IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical (MBAHCHM Practicum): Log Book, Contact Spell and Exam

IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical: the practicum of the MBAHCHM third semester

The IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical is the Practicum of the MBA (Health Care and Hospital Management), MBAHCHM: a 6-credit practical course of the third semester, run by the School of Health Sciences beside the four theory papers MHH-011 to MHH-014 and the MHHP-021 Project.

IGNOU sends MHHL-020 in two volumes. Volume 1 is the practical manual: four sections and 15 units, from outbreak investigation to inventory analysis. Volume 2 is Block 5, the Log Book, where every activity is written up and signed by a counsellor. Both carry a September 2025 print line.

Across practical courses, the practical side worries learners far more than the theory papers; people who pass their term-end papers comfortably often stall here. With MHHL-020 the reason is easy to see, because half the course grade rests on a log book that a counsellor scores activity by activity.

Many learners tell us they learnt about a practical component only late in the session. MBAHCHM states it at admission: the July 2026 Common Prospectus says that in the second year you are attached to a hospital for 10 days of essential face-to-face practical sessions under an academic counsellor.

Learners often ask us whether their practical includes a viva. MHHL-020 does: the term-end practical examination gives the viva-voce 20 of its 50 marks.

Ten days, three sessions a day: the contact spell at your work centre

For the IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical, the training happens at a work centre, a medical college or hospital that IGNOU has notified for MBAHCHM. The 2026 Programme Guide lists the work centres by Regional Centre in its Appendix B: if your Regional Centre has one, you are attached there, and others choose from the list subject to seats. The work centre runs a 10-day contact session, in one continuous spell or in two spells of five days, with three supervised sessions each day. The 2025 draft of the guide put each session at two hours, 60 hours in all, with learners divided into groups of 10 to 15.

The guide sets these conditions around the ten days:

• Full attendance during the contact session is compulsory, and it is what makes you eligible for the term-end practical examination.
• If you miss your own batch’s spell, you may attend the spell of a later batch.
• You must re-register for the third semester; the guide’s FAQ says the practical cannot be done without it.
• Accommodation and transport are your own arrangement, and when fewer than five learners opt for a session, learners from neighbouring LSCs are put together.

Most of the learners we serve hold a job, run a household, or both. Counselling for theory papers is mostly optional, yet practical sessions are generally compulsory, and missing them often closes the practical exam for that session. The MHHL-020 guide is strict here: full attendance across the ten days, or no term-end practical examination.

Practical sessions run on fixed dates, often as full consecutive days and sometimes far from home, and the batch lists are usually posted on the websites of the Regional Centre or the study centre. A learner who does not look misses the slot and waits for the next cycle. For MHHL-020 the guide says the work centre decides and communicates the contact session dates, so find yours in Appendix B and ask it for the spell dates early.

A log written in one go after the training gives itself away: sentences repeat, entries fall on days the centre was closed, and day ten reads like day one. The MHHL-020 guide asks you to record activities and discussions on the day they happen.

Fifteen units, nineteen rubric rows: where the log book marks sit

The IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical manual has 15 units in four sections, and the log book opens with a marks table of 19 rows that the counsellor fills in and signs. The table below lines the two up.

Add the 19 printed maximums and you get 595, while the total line under them reads 570; the next line converts the score to marks out of 100. The rubric under the outbreak activity also says “out of 20”, although it grades seven criteria from 1 to 5 and the table gives that row 35. Ask your counsellor which figures the conversion uses. Conducted Tours alone carry 165, the largest single row.

Learners often hold three versions of one task: the manual’s, a counsellor’s and a senior’s old file. For MHHL-020 the Block 5 Log Book is the document the counsellor scores and signs, so its proformas and rubrics settle the format.

Practical write-ups usually follow a set order, and a missing part pulls the marks down. The MHHL-020 rubric for the outbreak activity names its order: problem identification and objectives, epidemiological planning, resource and logistics planning, data collection, analysis and interpretation, administrative aspects, then report presentation.

We often find a wrong enrolment number or programme detail on the first page of a practical record. The cover of the MHHL-020 Block 5 asks for three entries, your name, enrolment number and address, so fill them before the first day.

What you may cover at your own hospital, and what the LSC conducts

Part of the IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical can be done where you work. The log book names four hospital visits you may cover at your own set-up or in a hospital nearby: Laundry, Dietary Services, Pharmacy and Radiology. Without access to such facilities, you cover them at the Learner Support Centre by staying the extra time needed. The primary health care visit, to one of a Sub Centre or Health and Wellness Centre, a Primary Health Centre or a Community Health Centre, is also made at your convenience; the log book prints a proforma for each and asks you to read it before you go.

