Degree Programs - MS

The Dartmouth Institute's Master of Science program trains its graduate students to be leaders and researchers in health services research and in quality improvement. This unique degree program trains students to review and conduct clinical research and implement quality improvement initiatives to achieve a patient-centered, high quality, cost-effective health care system with access and excellence for all. The MS can be completed full-time in one year or part-time over two-three years.

All MS students must complete a minimum of 56 credits and meet the degree requirements as follows. In addition to the foundational courses required (see complete course listing) students will choose to concentrate in Clinical/Health Services Research or Health Care Leadership.

Clinical/Health Service Research: The Clinical/Health Services Research concentration provides students with a rigorous understanding of the following areas: fundamentals of epidemiology and biostatistics; quantitative techniques in the assessment of the outcomes of medical care; historical and contemporary theories in decision making; decision analyses and cost effectiveness analyses; and clinical guidelines, patient satisfaction, and survey methods.

Health Care Leadership: The Health Care Leadership concentration provides students with a rigorous understanding of the following areas: macro issues in the U.S. health care system and the major disciplinary approaches to them, focusing on microeconomics, organization theory, systems analysis, operations research, and political theory; skills in leading change and improvement in health care systems; barriers to making the health of the population better; and approaches for taking costs out of the care while maintaining or improving quality and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Required Courses: All MS students must complete a minimum of 56 credits and meet degree requirements as follows.

• ECS 100: Inferential Methods and Systematic Review: Part 1
• ECS 102: Inferential Methods and Systematic Review: Part 2
• ECS 111: Critical Issues in Health and Health Care
• ECS 117: Continual Improvement of Health Care
• ECS 140: Epidemiology and Biostatistics 1
• ECS 177-179: Research Tutorial Series

Research Proposal: MS students, through the year-long MS Tutorial Series 1-4, are required to complete a research proposal based on a topic with primary data collection. Students choose to develop their own projects based on their specific interests, skills, and career aspirations. The ultimate goal of the research proposal is to help each MS student gain foundational skills in scientific argument that he/she can, in his/her future career, transfer to different kinds of researchable problems.

Elective Courses: MS students have a number of elective courses to choose from in the areas of survey research methods, statistical measurement and analysis in quality improvement, advanced epidemiology and biostatistics, health care financing, shared decision-making, geography of health, decision and cost-effectiveness analysis, advanced methods in health services research, pharmaceuticals and health economics, and design and improvement of clinical microsystems.

Career Services: Through our Core Skills Development Series, Alumni Networking, Medical and Graduate School Application and Admissions Preparation, and Employer Visits, TDI's Center for Education offers several ways for students to prepare for and plan their careers in the delivery and practice of health care. We will help you find a challenging and fulfilling career. Our graduates find careers in a variety of settings - health care systems, health care think tanks, health care consulting firms, non-profit organizations, government, health advocacy groups, and so on.

Other Career Services Resources at Dartmouth:

• » Dartmouth College's Graduate Career Office
• » Dartmouth's Undergraduate Career Services