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2025-2026 / GEST7059-1

Operational management in healthcare organisations

Duration

20h Th, 15h Pr

Number of credits

 Master in Public Health, professional focus on specialist practitioners in public health4 crédits 
 Advanced Master in Health Data Management5 crédits 

Lecturer

Véronique François, Méryl Paquay

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course deals with operations management in healthcare organizations with a strong focus on the hospital environement. It is composed of two distinct parts: planning and processes, whose contents are briefly described below.

Content of the "Planning" part:

  • The design of "process layout" facilities commonly found in hospital settings.
  • Capacity management through performance evaluation of queuing systems and workforce planning.
  • Scheduling of operating rooms, staff, and patients.
Content of the "Processes" part:

  • Continuous process improvement.
  • Process performance indicators.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

By the end of this course, the student will be able to:

  • Define and understand key concepts in operations management within the healthcare sector.
  • Identify and analyze common planning problems in a healthcare organization.
  • Identify their causes and effects.
  • Identify appropriate tools to solve these problems.
  • Implement solutions or identify the necessary expertise, when applicable.
  • Understand the importance of continuous process improvement.
  • Detect problems in an existing process and analyze their causes.
  • Implement continuous process improvement supported by performance indicators.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

A basic knowledge of Excel is desirable as some exercises are solved using Excel.

Furthermore, a prerequisite test covering basic mathematical concepts will be offered at the beginning of the academic year to allow students to address any potential gaps in their knowledge.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Alternating theoretical and practical content, sometimes in the same course session. Diversified course material.

  • Lectures.
  • Participative activities.
  • Solved exercises, some of them using a computer software (Excel, Anylogic).
  • Readings (scientific articles).
  • Case studies.
  • Groupe work.
  • Visits and/or external speakers.
  • Coaching on a case study.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

Attendance in class is essential for understanding the material and ensuring that group work runs smoothly.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus


Further information:

A list of reference books is available in the course notes for students wishing to delve deeper into certain topics (eCampus).

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam ( multiple-choice questionnaire, open-ended questions ) AND oral exam

Written work / report


Further information:

For the "Planning" part: written examination during the exam period.

For the "Processes" part: oral exam during the exam period on a group assignment completed beforehand.

The course material includes all course resources available on eCampus: course notes, exercises, articles, computer files, etc., as well as the content of activities carried out within the framework of the course.

If the grade for each part is greater than or equal to 10/20, the "Planning" part counts for 60% of the final grade, while the "Processes" part counts for 40%. Otherwise (i.e., if at least one of the two grades is less than 10), the final grade for the course is the lower of the two grades.

In the second session, students only retake the part(s) for which they obtained a grade strictly below 10/20. For the "Processes" part, students are asked to contact Ms. Paquay by July 5 to receive a case study for the second session.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Véronique François (veronique.francois@uliege.be)

HEC Liège, Centre for Quantitative Methods and Operations Management

14 Rue Louvrex , Bâtiment N1a, 3e étage

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Méryl Paquay (meryl.paquay@chuliege.be)

Département de Santé Publique ULiège/Urgences CHU Liège

Avenue de l'hôpital 1, Tour 3, B23

Association of one or more MOOCs