Course Descriptions

Course 1 - Health Technology Assessment: Principles and Practice
Course 2 - Principles and Practices in Systematic Reviews and Health Technology Assessment
Course 3 - Economic Evaluation
Course 4 - Health Systems, Economics of Health Care, Equity, HTA and Policy-making
Course 5 - Institutional Management and Impact Evaluation
Course 6 - Ethical, Sociocultural and Legal Issues
Course 7 - Clinical Decision Making
Course 8 - Presentations of Research / Policy Analysis Projects

Module I - Université de Montréal, Département d’administration de la santé

Course 1 - Health Technology Assessment: Principles and Practice
Delivery Format Seminar

Description:
This course introduces the student to the principle concepts, analytical tools and current practices in health technology assessment. Key case studies illustrate the contents.

Pedagogical objectives:
At the end of this course, students will be able:

  1. to understand and use the principal concepts and vocabulary of a HTA;
  2. to acquire an overall vision of the purpose of HTA and the use of methods from a multidisciplinary perspective; and
  3. to gain a critical perspective on the role of HTA in decision-making by means of illustrative examples.
Course 2 - Principles and Practices in Systematic Reviews and Health Technology Assessment
Delivery Format Modular
UofT Equivalent HAD5308H - Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Instructors Prakeshkumar Shah / Joseph Beyene, University of Toronto core faculty

Description:
The aim of this course is to introduce the student to systematic review methodology and the role that systematic reviews play in the decision-making process within HTA. It introduces the student to the principles of evidenced based health-care, systematic review methodology and its use for policy recommendations:

  • Development of review question
  • Searching for appropriate literature
  • Critical appraisal of the quality of different clinical study designs (cohort studies, randomized controlled studies, and systematic reviews)
  • Data synthesis (including the use of statistical tests)

Pedagogical objectives:
At the end of this course, students will be able:

  • To locate and use various tools designed to assist in the critical appraisal of various study designs.
  • To develop a protocol for a systematic review including how to:
    • formulate a review question
    • develop a search strategy to retrieve the literature
    • critically appraise the identified literature
    • extract the data
    • synthesize and graphically display the data
    • (how to draw conclusions for clinical practice, health policy and future research will only be briefly addressed)
  • To understand the basic statistics used in cohort studies, randomized controlled studies and meta-analyses
  • To understand the purpose of systematic reviews in HTA
  • To discuss the role of systematic reviews and HTA in decision-making by health care practitioners, professional organizations and policy makers.

Module II - Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Medicina

Course 3: Economic Evaluation
Delivery Format Modular
UofT Equivalent HAD5730H - Economic Evaluation Methods for Health Service Research
Instructors Wendy Ungar / Jeffrey Hoch, University of Toronto faculty contacts

Description:
This course aims at introducing the student to the principles of economic analysis of health care interventions and their role in health care decision making.

Pedagogical objectives:
At the end of this course, students will be able:

  1. to understand the principles and practices of economic analysis in health care;
  2. to understand the role of economic analysis in health care policy making;
  3. to be able to critically evaluate the quality of published economic analyses; and
  4. to be able to assist in the conduct of economic analysis.

Course 4: Health Systems, Economics of Health Care, Equity, HTA and Policy-making
Delivery Format Modular
UofT Equivalent HAD5760H - Advanced Health Economics and Policy Analysis
Instructor Wendy Ungar, University of Toronto core faculty

Description:
This course aims to introduce the student to health policy analysis and its role in health technology assessment and management. The course examines the context in which decisions are taken, the various constraints faced by decision makers and the policy instruments and strategies implemented.

Pedagogical objectives:
At the end of the course, students will be able:

  1. to understand the main concepts of health policy analysis and their relevance to HTA;
  2. to gain a comparative vision of health systems models and practices; and
  3. to discuss similarities and differences among countries in terms of context, values and health system challenges.

Module III - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli, Rome

Course 5: Institutional Management and Impact Evaluation
Delivery Format Modular
UofT Equivalent HAD5763H - Health Care Performance Measurement
Instructor Rhonda Cockerill, University of Toronto faculty contact

Description:
The objectives of the course are twofold:

  1. to identify the main features of management and performance evaluation for health care organizations; and
  2. to provide participants with a general overview of the main methods and instruments to evaluate health sector activities.

The course places a particular emphasis on planning, coordination and surveillance activities in health care organizations.

Pedagogical objectives:
At the end of the course students will:

  1. understand the main concepts of health care management;
  2. understand the main concepts of activities related to health services evaluation; and
  3. assess the performance of health care organizations.

Course 6: Ethical, Sociocultural and Legal Issues
Delivery Format Modular
UofT Equivalent HAD5771H - Resource Allocation Ethics OR
HAD5727H - Knowledge Transfer and Exchange: The Art and Science of Making Research Relevant and Increasing Utilization
Instructors Pascale Lehoux, University of Toronto core faculty

Description:
This course is aimed at defining how ethical, sociocultural and legal issues influence, and can be integrated into, evaluation-based decision- and policy-making in health care. Students will also learn how to disseminate HTA findings to targeted audiences. Basic concepts, analytical tools and methodological procedures are presented and illustrated with examples and hands-on exercises.

Pedagogical objectives:
At the end of this course, students will be able:

  1. to define the ethical, sociocultural and legal dimensions of health technology;
  2. to analyse these dimensions in relation to a given technology;
  3. to discuss strengths and weaknesses of such an analysis;
  4. to devise a communication plan for a given technology; and
  5. to clarify the potential paths of influence from HTA to decision-making and clinical practice.

Module IV - University of Ottawa

Course 7: Clinical Decision Making
Delivery Format Modular
UofT Equivalent HAD5304H - Clinical Decision Making and Effectiveness Analysis
Instructors Murray Krahn / Andreas Laupacis, University of Toronto faculty contacts

Description:
This course introduces the major elements of health care decision making. The course provides a basic understanding of the methods used to develop/produce decision rules, decision analyses, patient decision aids, and practice guidelines.

Pedagogical objectives:
At the end of this course, students will be able:

  1. to understand the principles of some of the more prevalent technologies involved in health care decision making; and
  2. to be able to critically evaluate the quality of clinical practice-oriented systematic reviews, decision rules, and practice guidelines.


Course 8: Presentations of Research / Policy Analysis Projects
Delivery Format Seminar

Description:
The aim of this course is to synthesize the key themes taught during the ULYSSES Master’s Program, and to ensure that students have gained a clear vision of the purpose and methods of HTA. During the course, each student will present his/her personal project (thesis or bibliographic essay), respond to questions, criticisms and comments made by faculty and peers, and participate in the constructive critique of other students’ presentations. Attendance throughout the week is mandatory.

Pedagogical objectives:
At the end of this course students will be able:

  1. to communicate a clear vision of the purpose of HTA and the use of methods from a multidisciplinary perspective as applied to their own project;
  2. to formulate a cogent rationale about why and how their particular project should contribute to decision-making and clinical practice; and
  3. to discuss the strengths and limitations of different types of HTA projects.
This will be a required, non-credit course.