MSHA: Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Emphasis

Master of Science in Health Administration with an Emphasis in Health Care Quality and Patient Safety

Offered By: College of Nursing and Health Care Professions

Prepare To Lead Healthcare Organizations With a Focus on Quality and Safety

The Master of Science in Health Administration with an Emphasis in Health Care Quality and Patient Safety (MSHA) is offered by the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions at Grand Canyon University. This MSHA is ideally suited to current healthcare administrators who wish to potentially take the next step in their career, as well as active registered nurses (RNs) who would like to transition to an administrative career. 

Better healthcare quality and patient safety are foundational goals of all healthcare organizations. This healthcare administration degree program is designed to teach you the skills necessary to perform as a middle or upper-level manager in a variety of settings. This healthcare emphasis aims to teach you how to apply effective leadership principles and follow the best practices of change management while guiding healthcare staff to strive toward quality and safety improvements. 

Health Care Administrator Working With Nurse in Hospital
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MSHA Degree

Benefits of GCU’s Healthcare Administration Master’s Program

The master’s in health administration with a healthcare quality and patient safety emphasis is designed to empower you to make a positive impact on quality and safety in healthcare. This program emphasizes the conceptual, analytical and application skills required to manage in contemporary healthcare organizations. You will be taught how to serve as an innovative change agent and a leader of organizational improvement and adaptation within the health administration field.

Learners may alternatively consider earning a healthcare administration degree without the quality healthcare emphasis. The Master of Science in Health Administration explores topics in contemporary healthcare delivery systems, healthcare policies, organizational dynamics and legal and ethical principles. 

GCU strives to make higher education more accessible for working professionals who wish to pursue career advancement. You can take healthcare quality courses online1 for geographic freedom and greater scheduling flexibility. As a member of our online learning community, you’ll be able to connect with a diverse body of students who bring varying perspectives and backgrounds to academic discussions. 

TOTAL CREDITS & COURSE LENGTH:
Total Credits: 60
Online: 8 weeks
[More Info]
TRANSFER CREDITS:
Up to 12 credits or 1/3 of the total program requirements in transfer (whichever is less)
TUITION RATE:
Online: $590 per credit
[Tuition, Fees and Financial Aid]

Cost of Attendance

Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Coursework

As a private Christian university, GCU integrates the Christian worldview into the curriculum. You will be encouraged to learn how to apply biblical principles to your professional practice. With the intent of graduating well-rounded students, this degree explores a variety of health administration competencies, ranging from the regulatory landscape to professional ethics to project management and beyond. 

Health quality and patient safety courses at GCU are taught by knowledgeable faculty who are committed to supporting students. To complete this MSHA degree, you must pass all courses and complete the required 150 practicum/field experience hours.

Topics Covered in This Master’s in Health Administration Program

Healthcare administrators and related professionals must tackle a diverse range of challenges in today’s health settings. Our instructors strive to prepare you to confidently face these challenges by teaching a broad framework of foundational competencies with far-reaching application potential. You can expect to examine both hard and soft skills in this degree program.

Some of the topics covered in this master’s degree include:

  • Nationally recognized expectations and metrics for quality
  • Different approaches to support quality improvement measures 
  • Methods to track, assess, analyze and review patient safety data 
  • Project management models and approaches in healthcare 
  • Ways to set expectations and identify methods to mitigate obstacles in healthcare project management and quality improvement 
  • Technologies that support clinical decision-making for patient safety
  • Healthcare delivery models
  • Legal and ethical principles in healthcare
  • Healthcare policies and economics
  • Healthcare research methods, analysis and utilization
  • Organizational structures, including marketing and development, business analysis and human resource management
     

Careers Paths After the Health Administration Master’s Program

This healthcare quality and patient safety emphasis is designed to equip learners with a solid framework of administration competencies applicable to a range of healthcare settings. With a firm foundation of health-related administration skills and knowledge, professionals may be prepared to pursue work in settings such as:2,3

  • Hospitals
  • Nursing and residential care facilities
  • Outpatient facilities 
  • Physician offices 
  • Insurance companies 
  • Government agencies
  • Laboratories
  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Pharmaceutical companies

Earn Your MSHA Degree From an Institutionally Accredited University

Since being initially chartered in 1949, GCU has prioritized the delivery of quality education to our students. Our instructors strive to help students develop a firm, well-rounded foundation of competencies so they can confidently make a positive impact on their workplaces and communities. GCU has been institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 1968. 

