ProfCert in Innovation in Healthcare
€2,850
Drive real change in healthcare with our Professional Certificate – learn to apply design thinking, systems innovation and business planning to create impactful, scalable solutions.
Professional Certificate
6 months
Online - Part-time
15 ECTS
28 October 2025
About
The Professional Certificate in Innovation in Healthcare, delivered by the RCSI Graduate School of Healthcare Management, is designed for healthcare professionals who want to make a real difference.
Whether you're on the frontline or in a management role, this fully online programme will give you the mindset, tools, and confidence to lead innovation and solve real-world challenges in your workplace.
This programme blends systems thinking, design thinking, and business planning to equip learners with the tools and confidence to tackle complex healthcare challenges. Participants will explore how to identify unmet needs, co-create patient-centred solutions, and develop sustainable business models that can drive real-world change.
Fully online and flexible, this certificate supports busy professionals in developing practical, immediately applicable skills that can enhance their leadership and innovation capacity across any healthcare setting.
This course comprises three five-week modules over six months, and is a Level 9 award on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications.
Apply design thinking to real healthcare challenges
Build business cases for innovative care solutions
Learn to lead change with systems innovation tools
Gain skills to turn ideas into scalable healthcare solutions
Enhance decision-making with innovation frameworks
Advance your career with in-demand innovation expertise
Suitable for
This programme is ideal for healthcare professionals in clinical, managerial or support roles who want to lead change, solve real-world challenges and drive innovation in their organisation using practical, proven methods.
What you will learn
Explore how systems innovation can solve complex healthcare challenges.
Learn to apply design thinking to create impactful, user-centred solutions.
Build strong business cases to support and scale healthcare innovations.
Faculty highlight
Biography
Caitriona Heffernan
Caitriona is the Innovation Lead for the HSE Spark Innovation Programme, the Innovation Programme Lead at Ireland South Women and Infant’s Directorate and Innovation Lead for FemTech at Health Innovation Hub Ireland.
Máire Kane
Máire is an award-winning industrial designer with a proven track record in medical device development from initial concept to manufacture. She is currently leading the design of products, systems, and services within the HSE Irish healthcare system.
Dr Paul Anglim
Dr Anglim works as an advisor and consultant on commercialisation, needs-led innovation, strategy, and network. He has held multiple roles at the European Funder EIT Health, and holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a research focus on the early detection of lung cancer.
Register your interest
For more information about this course, please complete the following form and a member of the team will be in touch.
Course information
On successful completion of this professional certificate, learners will be able to:
- Analyse complex healthcare challenges using systems thinking and innovation frameworks to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Apply design thinking methodologies to co-create user-centred solutions that address real healthcare needs.
- Evaluate and synthesise evidence to support innovation planning and decision-making within healthcare contexts.
- Develop viable business plans that demonstrate the value, feasibility, and scalability of healthcare innovations.
- Communicate innovation strategies effectively to stakeholders across clinical, managerial, and policy environments.
- Reflect critically on their role as change agents and innovation leaders within healthcare systems.
Innovation in Healthcare (5 ECTS)
This module introduces learners to systems thinking and the foundational principles of innovation in healthcare. You'll explore how healthcare systems function, where innovation can add value, and how to approach complex challenges from a systems perspective. The course covers innovation readiness, strategic improvement models, and frameworks such as the Quadruple Aim. Learners apply systems thinking tools to map and analyse real-world healthcare challenges in their own contexts, identifying areas for meaningful and sustainable innovation.
Design Thinking for Healthcare (5 ECTS)
This microcredential focuses on the design thinking process and how it can be used to create user-centred solutions in healthcare. Topics include empathy mapping, problem framing, ideation techniques, prototyping, and testing ideas. Learners will explore co-design and inclusive design approaches specific to healthcare settings. Participants complete a structured design thinking project, applying creative problem-solving techniques to develop and test a solution to a real healthcare problem.
Business Planning for Healthcare Innovation (5 ECTS)
This module equips learners with the skills to build robust business cases for healthcare innovations. Key areas include value propositions, stakeholder analysis, cost–benefit considerations, risk assessment, and sustainability planning. Learners are introduced to tools like the Business Model Canvas and Lean Startup principles. Each learner develops a full business plan for a healthcare innovation, considering feasibility, scalability, and alignment with organisational or system priorities.
- Orientation: 28 October – 7 November
- Module 1: 10 November – 12 December
- Module 2: 12 January – 13 February
- Module 3: 23 February – 27 March
All dates are subject to change.
Assessment for each micro credential is project-based and designed to support the practical, real-world application of learning. Learners complete applied assignments such as system maps, design thinking portfolios, and business plans, all directly relevant to their own healthcare context. There are no written exams – assessment is continuous and focused on developing actionable outputs that can inform real innovation initiatives.
The Professional Certificate in Innovation in Healthcare is awarded by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences and is aligned to Level 9 on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). Each of the three micro-credentials that make up the certificate is worth 5 ECTS credits, providing a total of 15 ECTS upon completion.
Admissions
To apply for this micro-credential course, you must:
- Hold a bachelor degree (if you don’t hold a bachelor degree, see the recognition of prior learning pathway outlined)
- Be working in healthcare or a related industry
- Meet the English language requirements (unless exempt): IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent score on another standardised test (certified proof should be uploaded with your application; see below for exemptions).
English language requirements for Postgraduate programmes are published on the RCSI website.
If you do not meet the minimum academic requirements above, you may still be eligible to apply through recognition of prior learning (RPL). RPL is the assessment of knowledge, skills and competence previously acquired.
Learning occurs in many contexts including work, involvement in social and community activities, or learning through life experience generally. RPL does not give credit for experience as such; rather it considers the learning that was acquired as a result of the experience.
RPL may be used to gain:
- Admission to courses/programmes where a person may not have obtained the standard entry requirements.
- Exemptions from course modules which duplicate the learning outcomes an individual has already demonstrably acquired through prior learning.
Exemptions may apply for:
- Applicants who have completed their school or undergraduate studies (three or more years) through English in a country where English is the majority native language.
- Applicants who have completed their school or undergraduate studies (three or more years) in an English speaking institution in a country where English is not the majority. native language and where an IELTS score of 5 or more was a requirement for admissions to the programme.
- Applicants who have been working in a country (three years or more) where English is the majority native language or for an employer where English language is the official language.
- Graduates of an RCSI Undergraduate, Masters or Professional Diploma programme in Dublin and Bahrain.
- Please note: Certified proof must be uploaded as part of your application.
Course fee: TBC
Please note:
- Fee includes all resources and access to our award-winning online learning portal.
- Fee includes an NUI fee.
- Fee is payable via the fees schedule, where relevant.
- If you have outstanding fees you will not be entitled to receive your grades or be eligible to progress and or graduate (VLE and Library privileges will be withdrawn in these cases).
- RCSI accepts no obligation to refund any fee, or part thereof, in respect of a student who chooses to withdraw from a programme.
- If you choose to withdraw from a programme you are liable for full fees owed for the seat on that programme.
- All NUI parchments are issued in Latin; you will be required to pay an additional fee of €50 to NUI if you wish to have a parchment published in English.
- Fees are subject to review annually.
- If you are being sponsored or funded by your employer you should upload a funding confirmation letter in the document upload section on the application portal.
How to apply
Please begin your application by completing the form below.
Please ensure you attach the following supporting documents with your application:
- A clear copy of your valid passport
- Your academic transcripts/degree
- Your up-to-date CV.
Already begun your application? Complete it via our application portal now.
Continue your application