An Introduction to Innovation in Healthcare

This is a free, facilitated four-session course, developed and delivered by the West of England AHSN and the University of Bath’s Centre for Healthcare Innovation and Improvement (CHI²) alongside guest speakers. Learners will join hundreds of healthcare staff and innovators from around the world who will benefit from this training, whilst learning at your pace from wherever you choose.

What the programme offers

Circa 3-hours of online study for each of the four sessions will see you complete this introduction to innovation in healthcare course.

The course aims to approach the challenges of healthcare innovation, while signposting useful tools and techniques. This course is not designed to cover all the aspects of healthcare innovation, but to introduce learners to some of the core concepts and tools used in this field.

• Week 1 defines the key concepts associated with the process of innovation and diffusion. We will also discuss the importance of, and opportunities for, innovation.
• Week 2 examines how individuals and organisations can develop, test, and make the case for their healthcare innovation.
• Week 3 considers the organisational and financial hurdles that must be overcome in order to bring healthcare invention to the market. We will also examine how to evaluate healthcare innovation.
• Finally, Week 4 examines how innovation can be spread and sustained, concluding our course.

What are the learning outcomes?

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the need to engage in innovation
• Recognise healthcare innovation initiatives
• Understand and apply the key steps involved to take the innovation from the idea to realisation
• Evaluate how individuals and organisations might be encouraged to develop an innovation mindset
• Understand the importance of teamwork and collaboration
• Evaluate the challenges of healthcare innovation in relation to their own organisation

At the end of this course, participants will also attain the following skills:

• Be equipped to initiate and support innovation initiatives
• Critical thinking and evaluation
• Information analysis and ability to reflect on complex issues

Who is it for?

The course is aimed at health practitioners, clinicians, health and social care managers and commissioners who want to complete a development opportunity at their own pace that could be a step on from Quality Improvement.

The course will enable those working in health and social care to apply the theories and approaches in their own workplace. However, it will also be of interest to those who want to understand more about the challenges of innovation in healthcare including undergraduate and postgraduate students, and innovators from the commercial sector.

CPD certification is available on the Future Learn platform with a paid upgrade.