MPH Occupational Health

The importance of good professional behaviour is enshrined within the General Medical Council's guidance on Good Medical Practice. In this unit students will learn the principles underpinning good professional behaviour including leadership and team-working, communication, clinical governance, quality and standard setting and the application of audit.

This unit will enable students to develop an understanding of the standards that should be in place within a good quality occupational health service. Students will learn about the importance of quality and audit as well as the principles and importance of the multidisciplinary team in occupational health practice.

The learning outcomes intend to:

• illustrate the professional behaviour and multi-disciplinary teamwork expected of doctors practising occupational medicine;
• allow students to critically examine the role of the clinical governance framework and its application to occupational health practice;
• provide an understanding of how to apply audit principles to determine best practice; and
• enable students to critically assess the value of standards in protecting workers.

• Management
• Professional Behaviour/Leadership and Teamwork
• Advanced Communication
• Clinical Governance
• Practical Applications in Quality and Audit
• Standard Setting
• Business needs in the provision of an occupational health service
• Occupational Hygiene in Practice

Learning and teaching will take the form of online lectures, webinars, group discussion, tutorial, face to face workshops and practical experience days where relevant or possible. Blackboard and Teams/Zoom will be used for course materials including group discussions, announcements and updating of content, relevant lecture slides and additional reading, written example sheets and for online formative assessments.

On completion, students should be able to:

• examine aspects of professional relationships;
• understand the importance of multidisciplinary team working in an occupational health setting;
• critically evaluate the context, meaning and implementation of clinical governance; and
• understand the importance of sharing information openly and effectively with others - within ethical, professional and legal constraints of confidentiality

On completion, students should be able to:

• identify good professional standards and critically discuss their application to occupational medicine practice;
• >critically evaluate the role/relevance of professional and regulatory bodies; and
• reflect on the importance of professional relationships, and the limiting boundaries surrounding consultations.

On completion, students should be able to:

• implement skills such as delegation, effective leadership and supervision to improve professional relationships and team working within an occupational health setting; and
• apply principles of audit to their own clinical practice.

On completion, students should be able to:

• independently gather, organise, and evaluate information from a variety of sources and develop an evidence-based approach to occupational health practice;
• evaluate the influence of a wide range of factors when negotiating with others within the field of occupational health; and
• integrate knowledge of health, legislation, and business in the management of work-related issues affecting both individuals and groups.

Formative assessments with automatic feedback are available throughout the unit as an aid to understanding the course materials. Feedback for the summative assessments is provided by tutors via Blackboard. Students may also receive direct feedback from interaction with session leaders thoughout the course of study. 

• Agius R, Seaton A. Practical occupational medicine 2nd ed. London: Hodder Arnold 2005. ISBN 034075947X OR Tar-Ching A, Gardiner K, Harrington, JM. Occupational health (Pocket Consultants) 5th ed. Wiley-Blackwell 2006.  ISBN- 10 1405122218; ISBN-13 978-1405122214.
• Faculty of Occupational Medicine. Ethics Guidance for Occupational Health Practice. London: Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians 2018. 
• Faculty of Occupational Medicine. Good Occupational Medical Practice. London: Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians 2017.
• McSherry R, Pearce P. Clinical Governance. A Guide to Implementation for Healthcare Professionals. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011

If you have any questions regarding the content of this unit, please contact the Course Unit Leader, Melanie Carder, via melanie.carder@manchester.ac.uk.

If you have any other queries, please contact the Programmes team via shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk,