Week 1 - Assignment
TOPIC IS Analyze the impact of technology on how health care services are delivered. The impact of technology on employee performance, organizational structure, and management planning may also be considered.
The Health Care Scene: Contemporary Trends
As health care leaders, it is important to understand that health care is quite a dynamic field. Its constant changes are a result of continuing trends in regulation, policy, patient and provider advocacy efforts, as well as increasingly sophisticated technology and industry benchmarking guidelines.
For your assignment you review the possible topics for your Senior Project located in Week Five of your online course or in the "Components of Course Evaluation" section of this guide, and select the topic your training program will address. If you choose not to select a topic from the approved topic list, you must have your original topic approved by your instructor prior to submitting this assignment.
For this assignment, focus on a specific contemporary trend in health care and be sure to include all of the following influences:
• Changes in client characteristics
• Regulation of the health care industry
• Reimbursement patterns and mandates
• Restructuring of health care organizations
• Impact of technology
• Ongoing social and ethical factors
Address the information above as it pertains to your selected topic, in an eight to ten slide (excluding title and reference slides) PowerPoint presentation.
Your presentation should conclude with a summary describing the following concerns:
• Overall, why should health care managers be aware of this change and trend?
• What impact does this trend have on the stakeholder groups involved (e.g., patients, providers, administrators, third-party payers, legislators, etc.) for a specific organization specified (e.g., for profit, nonprofit, hospital, outpatient clinic, nursing home, etc.).
The information in this presentation will later be used as part of your Senior Project to set the context for the audience you select for a training program on the contemporary trend identified here.
Your presentation must include detailed speaker's notes (i.e., at least 150 words) for each slide as well as a minimum of one to two scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library and one to two current, scholarly web sources.
Your presentation, and any citations used, must be in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Examples of scholarly web sources are available in this week's recommended websites. These sources will also count toward the required sources for your Senior Project. Your presentation must be engaging and relevant to your audience. Lines of text on a slide will not be sufficient for this assignment. It should contain images, graphics, and/or multimedia that communicate your training program clearly to your audience. For tips on creating an excellent presentation, read this overview.
Week 2 - Assignment
Senior Project Summary
Write a Senior Project Summary paper on the selected topic from Week One. In your paper include the following:
I. Title Page
a. Anticipated title (this may change for the completed project)
b. Your name
c. Course name and number
d. Instructor's name
e. Date submitted
II. Introduction: Provide a description of your selected topic (i.e., health care trend) and a thesis statement. Identify the organization that you have chosen to address, including why the issue of your selected topic is important to the health care administrators in your organization, and to the health care industry in general. This should be about one-third of a page.
III. Scope of the Senior Project: This section should summarize the content topics and sub-topics related to the health care trend that will be addressed in the Senior Project.
IV. Discussion: This section should be a constructive and analytical overview of what was found in the scholarly and professional literature. Make sure to discuss the pros/cons or strengths/weaknesses of the stakeholder group impacted (e.g., patient, provider, third-party payer, administrator, legislator, etc.) as applicable. In developing this section, it is important to demonstrate your understanding of the topic and the interventions and influences. This should be about one page.
V. Conclusion: Provide a summary of the main effects of the contemporary health care trend on costs, quality, and access to services as it impacts various stakeholder groups.
VI. Reference Page
The Senior Project Summary should be two- to- three pages (excluding title and reference pages) in APA format as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Here is some information to guide you as you create the Week #2 written assignment - Senior Project Summary:
You must identify an actual organization (local hospital or clinic are examples) to link your training program to........you must assess the organization's needs and create the training program (this will evolve as you go and finalized in Week #5) to address those issues. You must share why the issue of your topic (big picture) is important to the administration of the organization you have chosen. If your research is taking you down a slightly different path than the original topic you chose and it is something you are passionate about.....follow your heart. Please keep me in the loop if you vary from the original topic. This is still a work in progress! I want you to enjoy the research!!
Week 3 - Assignment
Senior Project Progress Report
Complete a two to three page (excluding title and reference pages) report on the progress you have made to date on your Senior Project. You must use a minimum of three scholarly sources. Your report, and any citations used, must be in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Your progress report should cover the following:
1. Topic: Identify the topic that you have selected for your Senior Project and provide a brief explanation for why you have chosen to address this topic *This may be copied from the Week Two assignment if evaluated as Distinguished Performance. Otherwise, make adjustments per Week Two feedback.
2. Organization Specific Rationale: Provide a brief overview of the health care organization that you have selected for your Senior Project including a summary of the challenges and/or opportunities impacting the balance between health care costs, quality, and access to services that the organization is currently facing. The challenges and/or opportunities should directly relate to your rationale for why you have chosen your topic (i.e., training program) to help the organizational leaders manage this challenge/opportunity. Challenges and/or opportunities should be grounded in the research (e.g., web-based resources, electronic articles, or personal interviews). The more informed you are, the better prepared you will be to complete your Senior Project.
3. Training: Identify the audience for your training program and provide a brief outline of the topics it will address. Include a minimum of three to five learning outcomes that are targeted for your identified audience. Specifically, what do you want your audience to know and/or be able to do after they have completed training? How does this training program align with the overall challenges and/or opportunities that the organization is facing? Overall, how will the training program benefit the organization?
Looking ahead to Week #3, you are tasked with submitting a progress report. You must include organization specific rationale in this assignment:
A summary of the challenges and/or opportunities as it relates to health care costs, quality, and access to services. You must align this with your big topic (the one you chose in Week #1). How do the challenges and /or opportunities relate to the rationale as to why your topic is important. The training program will offer ideas to assist the organizational leaders in managing the challenge/opportunity. Think about what you want to communicate to the organization (you can pick your audience depending on the sub-topics) to ensure their success moving forward. Your focus in on the "big" topic (chosen in Week #1), but what are the challenges / opportunities that the organization must face (and overcome) to gain success? What ideas do you have to overcome the issues?
