PRHC 501: Foundations in Primary Health Care I (3 credits)
Course Description
This prerequisite course forms the foundation of the Graduate Certificate in Primary Health Care. You are introduced to fundamental concepts in primary health care including policy, leadership, teamwork, the dynamics of team-based care, and the impact of environment on team functioning. These concepts are developed and explored in increasingly more detail in the courses that follow.
Course Goal
This course introduces learners to the key concepts and benefits, and potential pitfalls, of team-based primary health care. You build on existing ethical, patient-centered care as you transform your current practice.
In this course, you begin exploring the elements that contribute to an effective team-based, client-centered practice and begin practising and engaging with these concepts. This course is the prerequisite for all the other courses in the certificate program.
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will be able to:
- Define and describe key concepts of interprofessional collaboration (Modules 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8)
- Describe the framework for health care and the drivers for the development and implementation of primary health care policy in British Columbia and Canada, and the role the World Health Organization (WHO) plays (Modules 1 and 2)
- Articulate the principles of teamwork and team processes to enable effective interprofessional communication and collaboration to establish and achieve patient/client/family and community goals (Modules 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 )
- Recognize the unique nature of interprofessional conflict in primary health care in a positive way that leads to better outcomes (Modules 8 and 9)
- Identify the key characteristics of collaborative leadership and distinguish it from traditional forms of leadership (Module 9)
- Articulate how physical space impacts collaborative team building and team interaction in primary health care, and describe how to develop a physical space that enhances and supports interprofessional team-based collaboration (Module 10)
- Identify strategies that support effective communication to engage both the interprofessional team and the patient/client/family in collaborative patient-centered care (Module 11).
PRHC 503: Foundations in Primary Health Care II (3 credits)
Course Description
This course is designed to:
- enhance your understanding and practice of leadership in a collaborative team-based primary health care environment
- provide the opportunity for you to explore ethical issues that may arise in primary health care and develop skills to resolve them
- introduce you to equity-oriented processes in primary health care, and the cultures of various professions within a team-based collaboration in primary health care setting.
Course Goal
This course builds on the concepts introduced in PRHC 501: Foundations in Primary Health Care I and provides an opportunity for you to engage deeply with the specific issues of leadership, ethics and equity-oriented processes within a collaborative interprofessional team-based context.
As you explore these three subject areas in depth, you have numerous opportunities for hands-on practice to internalize and apply the knowledge and skills you were introduced to in PRHC 501. This course also prepares you to deeply engage with the remaining courses of the certificate.
This course is a prerequisite for PRHC 505: Integrating the Principles of Collaborative Team-Based Primary Health Care into Practice, PRHC 507: Primary Health Care in Rural and Remote Communities and PRHC 509: Special Topics in Primary Health Care. You must take PRHC 501 before enrolling in this course.
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will be able to:
- Describe the role that evaluation plays in informed decision-making, and a leader’s role in fostering evaluative thinking in their organization (Module 1)
- Discuss different elements of leadership that can be found in a collaborative practice model of care (Modules 2-6)
- Identify individual and group responsibilities for leadership when collaborating in a primary health care context (Modules 2-6)
- Describe how the elements of an ethical decision-making clinical/leadership framework might be applied in a specific case (Module 7)
- Demonstrate how to effectively approach differences in your personal values and beliefs with those of others as they relate to ethical practice (Module 9)
- Demonstrate collaborative practice competencies with other members of the health care team when engaged in complex ethical discussions (Module 7)
- Identify the key dimensions of equity-oriented care and its importance (Modules 10 and 12)
- Define health equity and articulate its components (Modules 10 and 11).
PRHC 505: Integrating the Principles of Collaborative Team-Based Primary Health Care into Practice (3 credits)
Course Description
This course builds on the concepts and principles introduced in PRHC 501: Foundations in Primary Health Care I and PRHC 503: Foundations in Primary Health Care II, and offers opportunities to apply them in practice in a broad range of specific contexts and issues, including:
- rural and remote environments
- health care in Indigenous contexts
- mental health and addictions
- maternity
- sexual health and reproduction
- ageing and population health
- health promotion.
