Professional Diploma
9 months
Online - Part-time
30 ECTS
07 April 2025
About
Digital solutions to healthcare problems are being developed at a rapid pace, and you are already using digital tools to support care delivery daily.
With the Professional Diploma in Leading Digital Health Transformation from RCSI Graduate School of Healthcare Management you will develop the knowledge, strategies and best practices to design future solutions that solve everyday problems, and enable and support the implementation of digital technologies in patient care across your healthcare organisation.
This is not a technical programme, but is however powered by leaders in technology, including Microsoft. Explore how to deliver better care through data analytics, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, remote diagnostics, 3D printing and virtual care. Gain the knowledge and language needed to engage with technology experts and impact your care setting.
The programme is delivered part-time over nine months, through a blend of online content and activities and live interactive sessions, offering a collaborative and supported student experience. All webinars last for one hour, workshops run for 2.5-3 hours and live sessions are recorded.
Gain a deeper understanding of the evolving digital environment
Evaluate how key technologies support digital transformation in healthcare
Explore how to develop a patient-centered strategic vision
Suitable for
This course is suitable for clinicians, interdisciplinary health and social care professionals, healthcare managers and administrators as well as those working in the wider healthcare sector who wish to knowledgeably influence and enable transformation in their organisations and across the wider healthcare system.
What you will learn
Develop self-awareness and interpersonal skills to lead and adapt in the dynamic digital healthcare environment
Understand digital technologies and assess their value for healthcare transformation and framework development
Learn to create patient-centric digital transformation strategies and critically evaluate models for your context
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Explore Leading Digital Health Transformation
Dr Kristina Brown, the programme leader for the Leading Digital Health Transformation course at RCSI's Graduate School of Healthcare Management, discusses the advantages of the programme.
Course information
This programme will provide you with the skills and knowledge to:
- Develop your capacity to understand how the application of digital technologies can transform health delivery in terms of operational efficiencies (organisational performance), efficacy (improved patient outcomes) and enhanced societal wellbeing.
- Develop a critical understanding of current opportunities and challenges presented by the development of digital/data informed decision making for improving patient-centred and personalised healthcare.
- Apply skills of assessing the future health needs of society and associate this appropriately with the trajectory of digital technologies as enablers of data-informed decision-making and real-life application across healthcare.
- Develop competence in understanding and operating effectively in the digital health environment in terms of mindset, individual capabilities, organisational culture and ethics. Later includes critical appraisal of data sharing and the principles of shared standards in data governance in respect of digital health initiatives.
- Demonstrate the ability to challenge assumptions and question processes in the development of effective policies, procedures and strategy.
- Develop as a digital leader with the mindset, skills, insight, confidence and awareness necessary to lead, influence and collaborate with and develop others enabling the implementation of data and technology enabled digital healthcare initiatives.
- Develop a digitally-oriented mindset which enables you to critically assess and reflect on the evolving digital healthcare environment with the capacity to evaluate your own strengths and areas for development and implement learning in practice.
- Reflect on how to build the conditions for, and implementation of effective strategic collaboration (across the wider healthcare eco system) in support of data and technology enabled healthcare improvements (e.g. stakeholder buy-in, organisational efficiency, improved patient outcomes and well-being).
Name |
ECTS* |
Description |
The Digital Leader – Leading Self, Others and the Organisation |
10 |
Healthcare professionals and managers need the self-awareness to navigate and adapt to the demands of a dynamic, complex and rapidly evolving digital healthcare environment. In parallel, they need to develop their interpersonal and relational skills to guide others towards accepting and embracing new ways of thinking, working and collaborating to improve healthcare delivery. The aim of this module is to enable you to develop a broad understanding of the evolving digital environment and the challenges and opportunities it presents for transforming healthcare delivery. |
Harnessing the Transformational Value of Digital Health |
10 |
Professionals charged with leading digital transformation in healthcare require a solid understanding of what these technologies can achieve, the extent to which their organisations are ready to adapt so they can meet the challenges ahead, as well as an understanding of how to put in place these new systems and processes. The aim of this module is to provide you with a solid understanding of digital technologies and approaches for assessing their potential value for transforming healthcare as well as how to develop a digital transformation framework. |
Building and sustaining Strategic Collaboration to achieve Transformation: Patients, People and Partnerships |
10 |
In order to develop and implement a long term and sustainable approach to digital healthcare transformation, healthcare professionals need to place the patient at the heart of their strategy, which involves articulation of a clear strategic vision, which is value based, appropriate, coherent, comprehensive and adaptive. The aim of this module is to provide you with a clear understanding of the challenges and current thematic debates in delivering patient-centric approach to digital transformation, and enable you to develop an ability to critically evaluate and apply appropriate models for your particular context. |
*ECTS: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a tool of the European Higher Education Area for making studies and courses more transparent. It helps students to move between countries and to have their academic qualifications and study periods abroad recognised (EC, 2020).
