The Entrepreneurial Healthcare Professional
Full course description
In the Western countries there is growing awareness that the aging of the population, and the accompanying growth in needs for care, puts serious pressure on the current healthcare system and increases the complexity of care delivery. Meanwhile, the application of digital technology in all the realms of healthcare, continues relentlessly. The increasing need for health services, the growing complexity and the necessity of cost containment offer exciting opportunities for entrepreneurial professionals.
Entrepreneurship in healthcare entails that healthcare professionals are capable of discovering and taking opportunities to create value (=providing a product/service that a customer needs/wants) for patients. Entrepreneurship usually includes the actual creation of value by developing a product or service, by designing a value creation strategy, and by creating an (inter)organisational entity that provides the product or service to the customer. This course draws the boundary at outlining products or services for patients, strategies and (inter)organisational arrangements.
This course introduces students to value creation and the features of healthcare systems, (inter)organisational arrangements and strategies for value creation. These features are considered from one perspective: Which opportunities for value creation do these features provide for the student as a future entrepreneurial professional in healthcare and which threats should this future professional deal with? What are the advantages and disadvantages of (inter)organisational arrangements and strategies for value creation?
During the course, students will make individual assignments about several of the aforementioned topics. As a member of a study team, they will also work on project assignments and on a group paper about these assignments. The knowledge from a number of individual assignments will serve as input for the project assignments. The students will write an individual essay based on a number of individual assignments and the project assignments.
Course objectives
Knowledge and insights
The student has knowledge of:
- The characteristics of healthcare systems.
- The positions/functions of healthcare professionals in the healthcare system.
- Theories about entrepreneurial professionals, value creation, (inter)organisational arrangements and strategies for value creation.
- The competencies and other personal characteristics of entrepreneurial professionals.
Application of knowledge and insights
The student is able to:
- Explain how opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses for value creation can be discovered by entrepreneurial healthcare professionals and how they can take advantage of their discoveries.
- Use the gained knowledge to outline products or services for patients, strategies and (inter)organisational arrangements for value creation.
Forming opinions
The student:
- Has a scientific – positive and critical – attitude.
- Is able to critically assess the validity and utility of the gained knowledge.
Communication
The student:
- Can express the knowledge and insights offered in this course in writing and orally.
- Can communicate effectively about the gained knowledge and the results of the assignments.
Skills
The student has the skills to use the newly acquired knowledge:
- To identify the opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses for value creation by entrepreneurial healthcare professionals.
- To develop a well-argued advice for value creation for patients.
The student has the skills:
- To work in a study team and to contribute to effective teamwork, while also taking responsibility for one’s own actions and learning.