Health services encompasses many different philosophies and fields of study in addition to health care. Health services employees have a solid understanding of public health policies, economic and social issues, cultural identities, communication skills, and global issues. Because this field is so diverse, students and professionals involved in health services will find a full range of resources and classes available to them through open courseware. Top schools like the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, MIT and The Open University have put their course outlines and materials online for students to access free of charge whenever they want. This system helps busy health care workers continue to stay current in the industry and explore new subjects and issues affecting their jobs.

This collection of courses includes classes like History of Public Health, Refugee Health Care, Family Planning Policies, The Limits of Primary Care, and Diversity and Difference in Communication, among others. Students taking these classes can get an idea of how many options there are available to them to learn about health services by taking open courseware classes. Skills learned include the ability to analyze and understand their roles as health care providers in a local, national, global, and historical context; how to work with families from all cultural and economic backgrounds; respond to the unique needs of refugees and citizens of disadvantaged communities; work with health IT systems; and more.

• History of Public Health [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health] – This course challenges students to “examine the historical experience of health and illness from a population perspective.”
• Refugee Health Care [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health] – Health care providers planning to practice medicine abroad and care for refugee populations will learn about refugee health care policy and requirements.
• Family Planning Policies and Programs [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health] – Pediatricians, nurses, family clinic health care workers and other related professionals learn about family planning, working with families from different cultures and economic backgrounds, managing information systems and more.
• The Limits of Primary Care [The Open University] – Learn about a real couple as they face different obstacles and limitations of the health care industry.
• Diversity and Difference in Communication [The Open University] – Health care professionals learn how to communicate with a diverse patient population in this course.
• Information Technology in the Health Care System of the Future [MIT] – Health services providers learn the benefits of IT systems and their effect on the economy, health care industry and society.