Course Details

Public Health

MS2404

Course
Public Health
Code
MS2404
Academic Year
2026/2027
Curriculum Year
2022/2023
Degree Programme
MEDICINE AND SURGERY
Curriculum
000 - CORSO GENERICO
Course coordinator
Credits
4
Lecture Hours
50
Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)
SECS-P/10 - Business Organisation, MED/42 - General and Applied Hygiene
Course Type
Integrated learning activity
Course Delivery
OBB - Obbligatoria
Year
5
Teaching period
Secondo Semestre
Campus
ALESSANDRIA
Teaching language
Italian
Course Contents
- HEALTH STATUS
- HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS
- CLINICAL RISK
- PRINCIPLES OF HOSPITAL HYGIENE
- LEADERSHIP IN HEALTHCARE
- Business Organization and the Business System.
- The essential characteristics of organizational structure.
- Operating systems.
- Human resources management.
- The national healthcare system: responsibility, organization, and personnel management.

Reference Texts
Bonanni, Bonaccorsi, Maciocco. Manuale di igiene e sanità pubblica. Carocci, 2021 Damiani GF, Specchia ML, Ricciardi W. Manuale di programmazione e organizzazione sanitaria. Idelson-Gnocchi, 2021 Wilkinson R, Marmot M. et al. Social determinants of health: the solid facts. 2nd edition. WHO Europe 2003. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/98438/e81384.pdf
Rebora G. Scienza dell'organizzazione. Il design di strutture, processi e ruoli, Carocci, 2017
Maggi D. Sistema di Controllo di Gestione nelle Aziende Sanitarie, Giuffrè, 2003
Learning Outcomes
The course provides students with an integrated view of Public Health and the organization of healthcare services. It develops the skills needed to apply preventive strategies, understand the dynamics of the National Health Service, and balance clinical appropriateness with health economics. Furthermore, it promotes a culture of safety by providing operational tools for clinical risk management, the control of hospital-acquired infections, and the exercise of effective leadership within multidisciplinary teams.
Moreover, the course aims at providing tools, in the healthcare sector: - comprehend how to use the key elements of organization design to create effective organizations; - to recognize the influence of culture on members' bahaviour.

Prerequisites
Bases in statistics
Teaching Methods
Lectures, plenary discussions, critical reading of scientific articles. Some course contents will be conveyed through reading of texts and discussions. Online exercises on the DIR e-learning platform.
Additional Information
The material used in class will be made available on the DIR platform Some exercises will be done in the context of direct teaching. Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services- students- physical-or-learning-disabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects. Gender mainstreaming: approaches to grant equal benefits in actions and activities for women and mens and for eliminating gender inequalities
Assessment Methods
Multiple-choice quiz on the program. Students will have to answer 31 multiple-choice questions (4 options, only one correct). Scores are awarded as follows: 1 point for each correct answer, -0.25 points for each incorrect answer, and 0 points for each unanswered question.
Detailed Syllabus
- HEALTH STATUS: Principles of hygiene and public health; Health Inequalities; Natural history of diseases; Epidemiological transition; Risk factors and Causal factors; Health promotion and disease prevention; Lifestyle medicine
- HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS: Definition; Components of healthcare systems; Healthcare system models; Historical evolution in Italy. Principles of Health Economics; Principles of healthcare planning: the National Health Plan; The Essential Levels of Care.
- CLINICAL RISK: Concepts and definitions, Epidemiology and impact, Sentinel events, Risk definition tools, Risk analysis tools, Implementation strategies
- PRINCIPLES OF HOSPITAL HYGIENE: Incidence, prevention and control of the main hospital infections. The processes of cleaning, disinfection, asepsis and sterilization; Hospital waste
- LEADERSHIP IN HEALTHCARE: Team analysis and building, the decision-making process in team working, conflict management within the team
Organizational Theory
Organizational Structures
Organizational Design Challenges
Organizational Culture
Change Management
Human Resource management
The National Health System: Responsibilities, Organization, and HR Management
Expected Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, students will be able to:

- Understand the fundamental principles of hygiene and public health.
- Analyze health determinants, recognizing inequalities and the impact of risk and causal factors on the population.
- Describe the natural history of diseases and the processes of epidemiological transition.
- Evaluate and promote disease prevention and health promotion strategies, integrating the concepts of lifestyle medicine.
- Identify the components and classify the different healthcare system models at an international level.
- Reconstruct the historical evolution of the National Health Service (SSN) in Italy.
- Interpret the dynamics of healthcare services by applying the basic principles of health economics.
- Explain the criteria of healthcare planning, with particular reference to the National Health Plan and the application of the Essential Levels of Care (LEA).
- Define the key concepts of clinical risk and evaluate its epidemiology and impact on healthcare facilities.
- Recognize sentinel events and critical issues in care pathways.
- Use methodological tools for the definition and both the preventive and reactive analysis of risk.
- Describe the incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and apply appropriate measures for their prevention and control.
- Distinguish correctly the processes of cleaning, disinfection, asepsis, and sterilization.
- Analyze the dynamics necessary for the building and effectiveness of a team in a healthcare setting.
- Actively participate in and guide decision-making processes within team working.
- Apply communication and mediation techniques for the management and resolution of conflicts within the work group.

For Organizzazione Aziendale: 1. Applying knowledge and understanding. The knowledge acquired during the course will allow the student to use the organizational skills and competences to be applied in the health care sector. In particular, the student must acquire the business language of the company disciplines and be able to formulate the organizational analysis of the company processes. 2. Making judgments. The course will allow the student to develop an autonomy of judgment and will put the student in the conditions to express considerations regarding the organization and human resource management 3. Learning skills. The study of the discipline will allow the student to understand the dynamics of the company framing the analysis of the single business unity in a coordinated vision of the business facts and the economic environment in which the company carries out its activity.

Moduli

Course year 5
Code MS2406
Course General Management
Lecturers BARBARA MAGGI
SSD SECS-P/10
Campus ALESSANDRIA
Curriculum CORSO GENERICO
Credits 1
Course year 5
Code MS2405
Course Public Health
SSD MED/42
Campus ALESSANDRIA
Curriculum CORSO GENERICO
Credits 3
Last update:09-09-2026 00:14:31