UKZN Masters in Health Sciences

The online Master of Health Sciences programme is aimed at current health professionals and those with a relevant undergraduate degree wishing to pursue postgraduate study in health sciences majors. This degree is for students who want to advance a career in the field of health care, particularly as researchers, academics or even senior health policy executives. This programme will allow students to learn more about health sciences and organization of a research enquiry. This Masters program is a structured programme that can be individually tailored to ensure that all students gain maximum benefit from their study by aligning career aspirations with study options. Students will be able to undertake a major stream of study within the Masters program, giving them opportunity to develop specialist knowledge and skills, while also developing more generic research, project and management skills.

Students wishing to study in this area can choose from the following three combination of specializations:-

Pharmacovigilance:–	The pharmacological science relating to the collection, detection, assessment, monitoring, and prevention of adverse effects with pharmaceutical products. As such, pharmacovigilance heavily focuses on adverse drug reactions, which are defined as any response to a drug which is noxious and unintended, including lack of efficacy. This course will look at Drug Safety, Post marketing surveillance, Adverse Drug Reactions, Event Reporting; Pharmacoepidemiology, Health Legislation, and Special groups and products for ADR reporting including current reporting systems in South Africa and internationally.For more information about academic issues contact:- Dr Frasia Oosthuizen
Bioethics:-	This module will enable those taking it to deepen their understanding of ethical and medico-legal issues in healthcare. While the module is particularly well-suited to those health care professionals who face complex ethical issues in their working lives, it will also be valuable for those involved in the development of public policy and law regarding these issues, as well as for anyone who simply wishes to explore issues of public concern in greater depth. The overall aim of this module is to enable students to develop understanding in ethics by engaging in ethics analysis on topics that relate to health and health care Content: The module topics focus on ethics in the routine context of health care. The topics covered are: professional skill and the ethics of care, the health care system and resources, information disclosure, privacy and confidentiality, decision making and consent, health care policy and public health, religion and social context in health care, the beginning and end of life, research ethics, employment issues, and quality and risk management in healthcareFor more information about academic issues contact Professor Fatima Suleman
Antibiotic Stewardship and Conservation :-	The Antibiotic Stewardship and Conservation course provides students with advanced knowledge of this field, specifically the mechanisms of action and resistance of antibiotics used in clinical, veterinary and agricultural practice, strategies for resistance prevention and containment, the significance of resistance development and national and international stewardship and conservation initiatives. This module will also provide students with a critical understanding of complex biomedical, clinical, environmental and socio-political dynamics surrounding antibiotic resistance and stewardship and an appreciation for the need to adopt a multi- and inter-disciplinary approach to these issues.For more information about academic issues contact:- Professor Sabiha Essack
Infection Prevention and Control:-	Infection Prevention and Control provides health professionals/scientists with advanced knowledge of the biomedical, clinical, socio-behavioral and environmental principles and practice of infection prevention and control thereby enabling them to apply and transfer the knowledge as well as professional and cognitive skills obtained during the module into the work place and wider environment. The course covers General Principles of Medical Microbiology; Transmission of Nosocomial Infection; The Hospital Environment; Cleaning, Disinfection and Sterilisation; Principles of Infection Prevention and Control and related topics; Aspects of Safe Clinical Practice; Quality Assurance; Specific Pathogens;; Occupational Health for Health Care Workers; Indicator Organisms; Healthcare facility infrastructure; Outbreak Response; Socio-behavioural and environmental influences on attitudes. For more information about academic issues contact:- Dr. Saajida Mahomed
Chronic Disease Rehabilitation	Chronic Disease Rehabilitation will provide students (registered health professionals) with comprehensive information regarding the epidemiology and impact of chronic disease and disability in Southern Africa and introduce students to the principles of trans-disciplinary assessment and rehabilitation of people living with chronic disease. The course covers the epidemiology of chronic disease globally and in Southern Africa, general rehabilitation principles, trans-disciplinary rehabilitation, disability and the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF), community-based rehabilitation (CBR), the assessment and rehabilitation of people living with chronic disease, communication with patients, chronic pain management, the impact of chronic disease on care-givers and return to work interventions. For more information about academic issues contact:- Mr Saul Cobbing

Course Structure

These courses are only offered as part time courses and as such they are taken over two years (with a four year completion requirement).

Pre-requisites

For all courses prospective students will have to have completed a four year degree as well as at least two years of practise in their field (community service and/or internships can be included in this two year period but students are expected to be in full time employment in their field of study as this has direct implications for their research and data collection). Prior qualifications earned outside of South Africa will need to be submitted for equivalence assessment during the application process. (Ms Nene will be able to assist or advise you in this regard).

Candidates are also advised that they should have ubiquitous and reliable access to the internet as all courses are fully online and intensive.