The conducted tours work differently. The LSC organises them during the contact spell, to ten facilities: CSSD, Waste Management, Medical Records, Blood Bank, Laboratory Services, Mortuary, Radiotherapy, Nuclear Medicine, the Department of Personnel and Administration, and Finance and Accounts. Each tour is written up under the Donabedian model of structure, process and outcome, and the counsellor countersigns the record.

Employees often ask us whether practical work at their own institution counts. For MHHL-020 the log book answers it in part: Laundry, Dietary Services, Pharmacy and Radiology may be covered at your working set-up, while the conducted tours stay with the LSC.

Many organisations are slow to open their departments to distance learners, or give them little to see. MHHL-020 has a fallback for the four own-set-up visits: the LSC, with extra time on your side.

A friend at another centre may describe a different routine, and centres do differ. Go by your own LSC for MHHL-020, since the log book ties the tours to the facilities of the LSC you are attached with.

Group presentations, the O.B. Lab and two pages without a marks row

Group work in the IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical splits learners into 2 to 4 groups, depending on counsellors and attendance. The log book lists ten clusters of topics, including personnel management, hospital functions, and CSSD with laundry and mortuary, and expects every participant to make at least one group presentation and join the discussion of all group work. The Organizational Behaviour Lab runs in separate sessions on people in the organisation, motivation, leadership, communication, training, conflict resolution and transaction analysis, and may use role play.

Two log book sections have no row in the marks table: section 19, Seminar/Group Presentation (date, topic, counsellor or expert, discussion points), and section 20, Teleconference/Webinar Sessions Attended. Section 2.1 lists 33 suggested lecture and webinar topics, from general management to dietary services. Fill both pages as the sessions happen.

Learners often think they must present one of the printed topics word for word. The MHHL-020 log book calls its list the possible topics and leaves the actual grouping and topic allocation to each LSC as per feasibility.

Learners from Hindi-medium schooling often find that writing a hospital report in English is the hard part. MBAHCHM has English as its only medium of instruction in the July 2026 Common Prospectus, and the MHHL-020 manual and log book are printed in English.

Writing the MHHL 020 log book so each activity is counted

The MHHL 020 log book calls itself a mandatory component of the MBAHCHM course, and the Programme Guide says how it is used in the IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical: record every activity and discussion daily, carry the book to the work centre each day and to the term-end practical examination, and get each activity signed. An activity that the counsellors have not duly signed does not count toward internal assessment. The book comes back to you at the end of the practical examination.

A counted entry looks different from section to section. Proformas with Yes/No and Remarks columns (the disaster plan, the fire audit, the primary health care visits) need the remarks filled from what you saw. Case exercises ask for your own analysis and recommendations. Tour write-ups follow the structure, process and outcome headings the log book prints for each department.

The written record is where practical marks slip most, and it is also the easiest part to put right. In MHHL-020 that record is the log book, and the internal half of the grade comes from it.

One line turns up in practical records day after day: “visited the department and observed the activities”. An MHHL-020 entry on the CSSD tour reads far better when it links what you saw to a course idea, such as the decontamination, sterilisation and storage layout listed under Structure for that department.

An unsigned page is a common gap in the records we see. In MHHL-020 the cost is direct, because the guide leaves an activity without a due counsellor signature out of the internal assessment.

Which MHHL-020 exercises need data you collect yourself?

Several IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical exercises are field work, and the log book spells out the method. The KAP study on the WHO 5 Moments of Hand Hygiene and biomedical waste management asks for a 15 to 20 question survey in knowledge, attitude and practice sections on a Likert scale, a target population of 50 healthcare workers, a random or convenience sample, responses coded in Excel, and a one-page KAP report. The OPD unit asks for a pre-validated patient satisfaction questionnaire and a staff satisfaction survey. The laboratory unit asks for a visit to a hospital laboratory of more than 200 beds, and the inventory unit for an ABC analysis from a store department’s item records.

Other activities are desk work on data the log book supplies: break-even and composite P/V ratio problems, a 30-day ventilator utilisation case, USG machine downtime and an EOQ calculation for urinary catheters. The formulary task asks for at least 30 medicines and an antibiotic policy framework for at least 10 antibiotics, with the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, ICMR antibiotic use guidelines and NABH standards as background documents.

A warning from what we see: some learners write up survey findings without running the survey. The MHHL-020 KAP report has to rest on answers from the healthcare workers you actually asked.