The College of Nursing and Health Care Professions shares the university’s commitment to upholding the principles and standards established by our accrediting bodies. For more information on the accreditation of nursing programs and other university approvals, please visit our nursing accreditation page.

MSHA: Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Emphasis FAQs

Read through our frequently asked questions and answers to learn more about the MSHA degree and careers related to the health administration field. 

With advanced online learning platforms, resources and support, online1 students have opportunities to gain the same quality of knowledge as many would expect from an on-campus program. In order to demonstrate to employers that you earned your MSHA degree from a reputable university with approved curriculums, make sure the university you plan on attending is properly accredited. 

A quality manager in healthcare works to improve all aspects of patient care, with the goal of working toward increased patient safety and improved outcomes. This may include reviewing policies and procedures, working with billing/insurance, claims and litigation, training staff and analyzing performance metrics.

Patient safety and quality in healthcare are dependent on many factors. Often, it refers to the measures of a hospital’s efficiency, timeliness and equitable access, and how these factors all work together to provide optimal care and prevent harm to patients. Safety is a fundamental cornerstone of quality care.4

Quality in regard to healthcare refers to how effective an organization is at fulfilling its standards. According to the National Library of Medicine, quality care is characterized as being effective, efficient and safe, while also being patient-centered, timely and equitable. Patient safety is the single most important factor, and all other aspects of quality care stem from safety.4 Patient safety is more simply looked at as preventing harm to patients. With this comes the responsibility of preventing errors, learning from errors and minimizing risks that can compromise patient safety.

An MSHA degree that focuses on patient safety and quality in healthcare can be worth it for you if you aspire to equip yourself with additional career qualifications with the goal of pursuing advancement in healthcare administration. It’s also a worthwhile endeavor purely for the sake of being taught how to better help patients by shaping policies and processes in a way that prioritizes their safety and quality care.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally, about 1 in 10 patients suffer harm in health settings and over three million deaths each year can be attributed to substandard healthcare.5 While not all adverse patient outcomes are preventable, of course, the WHO estimates that more than half of all healthcare setting-related harm is indeed preventable.5 By prioritizing patient safety, healthcare professionals can improve the efficiency of the health delivery system, encourage better patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs and strengthen ties between health systems and communities.5

Transform Healthcare Quality and Safety

Develop the skills to examine and improve policies, processes and organizational dynamics for better patient outcomes.

 

1 While all courses are completed online, you will need to attend clinical, practicum and immersion hours in person locally.

2 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024, April 17). Medical and health services managers: Work environment. Occupational Outlook Handbook. Retrieved April 25, 2024. 

3 Oppenheimer, T. H. (2023, Oct. 10). Jobs for people with a healthcare administration degree. Nurse.org. Retrieved April 25, 2024. 

4 Mitchell, P. H. (2008, April). Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved April 25, 2024. 

5 World Health Organization. (2023, Sept. 11). Patient safety. Retrieved April 25, 2024. 

Course List

Major:
60 credits
Degree Requirements:
60 credits

Core Courses

Course Description

This course is designed to prepare students for the graduate learning experience at Grand Canyon University. Students have opportunities to develop and strengthen the skills necessary to succeed as graduate students in the health care professions. Emphasis is placed on utilizing the tools for graduate success.

Course Description

This course allows learners to develop a comprehensive understanding of contemporary health care models from financial, economic, quality, access, and disparity perspectives, and to relate the ethical, cultural, political, and financial factors that drive and support them. It is from this broad, integrative, and comparative perspective that learners begin defining their role and perspective as administrators within the health care system. Learners begin to investigate their options and define their potential to serve as leaders of systematic improvement, within their health care discipline, based on changes in these driving factors.

Course Description

This course focuses on the recognition, analysis, and resolution of ethical dilemmas in health occupations. Students examine legal liabilities involved in health care administration, including workplace safety and a health care facility’s obligation to provide protection from injury for patients, their families, and staff.

Course Description

This course focuses on health care economics and policy. The core principles of health economics are studied, and students begin to explore practical financial-analysis skills that have immediate application within the health care industry. Students also study managerial decision-making processes based on cost, service, and other economic variables as well as how those decisions influence outcomes. Students will investigate health care policy and reform to understand the impact it makes on everyday practices of health care organizations.

