Medicine, Health and Public Policy

Course detail Description

The Medicine, Health and Public Policy course offers you flexibility with the choice to study either full or part-time. You will gain in-depth knowledge and critical awareness of the policy implications of developments in health and medicine from social scientific and ethical perspectives.

The course is made up of optional and required modules totalling 180-200 credits to complete the course, 60 credits will come from a dissertation of around 10,000 - 12,000 words.

If you are studying full-time you will complete the course in one year, from September to September. If you are studying part-time, your course will take two years to complete.

The MSc in Medicine, Health and Public Policy is ideal for health professionals, graduates in relevant disciplines, policy makers, those who work in governmental and non-governmental organisations, and anyone wishing to develop advanced, interdisciplinary understanding of the complex relationships between medicine, science and society. Teaching focuses on cutting-edge research within socio-ethical studies of health, medicine and public policy, and provides a firm grounding in the knowledge, analytical techniques and research methods used within advanced social research. In doing so, it equips students with a set of skills and understandings that are necessary for future careers in the fields of policymaking and regulation, in health-related governmental and non-governmental agencies, and in university teaching and research.

Teaching

We will teach you through a combination of lectures and seminars, and you will typically have 15 hours of this per module over a 10 week term. We also expect you to undertake 135 hours of independent study for each module. For your Dissertation, we will provide three 2-hour workshops and sixteen 30-minutes supervisory sessions to complement your 591 hours of independent study. Typically, 1 credit equates to 10 hours of work.

Assessment

The department assesses students on a combination of essays, written examinations, oral presentations and the dissertation. The nature of assessment varies by module. The study time and assessment methods detailed above are typical and give you a good indication of what to expect.

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Structure

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules, and students on this course take modules totalling 180-200 credits

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

You are required to take the following modules:

• Dissertation in Medicine, Health & Public Policy (60 credits)
• The Politics of Health & Medicine (30 credits)
• Critical Policy Research for Health & Medicine (15 credits)
• Foundations in Global Health & Social Medicine (30 credits)

You are also required to take 15 credits from one of the following research methods modules:

• Designing Quantitative Research for Social Science & Health (15 credits)
• Designing Qualitative Research for Social Science & Health (15 credits)

• Ethics at the End of Life (Centre of Medical Law and Ethics) (15 credits)
• Ethics of Clinical Research (15 credits)
• Pharmaceuticals & Society (15 credits)
• Quantitative Data Analysis (15 credits)
• Global Health Ethics (15 credits)
• Researching Vulnerable Populations (15 credits)
• Internship (20 credits)
• Any Level 7 module offered by King’s or 15 credits at Level 6, subject to approval from the module convenor and the programme director.

Part-time students will be expected to take The Politics of Health & Medicine, Critical Policy Research, and one optional module in year one, with the remaining required modules taken in year two. Part time students attend the dissertation workshops and submit a dissertation proposal in Year 1 with the dissertation being submitted at the end of Year 2.