Master of Social and Health Care, Emergency Care Systems Development and Leadership, online studies

To ensure evidence-based, goal-directed development and meaningful change in emergency care systems, our objective is to educate future experts, leaders and researchers with advanced competencies, diverse perspectives, and understanding of systems integrations, safety science, staff well-being, and person-centred emergency care systems at both practical and systems levels.

Health care crises have made it clear that our emergency care systems and acute care pathways are experiencing a fundamental change in perspective. The need for major systemic change is evident, for both better person-centred care and the well-being of our health care professionals.

We need to redesign emergency care as a system. It is necessary to integrate care pathways and existing services, develop new clinical advancements, reshape professional roles, and break old systemic and work cultural barriers within emergency care, such as roles between prehospital acute care, out-of-hospital community paramedicine, and emergency departments. The treatment of acute and critical patients is often volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments must be safe, person-centred, and of the highest quality in the future while also addressing the increasing complexity of subacute patient profiles. Therefore, its continuous development requires long-term goals and rigorous processes to succeed and be effective.

We further need to make emergency care work manageable. By breaking silos and disciplinary boundaries and going beyond the scopes of familiar practices, we are sharing new knowledge and further understanding of the complexity, variety, and diversity of work in emergency care systems. We will explore how human-environment work can be further developed to be more sustainable and safer, utilizing, among others, translational simulations and design for psychologically safe work cultures. The goal is to make emergency care systems manageable and sustainable for all health care professionals.

Combined expertise from two world-class institutions

This programme is offered in collaboration between LAB University of Applied Sciences and Arcada University of Applied Sciences. The programme combines the strengths and expertise within each institution, offering you as a student access to the latest knowledge in the field. It is also the first international master’s degree aimed at paramedics, nurses and other healthcare professionals working in emergency care settings, with a focus on systems-level development. The courses will all be held online. It is therefore not necessary to come to the Arcada or LAB campuses, or even to live in Finland in the first place.

As a student in this programme, you will learn:

• to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness and quality of emergency care interventions and systems and to develop systems thinking and person centredness in emergency care settings;

• to support, develop, and enable sustainable human work in emergency care environments by evaluating the opportunities and challenges of future digital solutions for emergency care systems;

• to evaluate and develop safety science-based interventions in emergency care to ensure high patient and occupational safety in a complex environment by evaluating opportunities and challenges in different emergency care systems.

The degree comprises 90 ECTS credits. The studies are taught entirely in English and are completed entirely online. The coursework includes assignments and lectures (online). Participation in online lectures is not mandatory but recommended.

The degree contains the following three main modules:

• core competences (30 ECTS credits)
• elective complementary studies* (15 ECTS credits)
• research methods and master's thesis (15+30 ECTS credits).

*Elective complementary studies can be chosen from available master’s courses at LAB University of Applied Sciences or Arcada University of Applied Sciences, or from courses available at other institutions providing master’s level courses. Each student is provided with a personal study plan, in which formerly completed master’s level courses and relevant work experience are taken into consideration.

The master’s degree is a fully recognised qualification in the Finnish educational system and in the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). It fulfils the requirements for positions which demand a master’s degree.

The degree programme includes a thesis of 30 ECTS credits. The thesis project aims to broaden and deepen your professional expertise and knowledge and provide you with the expertise you need to operate in development tasks in your field. The thesis project improves your information retrieval and problem-solving skills and development skills. The thesis project may even serve as a pathway to your future career.  

We offer you excellent opportunities to gain valuable international expertise and language skills for your future career. Future workplaces and positions require multicultural skills, language skills and international understanding. Learning takes place in an international, multicultural environment, as our degree students come from all over the world.

Go international!

You can complete part of your studies at our partner institutions in different countries around the world or do your practical training abroad. Every year, we welcome a large number of students from different countries, so the programme is genuinely international.

Your studies will be closely connected with the development of working-life practices, together with businesses and work communities. Multidisciplinary working-life projects and different learning environments, such as student cooperatives, will strengthen your connections with authentic working-life interactions throughout the programme.

At LAB University of Applied Sciences, our goal is to renew the working life and ways of working. Together with our partners, we test new innovations and ways of doing things.

We focus on supporting responsible, regenerative growth through intangible value creation, multipurpose materials, and human well-being.

Graduates may also carry out doctoral studies at universities. This might require additional studies.

After graduation, you will be able to apply for different leadership positions. You will grow your competences for leading teams, managing projects, and leading staff units. Professional titles may include

• EMS manager
• EMS supervisor
• ward manager
• project manager
• specialist.