Influencing change in health care. This online course provides asynchronous learning – your Instructors provide reading materials, activities and assignments that can be accessed at any time each week.

Week 1:  How healthcare decisions get made,  policy creation and the policy cycle

• Understand course content, outcomes, organization, evaluation methods, required resources, and communication strategies.
• Define concepts related to the definition of public policy and health policy.
• Describe why it is important to understand health policy.
• Differentiate between the different types of policy.
• Describe the elements of the policy cycle and provide examples in the health sector.
• Discuss how health policy influences the health care system and those who work in it.

Week 2:  Provincial and Federal perspectives

• Understanding the Federal- Provincial division of responsibilities for health
• The continued “cost – sharing” debate about how much federal provincial, and municipal governments contribute to health care
• The Federal – Provincial roles and relationships

Week 3:  Healthcare reform

• To understand the inherent difficulties in making changes to provincial health care systems.
• To describe the factors that led to health care reforms in Ontario and other provinces, including the various forms of regionalization in each of the provinces.
• To understand the rationale for and implications to nursing and health care recipients of the health care reform policies in Ontario.

Week 4:  Influencing healthcare decision-making

•  To describe different perspectives on how “policy ideas” get on the “agenda” and what influence the structure of our organizations (hospitals, Long Term Care Homes, Home Care organizations, Public Health Departments, governments) play in this part of the decision-making process.
• To describe the basic elements of policy analysis including; how institutions and structures shape decisions; and how institutions embed ideas within their policies.
• To appreciate the complexity of the health decision-making process and the negotiation that is required to reach a decision about policy directions.
• To understand the complexities related to involving consumers in health care decision-making.

Week 5:  The nursing profession influencing healthcare decisions

• 1. To gain a deeper understanding of health policy within the context of nursing practice.
• 2. To identify strategies at the micro, meso & macro levels that nurses can employ to effect change in health policy.
• 3. To begin to recognize the potential nurses have to influence and shape health policy and how the profession is influenced and shaped by health policy
• 4. To identify those factors that impact nursing leadership’s ability to influence the policy agenda.
• 5. To understand the process of policy, and learn the ways that nurse leaders can influence the decisions made.

Week 6:  Funding, allocation and delivery of healthcare

• Attempts by governments and organizations to contain the demand for health care have often proved to be unsuccessful.  There are a number of reasons for this, the most significant being the “political” implications associated with curtailing demand.  Rationing of provisions in publicly funded health care systems is difficult not least because it implies there will be winners and losers with limited dollars available. Organizations also face public outcry when they try to decrease services.

Week 7:  Influencing policies at your workplace

• To identify those factors and forces that are facilitating and impeding change in health care systems.
• To describe how RPNs could influence policy directions that would be beneficial to nurses and patients in the health system.

Week 8: Impacts of the nursing profession on healthcare decisions

• To identify the interactions between the health care system, the profession of nursing and other professions, and the politics of health care.
• To identify the major issues facing the profession of nursing.

Upon completion, the learner will be able to:

• Identify how to be a remarkable leader
• Communicate powerfully
• Demonstrate how to problem solve through decision-making and critical thinking
• Recognize and reiterate conflict resolution techniques
• Identify exemplary leadership practices and influence during change
• Develop a Personal Leadership Development Plan

Participants must have access to a computer and basic computer skills to participate in the electronic class discussions.

The program is an eight week e-Learning course.

For course information please contact Sharon Foster, at sfoster@werpn.com

WeRPN Members:  $275.00 + HST = $310.75
Non-Members:  $357.50 + HST = $403.98

Registration is now open

This course is limited to 25 participants;  registration is available on a first-come first-serve basis, however, a waitlist will be available with notification provided to interested registrants.

To register please contact sfoster@werpn.com for assistance or register online at: https://eshop.werpn.com/product-category/education-courses/

Course Refund Process

• If you would like to withdraw from a course, please submit written notice prior to the date the course begins to be eligible for a refund (less a $25 administration fee).
• Deferring a course to a later date will not incur the administration fees and the participant may select any course within one year of the initial registration date without penalty.
• Course fees are non-refundable after 50% completion of the course duration
• A request for a refund at any other point during the course must be submitted in writing for a partial refund (less the $25 administrative fee)