Saudi Gastroenterology Association · Open course
Facilitator guide
For anyone teaching this course in a workshop or journal club: timings, discussion prompts and common misconceptions for each module.
1. Health systems through a GI lens
- 20 min
- Lecture
- 25 min
- Discussion
- 15 min
- Exercises
- 60 min
- Total
Discussion prompts
- Map your own IBD or hepatology service to the six blocks. Which is weakest?
- Name a service that is “covered” on paper but not available in practice.
- Which role in the Saudi system do you interact with most often?
Common misconceptions
Misconception: A health system is the hospitals and clinics.
Correction: It includes everything that produces health: financing, workforce, information, governance and products.
Misconception: More drugs on the formulary means better care.
Correction: Without the other blocks, access does not follow.
Transition: Understanding the system tells us what to change. Next: how policy is actually made.
Resources: PHPSA Academy: Introduction to Health Systems · Module 1 self-check bank
2. The policy process, actors and power
- 20 min
- Lecture
- 30 min
- Discussion
- 25 min
- Exercises
- 75 min
- Total
Discussion prompts
- Choose a GI policy you wish existed and map its stakeholders.
- Who holds a veto over your proposal, formally or informally?
- Describe a policy window you have seen open or close.
Common misconceptions
Misconception: If the evidence is strong, the policy will follow.
Correction: Evidence is one input. Interests, timing and implementation capacity matter as much.
Misconception: Stakeholder mapping is manipulation.
Correction: It is how to ensure the right people are heard and informed.
Transition: Policies need evidence and data. Next: how to use both well.
Resources: PHPSA Academy: Evidence, Data and Policy Decisions · Module 2 self-check bank
3. Evidence, data and indicators for policy
- 25 min
- Lecture
- 30 min
- Discussion
- 35 min
- Exercises
- 90 min
- Total
Discussion prompts
- Choose five indicators for your own service. Which are structure, process, outcome?
- Run the cascade calculator. What happens to yield if participation rises from 40% to 60%?
- How do you tell a minister “we are not sure” without losing the room?
Common misconceptions
Misconception: More indicators mean better monitoring.
Correction: A few well-defined, actionable indicators are better than a crowded dashboard.
Misconception: High test coverage means a good programme.
Correction: If linkage and treatment fail, coverage achieves nothing.
Transition: Services need money. Next: how health systems raise it, pool it and pay for care.
Resources: Calculators: care cascade, elimination tracker · Module 3 self-check bank
4. Health financing, insurance and purchasing
- 25 min
- Lecture
- 30 min
- Discussion
- 35 min
- Exercises
- 90 min
- Total
Discussion prompts
- Which payment method would you choose for an IBD multidisciplinary clinic, and why?
- Who in Saudi Arabia pays for a patient’s biologic, and what protects the patient from cost?
- What does a payer need from an HTA before changing a payment method?
Common misconceptions
Misconception: Health insurance guarantees financial protection.
Correction: High co-payments and exclusions can leave families exposed.
Misconception: Paying for outcomes always improves quality.
Correction: Outcome payment can encourage selecting easy cases without risk adjustment.
Transition: Money flows through rules. Next: regulation and governance.
Resources: Calculators: out-of-pocket burden, risk pooling · PHPSA Academy: Health Financing and Insurance
5. Regulation, governance and data
- 20 min
- Lecture
- 30 min
- Discussion
- 25 min
- Exercises
- 75 min
- Total
Discussion prompts
- List every rule that applies to introducing a new endoscopy device in your unit.
- When is public reporting of endoscopist performance helpful, and when harmful?
- How would you design a registry so that clinicians trust it?
Common misconceptions
Misconception: More regulation always improves safety.
Correction: Poorly targeted rules add burden without benefit; enforcement matters more than volume.
Misconception: Registries are research projects.
Correction: They are governance structures that need stated purposes, owners and rules.
Transition: Rules set the frame. Next, plan services inside it.
Resources: PHPSA Academy: Regulatory Governance · Module 5 self-check bank
6. Strategic planning for GI services
- 25 min
- Lecture
- 30 min
- Discussion
- 35 min
- Exercises
- 90 min
- Total
Discussion prompts
- Use the simulator to find a package that hits 8 weeks. What does it cost?
- What happens to your plan if screening increases demand by 20%?
- Which lever is hardest to deliver in your own setting?
Common misconceptions
Misconception: A waiting-list initiative clears the backlog for good.
Correction: Unless capacity matches demand, the list returns.
Misconception: Triage always saves money.
Correction: It needs primary-care capacity and monitoring; poorly done it delays diagnosis.
Transition: A plan only works if decision-makers are convinced. Next: communication and advocacy.
Resources: Simulator: endoscopy waiting-list package · PHPSA Academy: Strategic Health Planning
7. Policy communication and advocacy
- 20 min
- Lecture
- 25 min
- Discussion
- 30 min
- Exercises
- 75 min
- Total
Discussion prompts
- Write the key message of your brief in 25 words.
- Change the lag in the BCR calculator. At what lag does your proposal stop paying for itself?
- Who is the messenger the Minister will believe?
Common misconceptions
Misconception: More detail makes a brief more persuasive.
Correction: Brevity and clarity do. Detail belongs in an annex.
Misconception: Advocacy is not scientific.
Correction: It is the honest presentation of evidence and options with a clear ask.
Transition: Finally, the question of fairness and how policies work in practice.
Resources: Calculator: benefit–cost ratio with lag · PHPSA Academy: Policy Communication and Advocacy
8. Equity, ethics and implementation
- 20 min
- Lecture
- 30 min
- Discussion
- 25 min
- Exercises
- 75 min
- Total
Discussion prompts
- Which group in your region is least likely to get a screening colonoscopy, and why?
- Apply the Wilson–Jungner criteria to a screening test you have heard proposed.
- What would a pre-agreed stopping rule look like for your pilot?
Common misconceptions
Misconception: Equity means giving everyone the same.
Correction: It means addressing avoidable differences, which may need different effort for different groups.
Misconception: Implementation is just training.
Correction: It covers roles, workflow, incentives, data and leadership.
Transition: This is the final module. Use the simulators and post-test to consolidate.
Resources: Calculators: equity gap, screening cascade · Simulator: hepatitis C elimination package