Quality, Safety and Risk Management in Healthcare
Major: Quality, Safety and Risk Management in Healthcare
Degree Awarded: Master of Science (MS)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 46.0
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 51.0701
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 11-9111
About the Program
The MS in Quality, Safety, and Risk Management in Healthcare prepares students to lead organizational efforts that improve and monitor quality metrics, improve safety for both patients and staff, and manage risks in a dynamic healthcare environment.
This interdisciplinary patient safety and healthcare quality master's program is designed for healthcare professionals seeking to develop essential competencies to assess, monitor, and improve healthcare outcomes in community-based care delivery settings, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations.
Graduates of this program will be prepared to lead teams in a wide variety of quality and risk management initiatives including:
- Aligning the patient safety, risk, and quality functions within the organization
- Ensuring that the patient safety, risk, and quality activities are aligned with the strategic goals of the organization
- Assessing current activities in patient safety, risk, and quality to clarify responsibilities and reduce duplication of effort
- Establishing a structure that ensures that patient care activities are addressed in a coordinated manner involving the patient safety, risk, and quality functions
- Assembling a team to ensure that the structure for patient safety, risk, and quality activities maximizes legal protections while allowing for the flow of information across all functions
- Coordinating process changes, data collection, data analysis, monitoring, and evaluation
- Evaluating the roles of patient safety, risk, and quality as the organization's needs change
Additional Information
For more information about this program, contact:
Graduate Nursing Division
CNHPGraduateDivision@drexel.edu
Additional information is also available on Drexel's College of Nursing and Health Professions MS in Quality, Safety and Risk Management in Healthcare webpage and on the Drexel University Online MS in Quality, Safety and Risk Management in Healthcare webpage.
Admission Requirements (MS)
- A Bachelor of Science degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education
- 3.0 or above on all previous coursework or the last 60.0 credits completed. Applications with a GPA less than a 3.0 may be considered on an individual basis.
- Official transcripts from all previous educational institutions are required.
- Two professional references required from colleagues or supervisors who can attest to the applicant’s knowledge, skill, and potential aptitude for graduate study
- Letters of recommendations are waived for students with a 3.0 GPA or higher
- Personal statement (no more than two pages and no less than one page double-spaced) that will give the admissions committee a better understanding of the following:
- Why you are choosing this particular program of study
- Your plans upon completion of the certificate
- How your current work experience will enhance your experience in this program
- Curriculum vitae or resume
- Copies of any licensure and certification documents
- While specific experience is not required for applicants to the track, previous related work experience may make an applicant more competitive.
TOEFL Requirement
International applicants, as well as immigrants to the United States and United States permanent residents whose native language is not English and who have not received a bachelor’s degree or higher in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand or the United Kingdom, must show proficiency in English speaking as well as listening, writing, and reading. U.S. citizens born on U.S. military bases abroad may be waived from the TOEFL requirement after providing documentation of this status; otherwise, applicants must meet one of the following requirements:
If you take the TOEFLiBT exam, you are required to have a minimum combined score for the listening, writing, and reading sections of 79 plus a speaking section score of 26 or higher.
If you take the TOEFL, you are required to have a minimum score of 550 or higher and a Test of Spoken English score (TSE) of 55 or higher.
Degree Requirements
Core Courses | ||
IPS 502 | Advanced Ethical Decision Making in Health Care | 3.0 |
IPS 503 | Confronting Issues in Contemporary Health Care Environments | 3.0 |
IPS 544 | Quality and Safety in Healthcare | 3.0 |
RSCH 503 | Research Methods and Biostatistics | 3.0 |
RSCH 504 | Evaluation and Translation of Health Research | 3.0 |
Major Courses | ||
IPS 501 | Legal Compliance: Structure and Implementation | 4.5 |
IPS 504 | Regulations in Health Care | 4.5 |
IPS 505 | Health Care Quality and the Legal Context | 4.5 |
IPS 506 | HIPAA: A Patient’s Legal Right to Privacy | 4.5 |
IPS 584 | Analysis of Performance Standards in Healthcare Quality | 3.0 |
IPS 585 | Science of Safety, Human Factors, and System Thinking | 3.0 |
IPS 586 | Creating a Culture of Safety | 2.0 |
IPS 601 | Quality, Safety and Risk Management Capstone | 5.0 |
Total Credits | 46.0 |
Sample Plan of Study (MS)
First Year | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
IPS 502 | 3.0 | IPS 544 | 3.0 | IPS 506 | 4.5 | IPS 505 | 4.5 |
IPS 503 | 3.0 | IPS 501 | 4.5 | RSCH 503 | 3.0 | RSCH 504 | 3.0 |
6 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | ||||
Second Year | |||||||
Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
IPS 504 | 4.5 | IPS 585 | 3.0 | IPS 601 | 5.0 | ||
IPS 584 | 3.0 | IPS 586 | 2.0 | ||||
7.5 | 5 | 5 | |||||
Total Credits 46 |