Master of Primary Health Care Management Study Plan

  1. Required courses 15 credits
  2. Elective courses not less than 9 credits
  3. Thesis 12 credits

Year 1
Semester 1 ADPM 629 Research Methodology in Primary Health Care Management      2 (2-0-4)
ADPM 660 Primary Health Care and Health Services Management      3 (3-0-6)
ADPM 662 Epidemiology for Primary Health Care Management      3 (3-0-6)
ADPM 671 Seminar in Primary Health Care Management      1 (1-0-2)
Elective Course no less than 6 credits
Total: 15 credits
Semester 2 ADPM 622 Management of Environmental Health for Sustainable Development      3 (3-0-6)
ADPM 663 Universal Health Coverage for Primary Health Care Management      3 (3-0-6)
ADPM 698 Thesis      6 (0-18-0)
Elective Course no less than 3 credits
Total: 15 credits
Summer Semester ADPM 698 Thesis      6 (0-18-0)
Total: 6 credits


Courses in the curriculum

Required Courses

Concepts and principal of environmental health management the related issues; trends and impact of environmental health problems in both urban and rural areas; using appropriate and integrate technique and method of management for solving; controlling environmental health problems toward sustainability concept

Course Specification (TQF3)

The concept of research methodology in primary health care; research design; research questions, research objective, hypotheses, literature review; critical appraisal; referencing; population and sample; sample size calculation, sampling technique; data collection methods; instrument development, validity and reliability; research ethics; plagiarism, academic writing; publication

Course Specification (TQF3)

Philosophy of health, primary health care (PHC), Evolution of PHC; Alma-Ata Declaration; Astana Declaration of PHC, universal health coverage (UHC); Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), health services; Structure, process and context of PHC; Challenges and barriers to the Implementation of PHC; Strategies, innovations in and development of PHC; Integrated people-centered health services; district health system based on PHC; Intersectoral collaboration, community participation

Course Specification (TQF3)

Overview and definition of primary care epidemiology; role of epidemiology in primary health care management; natural history of diseases causation; host, agent and environment; evidence-base searching for summarized the gap of knowledge; sources quality of data; data management; studies of the interface between primary care and the community/general population; measurements of diseases burden for management; epidemiological study design; epidemiological tools for management; surveillance system, outbreak investigations, error and bias; the application of epidemiological principles and methods to the study of health problems encountered in primary care; outcome measures, analysis and reports for use in primary care need to reflect and explain the complexity of conditions under investigation or intervention.

Course Specification (TQF3)

Overview and definition of Universal Health Coverage; the notion of systems theory, goals, objectives, core characteristics of Universal Health Coverage, and their components; an overview of Primary Health Care Management problems in developed and developing countries; goals and objectives of Primary Health Care Management those respond to the Universal Health Coverage problems; recent reforms in developed countries and Asian countries

Course Specification (TQF3)

Seminar in issues related to primary health care research process; critical appraisal; research writing; thesis progress; techniques of presentation

Course Specification (TQF3)

Elective Courses


Track1: Primary Health Care

Approaches to multisectoral partnership; factors facilitating partnership; constraints to partnership; How to improve partnership among organizations in the districts; Management of local/District health board towards improving quality of life; Local health fund; Local health charter; Healthy Public Policy; Health in All Policies; Health policy agenda setting, formulation and process, health policy planning, health policy analysis, implementation and evaluation; best practices in health policies; the impact of health policies on social and economic development at local, national and international levels; Strategies to promote community participation for sustainable development

Course Specification (TQF3)

Concept, importance, and strategies of health promotion in primary health care; theories/models for improving health promotion; management and strategies for health promotion across life span; planning, monitoring and evaluation of health promotion programs; integrated marketing communication; health literacy; key areas of self-care; empower individual and community for better self-care and self-reliance; health advocator; individual and community, coproducer of health and social care; individual and community as self-career

Course Specification (TQF3)

Interconnection between people, animals, and plants in shared environments; integration of fundamental science to explain effect of physical, chemical, biological and social determinants to the changes of health outcomes; the current and emerging environmental health issues and trends; environmental health risk management; the collaborative, multi-sectoral, and transdisciplinary approach working in local, regional, national, and global scale to achieve optimal human and ecological health outcomes; case studies in one health

Course Specification (TQF3)

Body of knowledge concept theory and research influencing socio-economic and cultural impact for primary health care; responses and experiences of individual and the societies to health, well-being and illness; critical factors such as social status, education, ethnicity and gender that influence the access to and use of resources supportive of health and well-being; the impact of environmental and political contexts on how primary health system functions and how primary health services are organized; human development and health security; health literacy for improving self-care and primary health systems and current health challenges facing the Thai and ASEAN population.