Orientation |
7 April 2025 - 25 April 2025 |
Module 1 |
28 April 2025 - 4 June 2025 |
Module 2 |
28 July 2025 - 3 October 2025 |
Module 3 |
6 October 2025 - 12 December 2025 |
Assessment on this programme is continuous.
We are proud to be a recognised University of the National University of Ireland (NUI). All RCSI programmes are accredited by the NUI.
Recognition by ministries and bodies in all jurisdictions must be determined by the individual applicants.
We are pleased to confirm that a number of our recent graduates who are domiciled in the United Arab Emirates and in the Kingdom of Bahrain have successfully had their certificates recognised by the Ministry of Education in their respective countries.
Admissions
To apply for the Professional Diploma in Leading Digital Health Transformation, you must:
- Hold a bachelor degree. (If you don’t hold a bachelor degree, see the recognition of prior learning pathway outlined below).
- Be working in the healthcare industry.
- Meet the English language requirements: IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent score on another standardised test (certified proof should be uploaded with your application; see below for exemptions).
If you do not have an undergraduate degree at Level 7 or above you may still be eligible to apply through recognition of prior learning (RPL). RPL is the assessment of knowledge, skills and competence previously acquired.
Learning occurs in many contexts which include work, involvement in social and community activities, or learning through life experience generally. RPL does not give credit for experience as such; rather it considers the learning that was acquired as a result of the experience.
RPL may be used to gain:
- Admission to courses/programmes where a person may not have obtained the standard entry requirements.
- Exemptions from course modules which duplicate the learning outcomes an individual has already demonstrably acquired through prior learning.
Exemptions may apply for:
- Applicants who have completed their school or undergraduate studies (three or more years) through English in a country where English is the majority native language.
- Applicants who have completed their school or undergraduate studies (three or more years) in an English speaking institution in a country where English is not the majority native language and where an IELTS score of 5 or more was a requirement for admissions to the programme.
- Applicants who have been working in a country (three years or more) where English is the majority native language or for an employer where English language is the official language.
- Graduates of an RCSI Undergraduate, Masters or Professional Diploma programme in Dublin and Bahrain.
Please note: Certified proof must be uploaded as part of your application.
Student fees:
- €5,750
Year 1 | Payment due | Fee |
1st payment |
On application |
€2,000 |
2nd payment |
End of module 1 |
€2,000 |
3rd payment |
End of module 2 |
€1,750 |
Please note
- Fee includes all resources, access to our award-winning online learning portal and access to extensive RCSI-only databases.
- Fee includes an NUI fee.
- Fee is payable via the above schedule, where relevant.
- If you have outstanding fees you will not be entitled to receive your grades or be eligible to progress and or graduate (VLE and Library privileges will be withdrawn in these cases).
- RCSI accepts no obligation to refund any fee, or part thereof, in respect of a student who chooses to withdraw from a programme.
- If you choose to withdraw from a programme you are liable for full fees owed for the seat on that programme.
- All NUI parchments are issued in Latin; you will be required to pay an additional fee of €50 to NUI if you wish to have a parchment published in English.
- Fees are subject to review annually.
- If you are being sponsored or funded by your employer you should upload a funding confirmation letter in the document upload section on the application portal.
How to apply
Applications for the Professional Diploma in Leading Digital Health Transformation are accepted on a rolling basis. We are now accepting applications for the Spring 2025 intake. Please begin your application by completing the form below.Please ensure you attach the following supporting documents with your application:
- A clear copy of your valid passport
- Your academic transcripts/degree.
- Your up-to-date CV
Already begun your application? Complete it via our application portal now