Post-graduate courses
The DSS offers advanced training and professional refresher courses aimed at developing specialized skills and continuing education for graduates and healthcare workers. The programs are structured to foster a rapid transfer of scientific evidence and cutting-edge methodologies into daily clinical, care, and organizational practice. This educational offer responds flexibly and promptly to the evolution of translational research and to the emerging care and prevention needs of the healthcare system.
Active Courses: A.Y. 2025/2026
Advanced Training Courses
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Health Literacy
In a complex healthcare landscape oriented towards patient empowerment, health literacy is essential to ensure equity and quality of care.
The course provides theoretical and practical tools to design inclusive interventions at individual, community, and organizational levels, making services more accessible and promoting informed choices. Throughout the program, health literacy measurement techniques will be analyzed, and specific domains such as vaccine, digital, and mental health literacy will be explored, alongside chronic disease management. Teaching, structured into lectures and group work, will conclude with the creation of a project work aimed at the practical application of the acquired skills.
At the end of the course, participants will be able to apply the acquired knowledge to increase the health literacy of organizations and individuals and to improve communication strategies with patients, service users, and citizens.
Information sheet
Course Director: Prof. Chiara Lorini
Duration of educational activities: 5 days of 8 hours each
Available spots: min. 10 max. 40
Enrolment fee: € 500
Lecture schedule:
May 28 and 29 in person
June 11 and 12 in person
September 11 in person
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The relationship with the patient and their family members in healthcare professions. Bio-psycho-social factors in engagement strategies
The course aims to provide theoretical and clinical foundations for managing the relationship of healthcare professionals with patients and their family members across different clinical settings from a holistic perspective that considers biological, psychological, and social factors.
At the end of the course, participants will have acquired the knowledge, skills, and abilities to manage the relationship and communication with the patient and their family members in order to enable their engagement.
Information sheet
Course Director: Prof. Fiammetta Cosci
Duration of educational activities: 9 months
Available spots: min. 5 - max. 15
Enrolment fee: € 800
Free supernumerary spots: 1, reserved for PhD students of the University of Florence
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Meditation, compassion and emotional management for helping professions
The Course intends to propose a model of the mind and emotional functioning originating in the tradition of Buddhist psychology and aims to offer methodological and operational tools for helping professions, healthcare workers, and professions in the educational and training field (teachers, educators, trainers). Clinical experience and recent neuroscience studies are confirming the importance of meditative practice both in terms of attention and awareness skills and in terms of transforming destructive emotions and developing constructive mental states.
At the end of the program, participants will integrate meditation and compassion into traditional psychological practices, deepening their understanding of mind functioning according to Buddhist tradition and the psychology of emotions. These skills will ultimately allow them to structure a concrete personal and professional project applicable both in daily life and in their workplace context.
Through the use of mindfulness, acceptance, and imaginative-behavioral practices, learners will develop a more effective helping relationship and training model, focused on the constructive qualities of contemplation.
Information sheet
Course Director: Prof. Claudio Sica
Duration of educational activities: 2 months
Available spots: min. 9 max. 25
Enrolment fee: € 900
Professional Refresher Courses
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Neonatal Critical Care Nursing
Aimed at nurses and pediatric nurses, the course offers a specialized in-depth path on the care management of the newborn in critical care, whether preterm or affected by surgical, genetic, or metabolic conditions. The curriculum integrates the study of neonatal anatomy and physiology with airway management, pharmacological therapy, pain management, and instrumental monitoring in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), also covering crucial fields such as protected transport, resuscitation, organ donation, and palliative care. Particular attention is dedicated to neurodevelopmental support through the Brazelton and NIDCAP models, nutrition, complex discharge planning, and bioethical issues.
At the end of the program, participants will be able to promptly identify care problems in the NICU, plan personalized care processes for the critically ill newborn, and competently utilize modern intensive care technology, while simultaneously providing continuous emotional support to the family in accordance with the principles of family-centered care.
Information sheet
Course Director: Prof. Stefano Stagi
Duration of educational activities: 8 months
Available spots: min. 15 max. 25
Enrolment fee: € 900
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Spiritual Care in Palliative Care
The course aims to qualify the role of Spiritual Caregiver in Palliative Care within academic and clinical settings by offering an integrative theoretical-practical module. The goal is to provide advanced operational tools to understand and manage the spiritual and existential dimension of patients in advanced stages of disease and end of life, promoting true integration of this role within the multidisciplinary team. The program will explore clinical and bioethical aspects of end of life—such as sedation and advance directives—interpersonal skills for managing difficult conversations, and grief support, ultimately enabling learners to master spiritual assessment skills directly in specialist clinical settings.
Information sheet
Course Director: Prof. Gianluca Villa
Duration of educational activities: 1 month
Available spots: min. 5 max. 50
Enrolment fee: € 250
Last update
03.08.2026