Course Specification (TQF3)

The important use of the health related data to guide management decision-making; epidemiological surveillance databases; quantitative and qualitative clinical and research data and the service data; process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting epidemiological and health services data; the use of data to inform decision-making in both primary health care and system management; policy formulation and public health practice; technology that support data generation and analysis; telemedicine and the current application of health information systems in the Thai primary health care system; information and knowledge management emerging trends and issues

Course Specification (TQF3)

Concepts, common processes and practice of human resource management (HRM); application of HRM in primary health care sector; HRM functions and importance to primary health care organizations and primary health care system management; developing HRM processes in the organizational level; recruitment and selection; succession planning, training and professional development for the workforce; performance appraisal, and occupational health and safety; Issues of industrial relations that impact on HRM practices in the organizational level

Course Specification (TQF3)

Planning and managing training course, learning theories, instructional system design; model of teaching and training presentation techniques; trainee-trainer interaction; active classroom management, participatory learning process; teaching tools; multimedia; training evaluation; knowledge management in Primary Health Care

Course Specification (TQF3)

Concept and principle of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for Primary Health Care; Concept of development of health system which is balanced and sustained; Health and Sufficiency Economy Philosophy; Development of indicators for happiness and sufficiency; Strategies and plans for developing people’s happiness; Knowledge management; Applications of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for solving health problems of patients at individual, family and community levels; Strengthening primary health care networks.

Course Specification (TQF3)

Primary health care for aging; its implications for individuals, families, and society, and the background for health policy related to older persons; overview on aging from different perspectives; demography, biology, epidemiology of diseases, physical and mental disorders, functional capacity and disability; primary health care services for aging population; social aspects of aging, and ethical issues in the care of older individuals

Course Specification (TQF3)

Define the Primary Health Care Management problem with the organization where the practicum will take place; write a report by applying theory to solve the problem and submit to the committee

Course Specification (TQF3)

Digital health; disruptive technology; innovations for healthcare and primary health care management; artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), and e-sensors for healthcare; virtual care; medical robotics and actuators; telemedicine; smart wearables for patient clinical monitoring; remote health promotion; hospital information and management system; big data analysis; tools enabling data exchange.

Course Specification (TQF3)

Leadership and management competencies for primary health care managers, the needs for change; a system approach to primary health care delivery, change management theory, strategic management; leadership styles, theory and practice and ethical practice; role of teamwork; primary health care systems; health care delivery; influence of professional subcultures, empowerment, facilitation and interpersonal skills; reflection, learning organization, systems thinking, and quality management approaches; use of emotional intelligence in effecting change

Course Specification (TQF3)

Principles of applied statistics in primary health care research, descriptive and inferential statistics, parametric and non-parametric statistics, hypothesis testing for population means and proportions, analysis of variance, correlation analysis and multiple regression, Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression, path analysis, factor analysis, structural equation model (SEM), selecting appropriate statistical methods, data analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS)

Course Specification (TQF3)

Field practicum of primary health care applied epidemiology in the health system and environmental health for community diagnosis problem-solving with community, develop skills of leadership, teamwork, self-study, information analysis and synthesis by project development according to the situation and need based on the socio-cultural community context

Course Specification (TQF3)

Track2: Social Health Protection

An introduction to health economics; principles of the health economic evaluation; health economic evaluation methods; cost analysis; the outcome assessment; health economic evaluation results; the free market system; the government role in health economic sectors; the health insurance and the health financing; principles of economic cost and unit costs analysis; the economic evaluation of the health technology; the health equity; criteria for the health resource allocation; health economic research issues for the health system development; an application of economics for the analysis and management in the health system

Course Specification (TQF3)

Strategic purchasing of health services; the health sector reform and strategic purchasing; the governance aspect in strategic purchasing; services to purchase and cost sharing, appropriated referral arrangements; negotiations and contracts for purchasing of health care and managing providers; paying for health care and social services, costing inputs paying for the healthcare labor, pharmaceuticals, capital, knowledge, and research; measuring the efficiency in purchasing health services; value-based health care and value-based payment; the rapid health care cost escalation and cost containment measures; the information system for effective purchasing of health care to achieve equity, efficiency, quality and social accountability; the utilization review and clinical audit; country case study for strategic purchasing

Course Specification (TQF3)

An overview of health providers in the health system; patterns and types of health providers; incentive systems for improving the quality of health services and provider behaviours; health care financing management techniques for health providers; health care accreditation and quality improvement systems; business plans and management for health providers; health human resources development and human resources management for the universal health coverage; providers of the complementary and alternative medicine; the management of health care information systems for health providers; the efficiency management for health providers; the risk management for health providers; closing the gap, strategies for health providers in improving the social health protection

Course Specification (TQF3)

Definitions and evolution of the social protection; health systems and the linkages with the social health protection; the health situation of a country using the concepts of health systems; the burden of diseases and the social health protection; financing options, the revenue collection, the contribution rate; the coverage of the population to reach universal health coverage; concept of modeling in health care financing, modeling process; statistics, source of data and data management; the demographic module, the macroeconomic module, the labour market module, the coverage module, the health care financing module, funding allocation mechanisms

Course Specification (TQF3)

Define the social health protection and health security management problem with the organizations where the practicum will be taken place; write a report by applying theories to solve the problems and submit it to the committee

Course Specification (TQF3)

Rationale and definition of social health protection; international normative framework; population coverage and risk pooling principle; defining benefit package for social health protection; financing and resource collection; purchasing of services, monitoring social health protection; social protection for vulnerable groups; designing disability inclusive social protection.

Course Specification (TQF3)