Week 4 - Assignment 3
Cover Letter
Cover letters are recommended, and in some instances required, for job applications. If you want to stand out from other candidates, you will want to write a unique cover letter for each position you apply to.
Cover letters allow you to clarify, detail, and expand on your most relevant skills and competencies. In addition, a cover letter allows you to showcase your written communication skills.
It is important that you have a compelling cover letter. To write an impactful cover letter, you need to answer the following questions before you begin composing it. Starting with these questions will help provide a clear and concise message for the person reading your cover letter.
- Why are you interested in the position? Consider what makes the position, organization, or company interesting to you.
- What three skills or competencies do you possess that match the skills the employer is seeking in a candidate?
o You can find these skills by viewing the job description. These specific skills are the reason every cover letter should be unique for each job for which you apply.
- The Cover Letters (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. resource contains step-by step instructions for creating a cover letter including: formatting suggestions, tips regarding how to highlight your best skills and qualification and how to tailor your letter for specific job you wish to apply to.
- For more in-depth guidance for writing a cover letter, please watch the Creating a Compelling Cover Letter (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. webinar.
For your assignment:
- First, identify a position on Indeed (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. that interests you as a potential job opportunity. Using the job description, identify three skills or qualifications that match your background and type them out.
- Next, using the format suggestions from both the webinar and cover letter sample, create a three- to four-sentence paragraph that communicates the three matching skills and/or competencies you would like to highlight for the employer. The goal is to tailor the body of your cover letter to the position you seek.
Week 5 - Senior Project
Senior Project
To start, select one of the following approved topics for your Senior Project. You may also have a topic of your choice approved by the instructor in Week One. Many of the approved topics have specific subtopics outlined and, while these topics are not all-inclusive, they do provide insight into specific areas to consider.
Approved Topics:
A. Examine how participative leadership functions in today's modern health care organization and compare it to other types of leadership styles. Evaluate how each type of leadership style may impact organizational culture, employee performance, and how it may help or hinder the legitimacy of authority.
B. As an administrator, address the challenges of employee recruitment and retention of health care professionals. Additional subtopics may include trends in the nursing workforce, shortage of primary care physicians, staff turnover, retention, and staffing patterns.
C. Analyze the dual role of a manager and healthcare professional. Examine challenges that the health professional compared to those of a non-health professional, may face in terms of leadership style, and the impact these challenges have on organizational culture. The benefits of a health professional manager as an organizational resource may also be included. Explore the career trends of health professionals in organizational leadership positions, such as the types of health professional training that leaders tend to have in common, and the typical demographic background of health professional managers.
D. The health care industry must anticipate and monitor trends that could possibly affect its overall survival. Analyze how regulation of the health care industry impacts a health care organization. Explore some of the possible survival organizational strategies such as, but not limited to, mergers, and affiliations, achieving accreditation status, professional licensure.
E. Analyze the impact of technology on how health care services are delivered. The impact of technology on employee performance, organizational structure, and management planning may also be considered.
F. Analyze the impact of any recent social and/or ethical trends on the health care industry. Discuss at least two issues.
After identifying your topic, choose a health care organization in your area. This organization may be small or large and may provide single inpatient health service or multiple outpatient services; it is your choice. Consider your topic in light of the leadership of this organization and research the challenges and successes it has faced in managing operational effectiveness. You are welcome to use as many research methods as possible to obtain information for your organization and its managers (e.g., web-based resources, electronic articles, or personal interviews). The more informed you are, the better prepared you will be to complete your project.
Finally, develop a management training program that includes relevant guidelines and information to combat the issues identified in the selected topic, as well as recommendations for managers to more effectively lead health care organizations. Your training program should be in the form of a 20 to 25 slide PowerPoint presentation (excluding title and reference slides) that includes comprehensive speaker's notes (i.e., at least 150 words) for each slide. Utilize at least three to five scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library and two to three current, scholarly web sources (total of five to eight references required). All sources must be cited according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Your presentation must be engaging and relevant to your audience. Lines of text on a slide will not be sufficient for this project. It should contain at least five images, graphics, and/or multimedia that communicate your training clearly to your audience. For tips on creating an excellent presentation, read this overview.
Creating the Senior Project
The Senior Project:
1. Must be 20 to 25 PowerPoint slides (excluding title and reference slides) in length. There are 20 content criteria worth a total of 10 points.
2. Must include a title slide that contains the following:
a. Title of project
b. Your name
c. Course name and number
d. Instructor's name
e. Date submitted
3. Must include an introduction with a succinct thesis statement.
4. Must address the topic of the project with critical thought in the areas of:
a. Organization details
b. Challenges and opportunities
c. Training program outcomes
d. Impact on at least three stakeholder groups involved delineated by cost, quality, and access to service
e. Suggested actions
5. Must include a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
6. Must use at least five supporting graphics (images, graphics, and/ or multimedia) are included and relevant communicating the training content (two points).
7. Must include speaker's notes that have evidence of critical thinking and application (content analysis, synthesis, evaluation) related to the research methodology used to develop (six points):
a. Project content
b. Practical and relevant solutions to the organizational challenges/opportunities
c. Appropriate evaluation of individual stakeholder groups involved
8. Must use at least three to five scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library and two to three current, scholarly web sources.
9. Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
10. Must include a separate reference slide, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.