Healthcare Policy

NURS5001

3 Credit Hours

Course Description

The primary focus of this course is the analysis of healthcare systems.  Public and private healthcare delivery systems are examined.  Students explore future challenges and processes to improve systems. 

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:

  1. Discuss a historical overview of the healthcare system and its development in the  United States
  2. Evaluate current political factors effecting healthcare policy formation and implementation. 
  3. Analyze economic variables affecting healthcare access in various populations 
  4. Compare national and international healthcare systems 
  5. Determine the role of advance practice nurses in affecting health policy formation and implementation. 
Prerequisites and Co-requisites

Admission to the RODP-MSN program or permission of Coordinator. 

Course Topics

                           I.      Policy and politics: a framework for advance nursing

                             II.      Historical overview of Unites States healthcare policy

                           III.      Policy development and analysis

                          IV.      Financing healthcare

                             V.      Mechanism for controlling healthcare

                          VI.      Collective strategies for political action

                        VII.      Political action through professional organizations

Textbooks

Please visit the Virtual Bookstore to obtain textbook information for this course: http://rodp.bkstr.com 

Supplementary Materials

Supplemental periodicals and journal articles assigned by instructor.

Hardware Requirements

The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm

Software Requirements

The minimum requirements can be found at  http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm

Additional software requirements for this course include Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint), and Acrobat Reader.

Instructor Information

Please see the separate page inside the course to find instructor contact information.

Testing Procedures

All course requirements are submitted online and will include short papers related to the required reading material. One on-line exam will be given in this course. The dates for the exam will be posted on the course calendar.  Students are required to complete the exam on the posted date. Exam format may consist of multiple choice and essay type questions.   

Grading Procedure

Module assignments, quizzes & short papers

25%

Final Exam

25%

Formal Paper

35%

Online Discussions 

15%

Grading Scale

A  =93-100
B  = 85-92
C  = 77-84
D  = 70-76
F  =<70

Assignments and Projects

The student will submit a formal paper discussing a healthcare issue with health care policy implications.  Discussion of relevance, economic considerations and strategies for implementation will be expected.  The paper will consist of 10-12 type written pages (in MS Word only). The document is expected to be free of grammatical and punctuation errors. The paper and reference page should be in APA format.  The student will submit the paper via WebCT to the instructor.   The student is advised to keep a copy of all written work.

 Detailed instructions for the project can be found on the WebCT link assignment link.

Class Participation

All students are expected to actively participate in online class discussions. Each discussion question posted will be assigned a date by which the student must respond.  If a student is unable to fulfill this requirement for any reason, he/she should notify the instructor prior to the class and make alternative arrangements.  The aim is to encourage interaction among students and faculty, not simply to present information. Students are required to respond to all discussion questions. Student responses to discussion questions must be substantive, that is, thoughtful and analytical. Students will be expected to respond to all questions asked within a module.  Because the WebCT system has its own way of formatting material posted on the discussion feature, the student will not be expected to strictly follow APA guidelines for online submissions. However, the student is held to academic standards of writing style and the use of proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. 

Punctuality

Students are expected to:

•         Check the course calendar for the due dates of assignments.

•         Check the course bulletin board frequently for announcements.

Course Ground Rules

The student is expected to:

•         Learn how to navigate in the WebCT system.

•         Participate by responding to all discussion questions.

•         Keep abreast of course announcements.

•         Use the assigned college or university e-mail address as opposed to a personal e-mail address.

•         Contact the instructor if unclear about assignment expectations.

•         Address technical problems immediately.

Guidelines for Communcation

              Email: 

•         Always include a subject line.

•         Remember without facial expressions some comments may be taken the wrong way.

•         Be careful in wording your emails. Use of emoticons might be helpful in some cases.

•         Use standard fonts.

•         Do not send large attachments without permission.

•         Special formatting such as centering, audio messages, tables, html, etc. should be avoided unless necessary to complete an assignment or other communication.

•         Respect the privacy of other class members.

            Discussion Groups: 

•         Review the discussion threads thoroughly before entering the discussion.

•         Try to maintain threads by using the "Reply" button rather starting a new topic.

•         Do not make insulting or inflammatory statements to other members of the discussion group.

•         Be respectful of others’ ideas.

•         Be patient and read the comments of other group members thoroughly before entering your remarks.

•         Be cooperative with group leaders in completing assigned tasks.

•         Be positive and constructive in group discussions.

•         Respond in a thoughtful and timely manner.

            Chat: 

•         Introduce yourself to the other learners in the chat session.

•         Be polite. Choose your words carefully. Do not use derogatory statements.

•         Be concise in responding to others in the chat session.

•         Be prepared to open the chat session at the scheduled time.

•         Be constructive in your comments and suggestions.

Library

The Tennessee Virtual Library is available to all students enrolled in the Regents Degree Program. Links to library materials (such as electronic journals, databases, interlibrary loans, digital reserves, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and librarian support) and Internet resources needed by learners to complete online assignments and as background reading must be included in all courses.

Students with Disabilities

Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable and necessary academic accommodations if determined eligible by the appropriate disability services staff at their home institution. Prior to granting disability accommodations in this course, the instructor must receive written verification of a student's eligibility for specific accommodations from the disability services staff at the home institution. It is the student's responsibility to initiate contact with his/her home institution's disability services staff and to follow the established procedures for having the accommodation notice sent to the instructor.

Syllabus Changes

The instructor reserves the right to make changes as necessary to this syllabus. If changes are necessitated during the term of the course, the instructor will immediately notify students of such changes both by individual email communication and posting both notification and nature of change(s) on the course bulletin board.

Technical Support

If you are having problems logging into the course, timing out of the course, using the course web site tools, or other technical problems, please visit the AskRODP Customer Support web page at http://help.rodp.com/or call the AskRODP Help Desk at      1-866-550-RODP (1-866-550-7637)