Health Systems and Service Research

The aim of the doctoral programme is to build a researcher profile able to grasp the cognitive challenges deriving from the complexity of governance and clinical, organisational and economic management of health systems, with particular reference to public and universalistic ones. 

More specifically, the doctoral programme aims to promote profiles of researchers capable of developing scientific knowledge in the field of health services and systems research (HSSR). HSSR is a multidisciplinary field of study that examines the ways in which the population acquires access to health services, their cost and what happens to patients and citizens regarding the results of the care provided (outcomes). 
The HSSR investigates how social factors, health policy, funding systems, organisational structures and processes, institutional set-up and regulatory regulation, medical technology and personal behaviour, influence access to healthcare, the quality and cost of healthcare, as well as people's duration and quality of life. Compared to medical research, HSSR is a relatively young science developed through the union of social science perspectives with the contribution of individuals and institutions engaged in the provision of health services, in a generally pragmatic and not only speculative perspective of study (Sheikh K, et al. 2011).
In the current context, the HSSR is committed to providing useful perspectives to address the problem of the sustainability of public health systems. 
As far as the specific national context is concerned, the doctorate that is intended to be established promises to provide important contributions to the maintenance and dynamic development of the NHS model with which the country is endowed. 
Following the evolution of the NHS, it is clear that those who today approach research on health services are called upon to collaborate in very large multidisciplinary groups and must therefore develop in-depth technical skills on the one hand, and important relational skills, on the other.
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, thanks to the Graduate Schools system, has created contexts in which it is possible to guarantee this multidisciplinary approach with a view to achieving the University's third mission. Altems is therefore the right context in which to develop multidisciplinary research, in which medical, economic, social and humanistic cultures from different Faculties of the University (Medicine, Economics, Psychology, etc.) can converge, giving life to a unique educational offer. 
The Doctoral School in Health Systems and Service Research proposed by Altems, together with the Institute of Public Health of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, intends to be characterized by its multidisciplinary nature and a strong international orientation. At the same time, the School intends to pursue "pragmatic" lines of research, i.e. relevant and useful research to ensure the sustainability of the NHS, and at the same time methodologically and scientifically robust and accurate.

COURSES

• Health Service Research
• Statistical Methods for Research
• economic and social
• Organization theory
• applied to Healthcare
• Epistemology and Research Methodology
• Health Economics
• Global Health
• European Health Law
• Academic entrepreneurship