Innovation in Healthcare

Catriona Heffernan

Caitriona is the Innovation Lead for the HSE Spark Innovation Programme, the Innovation Programme Lead at Ireland South Women and Infant’s Directorate and Innovation Lead for FemTech at Health Innovation Hub Ireland. Prior to focussing her work in the healthcare innovation space, Caitriona worked clinically for over 15 years as an acute services speech and language therapist in the UK and Ireland.

In her national and directorate roles, Caitriona’s remit is to drive innovation activity both at the front line and through commercialisation activity. Caitriona’s roles facilitate frontline innovation by providing funding, support and mentorship to the many ‘intrapreneurs’ and entrepreneurs working across the Irish healthcare system. Her role in femtech at HIHI sees her working closely with start-ups, companies and entrepreneurs to bring new products and services addressing women’s health needs to market.

Caitriona is a graduate of both the Quality Improvement and Leadership Programme at Royal College of Physicians Ireland, the Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation at Trinity College Dublin and the Postgraduate Diploma in Innovation through Design Thinking at UCC. She draws heavily on the theories of quality improvement, human-centred design and innovation in her work.

This five-week course is fully online so that you are able to study at a pace that suits your lifestyle. The course consists of four weeks of content and teaching. The fifth week is reserved for assessment.

Learning content is delivered through pre-recorded videos and engaging online activities. At the end of each week there will 90-minute live webinars. All webinars are recorded for those who cannot attend live and will be available to view at your convenience.

We understand that some people may be new to online learning. Our virtual learning environment (VLE) is designed to be intuitive, accessible and easy to navigate. A dedicated course coordinator will be available to you, should you experience any technical difficulties, or have any specific questions relating to learning online. At the start of each course, there will be some short videos to orientate you to the platform and course format.

A four-week online learning experience awaits you. Each week is carefully designed to offer a dynamic blend of both direct and indirect synchronous and interactive activities. These include live lectures, exercises, discussions, reading assignments, self-study sessions, formative learning assessments, and summative preparation tasks. This approach fosters an immersive and student-centred learning environment, facilitating the attainment of your learning objectives.

• Week 1: During the first week, participants will be introduced to the realm of innovation within healthcare and science
• Week 2: Moving on to the second week, participants will explore the theoretical foundations that connect creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in healthcare, emphasising their significance and impact.
• Week 3: In the third week, we'll take a more in-depth look at innovation development, covering various types, opportunities, and the innovation process.
• Week 4: As we reach the fourth week, participants will engage in a critical analysis of innovation through the lens of scientific and technological advancements, evaluating its societal value and relevance to stakeholders.
• Week 5: Lastly, in the fifth week, the course will conclude with an assessment and an ongoing feedback process aimed at evaluating the holistic learning outcomes achieved throughout the programme.

• Develop participant capacity to understand key concepts in innovation as applied to or enacted in healthcare and science (e.g. creativity and entrepreneurship).
• Develop critical understanding of how theory and practice in innovation can be employed to alter working lives and human health (e.g as a catalyst for change helping to save and extend lives).
• Understand and apply learning appropriately to the issues or challenges that arise in planning, delivering or changing health and related sectors by considering types of and opportunities for innovation (e.g. breakthrough, technological incremental and appreciating the phases of innovation).
• Develop competence in evaluating concepts pertaining to innovation with a view to assessing and identifying what works (and what does not) in particular scenarios and why (e.g. viability assessment, value generation).
• Demonstrate the ability to challenge assumptions and question processes in the development of effective policies, procedures, strategy or action as part of the innovation process centred on creativity in a contextually sensitive manner.
• Enact critical understanding and skills necessary to perform as an effective organizational actor with the confidence and ability to work with and lead others in pursuit of better health and wellbeing (e.g. through the process of prototyping).
• Develop critical reflection and reflexivity so as to understand how their specific approach to assessing and managing innovation impacts on the people, processes or structures (e.g. stakeholder needs analysis, assessment of societal value).
• Reflect on how to change practice as an actor/manager/leader in organisational contexts in support of the betterment of human health and wellbeing, and in support of principles linked to relevant components of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (e.g. SDG 3, 8, 9).

Assessment methods on our microcredential courses can include written assignments, continuous assessment, and/or presentations.

Full details on the end of course assessment will be available to students on commencement of the course.

Students who successfully complete this course and pass all assessments, will receive an academic transcript and certificate detailing the academic award and credits received. 

This is a postgraduate programme and those who complete this course will gain five European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) at level 9 on the National Framework of Qualifications (equivalent to level 7 on the European Framework of Qualifications). 

We are proud to be a recognised University of the National University of Ireland (NUI).

Recognition by Ministries and bodies in other jurisdictions must be determined by the individual applicants.

Course title is subject to final accreditation.

Please note: This course was previously known as Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Healthcare and Science.

Micro-credentials are awarded based on successfully completing a course and demonstrating the required learning outcomes through assessment. Micro-credentials are designed to be stackable – learners can accumulate credits from other specific micro-credentials to achieve a larger, major award, such as a diploma or degree.

We have two other micro-credential courses in this suite:

• Business Planning for Healthcare Innovation
• Design Thinking for Healthcare

You can find more RCSI Online micro-credential courses here.

Contact us to find out more.