NZIM Certificate in Practice Management (Health)
and
NZIM Diploma in Practice Management (Health)
I’ve never studied before so what course should I start with; Certificate or Diploma?
We suggest you start with the Certificate course. As you build confidence with studying you can switch to the Diploma course at any time.
How do I access these courses?
There are many ways – either through polytechnic/s or business schools. There are several methods of learning; either face-to-face, by correspondence or learning on-line. There are many advantages to all methods but your costs, time availability and ease of access to learning needs to be considered.
Whilst there are many polytechnics, business and correspondence schools who deliver the NZIM business papers within the Certificate and Diploma in Practice Management (Health) qualifications, the health papers within the qualifications are only delivered on-line through the School of Business and Government.
You may find it easier to enrol with your local polytechnic, correspondence or business school for all papers except the health papers, or you may find it easier to enroll with one school and study all the papers on-line. You can contact the School of Business and Government on www.sbg.ac.nz
If I contact my local polytechnic - will they know what I’m talking about for the Certificate or Diploma qualifications?
As this is a new qualification, your local Polytechnic may be more familiar with the NZIM papers contained within the CertMgt or NZDipBus. The health management papers are only delivered on-line through the School of Business and Government.
Does the Open Polytechnic deliver the NZIM papers in both qualifications?
The Open Polytechnic deliver the NZIM CertMgt and NZDipBus papers however they do not deliver the Certificate paper 816 Business Computing nor the health management papers.
How much will it cost?
This will vary between polytechnics and schools so you will need to find out which ones deliver the NZIM business papers in your local area. It is cheaper to enrol in the entire course than enrolling paper by paper. On-line education tends to cost less than on-site education
Is there any funding available to help me?
The qualifications are self-funded at this stage. PMAANZ is approaching PHO’s and professional bodies such as the NZMA, NZCGP, and the Dental Association to see if they can offer their members funding for training and development of their managers.
How long is a semester?
In general most semesters run from a half an academic year or two ‘school’ terms equivalent, although some institutes have trimesters due to a ‘summer school’ and run from Dec-Jan. The general guideline for semesters is February – June and July- November and they’re usually around 14 weeks.
If I haven’t studied before, it’s been recommended that doing one paper a semester is a good idea to start off if I’m also working.
Definitely. Studying and working requires the student to use their time management skills to best effect. As you go along the course, you may wish to increase to two papers per semester if you find studying easy or if you have the additional time capacity to do so.
One paper per semester is also recommended if you haven’t undertaken formal study for a while
How many hours a week will my commitment be?
Your training institution will be able to advise how many is recommended per paper.
See the SBG link for their guidelines www.sbg.ac.nz A general rule is that study should be approx 10 hours per credit, so 100 hours for a 10 credit Certificate paper and 200 hours for a 20 credit Diploma paper. However this may vary depending on the level of prior knowledge and study that you have, and how familiar you are with the concepts being covered (‘totally familiar’ or ‘new and challenging’ will impact on the time required to master the learning).
It’s also up to you as to how much additional reading/study you wish to do aside from your lectures/tutorials.
I feel I can’t do this alone. Will there be any support for me?
All learning institutions provide students support to study through peer and tutor support. This may include individual or group support either on-line or fact to face.
PMAANZ also provides peer support and encouragement at local and executive levels.
I’ve already done some papers from the Diploma of Business or the NZIM Diploma in Management. Do I contact NZIM or a training school to do the health paper?
Check with NZIM regarding what papers you have registered as completed for the NZIM Certificate in management. You need to check the range of NZDipBus papers you have done with the provider you studied with – unless you have also registered those towards the NZIM DipMgt. The health management papers of the Certificate and Diploma of Practice Management (Health) qualifications are only delivered on-line through the School of Business and Government. You can contact them on www.sbg.ac.nz
NZSBG and NZIM would need evidence of the successful completion of the appropriate Diploma papers before any completion Certificates could be issued for the new qualifications.
What will I gain by having a qualification at Certificate or Diploma level?
You will gain a comprehensive, nationally and internationally recognised qualification in Health Management. This will give you tools to enhance your professional performance: legislative/compliance requirements, HR, Health Economics, Knowledge of Accounting Practices, Treaty of Waitangi/Cultural Competence etc are all areas of knowledge a Practice Manager needs in order to operate effectively in the complex and mutable environment of health. It will give you an edge in an increasingly competitive job market.