Course Description

This course focuses on the critical analysis of health care research and its application to the administration and delivery of health care services. Emphasis is placed on strategies to access current and relevant data, synthesize the information, and translate new knowledge into practice. Learners are introduced to concepts of measurement, reliability, and validity, as well as ethical issues in the design and conduct of research through an evaluative process of health care initiatives and projects.

Course Description

This course focuses on the analysis of health care organizational structure and effectiveness. Topics include the distributive leadership model, decision making through collaboration and teamwork, and the integrative analysis of how change impacts other components of the system.

Course Description

This course explores the nature of business leadership models and theories, examines these models through a broad variety of insights and viewpoints, and provides a description and analysis of these approaches to leadership, giving special attention to how the models can improve leadership in real-world organizations.

Course Description

This course provides foundational knowledge that will equip learners to make decisions regarding quality improvement and patient safety. Learners explore the quality improvement process and examine the most commonly used models and tools for improving health care quality. Learners will also evaluate methods to track, assess, analyze, and review data relating to patient safety issues. Prerequisite: NUR-590 & NUR-630 or HCA-540.

Course Description

This course focuses on the critical analyses of health care business operations and performance. Topics include analysis of financial performance, operational process analysis, and quality of service evaluation.

Course Description

This course focuses on essential managerial communication skills. Human resource topics include conflict management, negotiation, mediation, and coaching, as well as change management principles and the types of communication required for paradigm modification. Interdepartmental, cross-discipline, and external partner marketing topics are included. Consumer communication and collaboration techniques are also discussed.

Course Description

This course is designed to prepare students to meet the professional standards of practice related to their future discipline within the industry. Emphasis is placed on critical thinking, utilization of resources, communication strategies, and goal setting. Students prepare a professional portfolio and resume. Students apply various networking techniques and practical interview skills to ensure professional readiness for their chosen health care careers.

Course Description

This course examines the models and approaches of project management in health care settings. Learners demonstrate understanding of the project management process and its application to health care quality and safety initiatives. Learners gain skills to identify various stakeholders and roles, set goals and expectations, plan stakeholder engagement, and identify ways to mitigate obstacles in health care project management. Prerequisite: HQS-610.

Course Description

The focus of this course is to begin integrating all previous study and to identify the focus of students' final capstone project. Students evaluate and integrate the methodologies, considerations, and strategies for project or program design, planning, implementation, and evaluation that are relevant or specifically required by their specific health care discipline. Topics of investigation and consideration include (but are not limited to) financial and economic impact; resource allocation; competition; public and private educational requirements; availability of information technology; impact assessment of change; process improvement assessment; social, behavioral, and environmental impact; legal/ethical issues; and any other factors that impact the provision of care or subsequent outcomes within an organization and community. A collaborative group project approach is emphasized to enhance contribution and consideration from diverse experiences within the health care field. Prerequisite: HLT-610, HCA-610, or HIM-650.

Course Description

This course examines components of implementing health care quality and safety initiatives. Learners examine the elements of change management, identify criteria for success in change areas, and plan phases and goals for implementation. Learners also consider change sustainability and dissemination of successful implementations. Prerequisite: HQS-620.

Course Description

This capstone course provides an opportunity for learners to complete the development of a comprehensive evidence-based project, plan, or proposal that addresses a problem, issue, or concern in their professional practice and can be implemented upon completion of the program. Projects address a problem amenable to research-based intervention; include a relevant and comprehensive literature review; propose a solution; and include a fully developed program, project, or business plan. The project also contains all the necessary information to implement the proposed solution, evaluate its outcome(s), and disseminate the findings. Prerequisite: Successful completion of all courses in the program except HCA-670.

Course Description

This course promotes the synthesis and application of knowledge and skills from the Master of Health Administration (MS-HA) program. Learners identify a mentor and develop a relationship through which they examine the connection between theory and practice. Learners engage in leadership and administrative activities (e.g., committees, projects, staff education, and quality improvement) and, through reflection and writing, analyze and evaluate leadership behaviors and processes. Practicum/field experience hours: 150. Prerequisite: Successful completion of all previous coursework in the program.

Locations

GCU Online Student


Pursue a next-generation education with an online degree from Grand Canyon University. Earn your degree with convenience and flexibility with online courses that let you study anytime, anywhere.

* Please note that this list may contain programs and courses not presently offered, as availability may vary depending on class size, enrollment and other contributing factors. If you are interested in a program or course listed herein please first contact your University Counselor for the most current information regarding availability.

* Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Programs or courses subject to change.