HCA 695: Health Administration Masters Capstone

Course Description

In this course, graduate students will develop the knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions as professionals working in the health services and health informatics field. This knowledge and skills set includes the ability to analyze and conduct health services administration and informatics research. The course is designed to provide graduate students from a variety of backgrounds with the foundations of research methods in health services administration and health informatics. The course is also intended to acquaint students with the conceptual and methodological issues of research design and secondary data analysis widely used in empirical health services research. The course covers an introduction to health care administration and informatics research, the basics of research design and methods in research, including use of literature review, quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research designs, inferential statistics, hypothesis testing, research validity, issues of sampling and measurement, and specific approaches to health services administration and informatics research. Topics of research ethics, evaluation of the research literature and proposal development are introduced. This course concludes with the production of a scientific research proposal for health care services administration and informatics to be utilized in the student’s final project of the Program’s Capstone Course. (3 credits)

Prerequisite:

  • HCA 640: Research Methods in Health Care

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

  1. Assess leadership skills related to communication within a healthcare organization.
  2. Analyze health care research data through the use of statistical formulas.
  3. Analyze what communications, teamwork and leadership skills make an effective health care organization.
  4. Examine ways to publish research activities.
  5. Propose ideas for research in the health care administration field.
  6. Critique scholarly work for validity in the use of health care research.
  7. Distinguish skills and responsibilities of health care leaders involving community health.
  8. Consider legal and ethical issues health care leaders face in today’s health care landscape.
  9. Examine the purpose of strategic planning in a health care organization.
  10. Critique policies and procedures used in health care organizations.
  11. Apply business principles to the health care environment.

Course Activities and Grading

AssignmentsWeight

Discussions (Weeks 1-8) @ 30 points

24%

ACHE Assessment Activities  (Weeks 1-8) @ 40 points

32%

Research Proposal (Week 1) @ 40 points

4%

Research Matrix (Week 2) @ 50 points

5%

Research Literature Review (Week 3 and 4) @ 100 points

10%

Research Survey Results (Week 5) @ 100 points

10%

Research Final Paper (Week 6 and 7) @ 100 points

10%

Research Virtual Poster (Week 8) @ 50 points

5%

Total

100%

Required Textbooks

Available through Charter Oak State College's Book Bundle

  • Rocco, T., Hatcher, T., Creswell, J. (2011). The Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing. Jossey-Bass. ISBN-13: 978-0-470-39335-2

Additional Resources

Course Schedule

Week

PLOs

SLOs

Readings and Exercises

Assignments

1

11

1,5

Topics: Communication and Relationship Management and Research Part I

  • Readings:
    • Rocco et.al, Chapter 1
    • Rocco et al. Chapter 4
    • ACHE: Communication and Relationship Management Assessment
  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review lecture material
  • Participate in discussion
  • Complete ACHE: Communication and Relationship Management Assessm
  • Research Proposal Approval

2

3

8,11

Topics: Business Skills and Knowledge and Research Part II

  • Readings:
    • Rocco et.al, Chapter 11
    • Principles of Planning, Evaluation, and Research textbook chapter 1, 2-8; pg 346
    • ACHE: Business Skills and Knowledge
  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review lecture material
  • Participate in discussion
  • Complete ACHE: Business Skills and Knowledge
  • Research Matrix

3

2

10

Topics: Leadership Assessment and Research Part III

  • Readings:
    • Rocco et.al, Chapter 3
    • Rocco et al. Chapter 9
    • ACHE: Leadership Assessment

 

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review lecture material
  • Participate in discussion
  • Complete ACHE: Leadership Assessment
  • Begin Literature Review

4

8

3

Topics: Professionalism Assessment and Research Part III

  • Readings:
    • Rocco et.al, Chapter 7
    • ACHE: Professionalism Assessment

 

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review lecture material
  • Participate in discussion
  • Complete ACHE: Professionalism Assessment
  • Research Literature Review

5

1

2,9

Topics: Healthcare Environment and Research Part IV

  • Readings:
    • Rocco et al., Review chapters 7,10, 12, 13 and pg 348-349
    • ACHE: Knowledge of the Healthcare Environment Assessment

 


 

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review lecture material
  • Participate in discussion
  • Complete ACHE: Knowledge of the Healthcare Environment Assessment
  • Research Survey Results

6

12

7

Topics: Community Health and Research Part V

  • Readings:
    • Rocco et.al, Chapter 12
    • Rocco et al. Chapter 13
    • Rocco et al. Chapter 14
    • ACHE: Organization and Technology Assessment
  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review lecture material
  • Participate in discussion
  • Complete ACHE: Organization and Technology Assessment
  • Begin Final Draft of Research Paper

7

4

4

Topics: Healthcare Operations and Research Part V

  • Readings:
    • Rocco et.al, Chapter 2
    • Rocco et al. Chapter 6
    • ACHE: Healthcare Operations Management Assessment

 

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review lecture material
  • Participate in discussion
  • Complete ACHE: Healthcare Operations Management Assessment
  • Research Final Paper

8

10

6

Topics: Executive Competency and Research Part VI

  • Readings:
    • Rocco et.al, Chapter 17
    • Rocco et al. Chapter 18
    • Rocco et al. Chapter 20
    • ACHE: Summary of Executive Competency Assessment
  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review lecture material
  • Participate in discussion
  • Complete ACHE: Summary of Executive Competency Assessment
  • Research Virtual Poster

COSC Accessibility Statement

Charter Oak State College encourages students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities, to discuss appropriate accommodations with the Office of Accessibility Services at OAS@charteroak.edu.

COSC Policies, Course Policies, Academic Support Services and Resources

Students are responsible for knowing all Charter Oak State College (COSC) institutional policies, course-specific policies, procedures, and available academic support services and resources. Please see COSC Policies for COSC institutional policies, and see also specific policies related to this course. See COSC Resources for information regarding available academic support services and resources.