The questionnaire is often missing from a learner’s write-up. In MHHL-020 the KAP study begins with designing it (Step 1), so keep the blank questionnaire with your log book entry.

Many learners copy internet text into policy drafts without checking it. For the MHHL-020 formulary and antibiotic policy, work from the WHO list, ICMR guidelines and NABH standards the task names, and write the draft in your own words.

How the IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical is marked: 50 internal, 50 at the exam

The IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical has two halves of equal weight in the 2026 MBAHCHM Programme Guide. The internal half, 50 marks, comes from the contact-session activities scored on the log book rubrics, and you must pass it separately. Eligibility for the term-end practical examination has three steps: complete the ten-day spell and submit the log book for internal evaluation, pass the internal assessment, and pay the practical fee with the online exam form.

The MHHL 020 practical exam, held after the spell, carries the other 50 marks:

• One long case for 20 marks, or two short cases of 10 marks each
• Five spots for 10 marks
• A viva-voce for 20 marks

Internal examiners come from your LSC; external examiners are counsellors from other LSCs or a national pool. A centre needs at least five learners for the exam, and with fewer you may be offered an exam centre elsewhere in the country. Appearing in the theory papers is not a precondition. To pass, you need an overall C grade across both halves (50 percent and above on the guide’s scale), and a component graded E is repeated.

Many learners treat a viva as a formality, though it usually carries real weight; a neat record scores poorly when its owner cannot explain the aim, the method or the findings. Learners who did the MHHL-020 tours and surveys themselves answer with the most confidence, and the log book is with you at the exam.

Ready-made practical records circulate online and get handed in after a change of name and enrolment number alone; near-identical books from one centre are easy to spot. An MHHL-020 log book filled from someone else’s tours and surveys leaves you with nothing to say at the long case or the viva.

Exam form, the Rs 500 practical fee and two last dates

The fee for the IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical exam is paid through the online term-end examination form on the IGNOU website. The 2026 Programme Guide gives 31 March and 30 September as the last dates for the practical, adding that they may be extended from time to time. Pay in the semester in which you attend the contact session and the exam, because the fee cannot be carried forward. The July 2026 Common Prospectus sets the practical examination fee at Rs 500 for a course above 4 credits and Rs 300 up to 4 credits, so the 6-credit MHHL-020 falls in the Rs 500 slab. An examination fee once paid is neither refunded nor adjusted.

Learners regularly confuse the 300 and 500 rupee practical fees. MHHL-020 has 6 credits, so the Rs 500 slab applies; Rs 300 is for practicals of 4 credits or less.

In our records, 70 to 80 percent of learners start moving only in the final month before a date falls due. For MHHL-020 the last dates for the exam form are 31 March and 30 September, and the fee belongs to the semester of your contact session.

Some learners hold back for an extension they expect IGNOU to announce. The MHHL-020 guide says the dates may be extended, which promises nothing, so plan on 31 March or 30 September.

MBAHCHM practicum reading: the four third-semester guides

The MBAHCHM practicum sits beside MHH-011 to MHH-014 in the third semester, and reading for the IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical starts with those theory papers. We print study guides for the four papers. They are reading for the theory, and we do not sell filled log books.

Ask which third-semester MBAHCHM guide you need

Four MHHL-020 questions, answered from the documents

Documents behind this IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical guide

The IGNOU MHHL 020 Practical rewards the learner who attends all ten days, writes the log book on the day, gets each counsellor signature on the spot and can explain every entry at the viva. For the MHHP-021 project you take in the same semester, our sister site keeps a separate MHHP-021 walkthrough of topics and format.

Message us about MBAHCHM third-semester material

When practicals go wrong across programmes, we keep finding three causes: news reaches learners late and differs between centres, the sessions assume time and travel that working learners rarely have spare, and the record is treated as a formatting job when it should show applied learning. MHHL-020 has each of the three in play, with a work centre picked from IGNOU’s list, ten days of attendance and a log book judged on rubrics.

Across practicals, the learners who do well begin early, check the rules with their own centre, date each entry, gather signatures as they go and know each page well enough to talk about it. For MHHL-020 that starts with confirming your work centre and spell dates with the LSC before the semester’s contact session.

Some learners paste AI-written text into a practical record as it stands. An MHHL-020 log book built that way reads like the others made from the same prompt, and the long case and viva test your own reasoning.

shrichakradhar.com is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with, authorised by or endorsed by IGNOU. Our study guides are reference material for the theory papers and are not for submission as your own work; the log book for MHHL-020 is your own work, and we do not sell filled log books.