Course Goal
In this applied course, you have numerous opportunities for hands-on practice to help you internalize and hone your knowledge and the skills you were introduced to in PRHC 501 and PRHC 503. This course also provides you the knowledge and skills you will explore further in PRHC 507: Primary Health Care in Rural and Remote Communities and PRHC 509: Special Topics in Primary Health Care.
This course is a prerequisite for PRHC 507 and PRHC 509. You must take PRHC 501 and PRHC 503 before enrolling in this course.
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will be able to:
- Describe and apply foundational principles of collaborative team-based primary health care to specific contexts and issues, including care for Indigenous populations and seniors, mental health and addictions, maternity care, sexual health and reproduction, and population health and health promotion (Modules 1, 2 and 7-11)
- Describe and evaluate how Primary Care Networks (PCNs) support the delivery of primary health care in these same specific contexts and issues (Modules 1, 2 and 7-11)
- Analyze the challenges and benefits of e-health in providing team-based primary health care (Module 5).
PRHC 507: Primary Health Care in Rural and Remote Communities (1.5 credits)
Course Description
This course blends online modules with an on-site weekend intensive learning experience designed to enhance your understanding and practice of collaborative, team-based primary health care in the rural and remote environments.
Course content is specific to primary health care service delivery models, the impact of contemporary professional or health reform issues on rural health care, and strategies to transform rural health care.
This course builds on the concepts introduced in PRHC 501: Foundations in Primary Health Care I and PRHC 503: Foundations in Primary Health Care II. It also provides an in-depth exploration of specific issues and contexts identified in PRHC 505: Integrating the Principles of Collaborative Team-Based Primary Health Care into Practice.
This course is a prerequisite for PRHC 509: Special Topics in Primary Health Care. You must take PRHC 501, PRHC 503 and PRHC 505 before enrolling in this course.
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will be able to:
- Analyze and assess the unique nature of health care challenges faced by rural and remote communities
- Identify, analyze and critically review primary health care service delivery models that are responsive to the rural community context
- Analyze the impact of contemporary professional and health reform issues on rural health care, and design innovative strategies to transform rural health care
- Implement appropriate, culturally sensitive methods to identify and manage rural community health needs.
PRHC 509: Special Topics in Primary Health Care (1.5 credits)
Course Description
PRHC 509 is a capstone intensive that identifies and addresses gaps in knowledge, and provides a framework and resources for responding to complex, student-selected issues from one of the modules introduced in PRHC 505: Integrating the Principles of Collaborative Team-Based Primary Health Care into Practice.
Specific topics will be determined by the experience and interests of the learners, and may change for each offering of this course. Depending on the cohort of learners, sample topics could include:
- chronic conditions
- primary health care for Indigenous populations
- seniors’ health complexities
- immigrant and refugee health issues.
The in-depth project provides an opportunity to identify, analyze and propose a solution to address a real-life primary health care issue within the system or work environment.
This course blends online modules with an on-site weekend intensive learning experience designed to enhance learners’ understanding and practice of collaborative, team-based primary health care on the selected topic.
Since the course focuses on one of the topics covered in PRHC 505, it allows you to pursue an in-depth application of your foundational knowledge and skills to a specific problem. Using diverse approaches, you become familiar with a toolbox of resources, and a framework and ways of responding to complex issues within a particular subject area.
You must take PRHC 501, PRHC 503, PRHC 505 and PRHC 507 before enrolling in this course.
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will be able to:
- Identify, develop and explore a specific issue or subject, from a policy level to implementation at a team level
- Identify and use a toolbox of resources and a framework and ways of responding to complex issues
- Integrate their own experience, the recent literature and the expertise of experts to develop an effective solution to a complex issue or subject
- Lead and participate effectively in groups working to resolve a complex health care issue.