Online Certificate in Implementation Science, University of California San Francisco

The Online Certificate in Implementation Science program is a part-time program focused on theories and methods relevant to the design of strategies to facilitate uptake of health-related interventions. Scholars can choose to take individual courses or complete four required and two electives courses to obtain the certificate. The courses and certificate program are designed for people from a broad range of professional settings who are currently engaged in the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies to promote and improve health and health care quality, including clinical and public health researchers, quality improvement officers, community-based clinic staff, public health and public policy practitioners, and clinicians. We welcome trainees who work in clinical and public health settings outside the U.S. UCSF students who sign up for the online certificate program will have the option of participating in in-person small-group sessions.

For each course, all materials (lecture slides and videos, reading and homework assignments) are accessed via the course website. Peer and instructor feedback on homework assignments occur through an online forum.

Objectives

Upon completion of the online certificate program, scholars will be able to:

• Identify appropriate interventions to translate into practice. This will be achieved by identifying interventions that have enough evidence of effectiveness and/or are recommended by relevant societies or organizations and that are important to stakeholders in the target implementation setting.
• Design effective and sustainable implementation strategies. This will be achieved by identifying community, patient, clinician and organizational factors that serve as barriers and facilitators to translating research results into everyday practices, policies and—ultimately—improved health.
• Design comprehensive evaluations of intervention implementation strategies. This will be achieved by applying principles and methods of process and outcome evaluation, and by identifying the appropriate qualitative and quantitative measures to characterize intervention implementation and impact.
• Develop fundable implementation science grant proposals. This will be achieved by making a compelling case for translation of your selected health-related intervention into practice, policy or public health and integrating conceptual frameworks into the design and or evaluation of your implementation strategy.

Eligibility

The program is ideal for scholars who are actively involved in implementing a health intervention or quality improvement program. Although not required, prior training in qualitative and/or quantitative research methods will enable scholars to best take advantage of the curriculum.

For more information and to enroll, view the course website.