December 2025 - HealthCareMaster HealthCareMaster

A YEAR OF TRAINING, DIALOGUE AND GROWTH: SEASON’S GREETINGS FROM THE MASTER PROGRAMS IN HEALTHCARE

December 23, 2025 Federica Sorrentino

As the end-of-year activities come to a close, the Master programs in Healthcare at the University of Parma take a moment to reflect on the journey just completed. It has been an intense and content-rich year, during which students, faculty and professionals engaged in dialogue on key issues shaping the present and future of the health and social care system.

Throughout the year, the educational activities explored essential areas such as organizational innovation, scientific research, service management, continuing education, leadership, sustainability, patient safety and the transversal skills required to operate effectively in complex contexts. Lectures, Project Work, practical exercises and opportunities for discussion contributed to building a solid, multidisciplinary learning experience closely aligned with the realities of healthcare and social services. The Master programs in Healthcare thus confirm themselves as a space for both professional and personal growth, capable of integrating theory and practice and supporting participants in developing skills that are increasingly in demand in today’s health and social care landscape.

On the occasion of the holiday season, the President and the entire Master in Healthcare team would like to extend their warm wishes for happy holidays and a peaceful New Year to students, faculty and professionals, with the hope that the coming year will bring new opportunities for learning, collaboration and innovation. Teaching activities will resume regularly starting from January 7. We look forward to continuing this journey of education and growth together.

GREEN LEADERSHIP IN HEALTHCARE

December 16, 2025 Federica Sorrentino

Environmental sustainability is today one of the major challenges facing the health and social care system. Complex organizational structures, high resource consumption, waste production and highly intensive processes make healthcare a strategic sector for promoting more responsible development models. In this context, green leadership plays a central role: leading sustainable change means being able to combine quality of care, safety, efficiency and attention to environmental impact.

Being a “green” leader in healthcare does not simply mean introducing technological solutions or adopting eco-friendly practices, but above all fostering an organizational culture oriented toward sustainability. Executives, coordinators and professionals with managerial responsibilities are called upon to integrate environmental considerations into decision-making processes, service planning, resource management and team engagement. Sustainability thus becomes a shared value, guiding everyday behaviors as well as medium- and long-term strategies.

Green leadership is also expressed through the ability to understand the complexity of the health and social care context and to activate gradual and realistic changes: reducing waste, using resources responsibly, ensuring proper management of healthcare waste, digitalizing processes and redesigning care pathways with a focus on efficiency and sustainability. All these areas require managerial skills, coordination capabilities and a systemic vision of how healthcare organizations function.

Within the Master in Healthcare, sustainability and green leadership are addressed in a cross-cutting manner, as an integral part of the skills needed to lead the services of the future. Training leaders capable of integrating sustainability, innovation and quality of care means investing in a more resilient healthcare system, attentive to people, communities and the environment.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR HEALTHCARE

December 9, 2025 Federica Sorrentino

Contemporary healthcare is an ecosystem characterized by constant change: digitalization, reorganization of services, evolving community needs, and technological innovations all demand increasingly advanced management skills. In this context, project management represents a key competence for managers, coordinators, and healthcare professionals involved in designing and implementing complex services, processes, and interventions.

Managing a healthcare project means combining strategic vision, structured methodologies, and organizational skills — always keeping service quality and patient safety at the center. For this reason, knowing and applying project-management tools enables teams to methodically tackle initiatives such as reorganizing a department, introducing new technologies, activating integrated care pathways, or launching training programs.

Among the most used tools and approaches are:

Context and stakeholder analysis
Definition of objectives
Detailed activity planning
Digital scheduling tools
Risk management
Monitoring and evaluation

Within the Healthcare Master’s programmes, these topics are addressed both theoretically and through practical exercises and case studies, providing students with an approach that is concrete and applicable to the real world of social and health services. The goal is to train professionals capable of leading complex projects, working in multidisciplinary teams, and promoting innovation within organizations.

In a sector where every change has direct implications for people and communities, project management proves to be a strategic ally for making transformation possible, effective, and sustainable.

INSIDE THE MASTER: TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTHCARE

December 5, 2025 Federica Sorrentino

In the social and healthcare sector, training is not simply a regulatory requirement or a periodic update: it is a strategic tool that enables organisations to grow, innovate, and ensure high-quality care. Designing effective training pathways requires a structured approach capable of connecting real needs, professional competencies, and organisational goals.

Within the Master’s Programme in “Training Strategies in the Social and Healthcare Sector: European Standards and Innovation”, the analysis of training needs and the development of competencies represents a fundamental pillar of the curriculum. Dedicated modules explore how to accurately identify areas for improvement, evaluate the impact of training, and guide professionals toward the acquisition of technical, relational, and organisational skills that can be effectively applied in practice.

A key component of the programme is the shift from knowledge-based training to a competency-based approach: knowing how to act, how to collaborate, how to communicate. In an increasingly complex healthcare environment, where multidisciplinary teams work under pressure and in constant evolution, soft skills are no longer optional but essential. Teamwork, effective communication, group management, and the ability to navigate difficult situations are all elements that directly contribute to safety, care quality, and organisational wellbeing.

Beyond theoretical frameworks, students engage with practical tools to assess training effectiveness and evaluate its real impact on processes and organisational performance. The goal is to promote a culture of continuous learning that goes beyond content delivery and instead generates value, skills, and professional development.

This perspective, embedded across all Healthcare Master’s Programmes, aims to train professionals capable of designing, leading, and evaluating training within social and healthcare services—turning education into a true driver of change.

PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION IN THE SOCIO-HEALTHCARE SECTOR

December 4, 2025 Federica Sorrentino

Safeguarding privacy in the socio-healthcare sector is today one of the most delicate and complex challenges for professionals involved in service management, patient care, and continuity of assistance between hospital and community settings. The growing digitalization of processes has brought new opportunities, but also new responsibilities.

In this context, data protection means above all ensuring dignity, trust, and safety for the people receiving care. Health data is among the most sensitive categories of information and requires advanced competencies in governance, access protocols, security measures, and risk assessment. This approach concerns all professionals: managers, coordinators, healthcare workers, social workers, and anyone who handles information related to a person’s health and well-being. Privacy protection thus becomes a cultural element before a technical one.

A crucial—often underestimated—aspect concerns communication. Privacy in the socio-healthcare sector is not only about technology and regulations: it also involves managing relationships, handling information shared within multidisciplinary teams, and understanding the boundary between what must be communicated to ensure care continuity and what must instead remain protected. The most important competency becomes, therefore, professional awareness: the ability to recognize risks, apply correct procedures, and understand the impact of one’s decisions on the lives of those receiving care.

The topic of data protection is addressed across all Healthcare Master’s Programs at the University of Parma. Through lectures, case studies, and practical exercises, students develop the skills needed to effectively manage privacy, data security, and information governance within healthcare and socio-healthcare services.

Webinar Master in Healthcare

Presentazione offerta formativa Università di Parma