyze current realities, market opportunities and issues related to sustainability across a range of industries.
- Integrate sustainability-related concepts into their own industry and/or personal experiences.
- Synthesize, apply and communicate sustainability knowledge to one’s peers.
- Apply various leadership concepts and tools into their professional practice, and in particular to sustainability-related initiatives.

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