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Integrative Capstone in Healthcare Management

Course: HCMT 490

Course Preparation Overview

Concepts and Process

This course will be unlike any others you have taken during your enrollment here at Champlain. This is a hybrid course that combines the mutual learning of a seminar while immersing you in a challenging, work-related field experience / project.

Note that this is an experience requiring some level and combination of management responsibilities, possibly including research, decision-making, problem solving, project management, leadership, and other management responsibilities.You will also be working on goals and activities that develop the Program and College Competencies, noted in a separate document.

In essence, this is a capstone to your educational career that will draw on all your learning to-date – your other courses, your job roles, and the relationships you have built.This is your chance to test your learning, to focus on your career interests and to demonstrate and develop your skills and what you have learned here at Champlain College.

Course Goals

• You will demonstrate self-initiative and develop independent learning skills by choosing, planning, developing and completing a challenging, real-world healthcare management experience.

This culminating project will showcase your acquired management skills and demonstrate your business-ready professionalism.The course does not rely on a traditional instructor-led format.It is an independent project-driven course that requires senior students to function in a relatively autonomous environment.It encourages and requires self-initiative, independence, time management and communication.

• You will exercise self-analysis and introspection by identifying a customized Capstone Field Experience that supports individual career goals and interests.

To ensure this happens, you will have reasonable latitude in the form that this culminating project may take.However, your project must fit into one or more of the designated project categories.Projects will be refined and approved via individual consultation and dialogue between you and your course faculty.

• You will apply your formal classroom training and utilize your accumulated business knowledge in the execution of your projects.Your project should give you the opportunity to apply, learn and grow in areas such as: project management, research, problem solving, critical and creative thinking, decision making, technology applications, teamwork, organizational analysis, interpersonal communication, professional writing, global awareness, time management and other business skills, all in the healthcare environment you will select.

• You will gain new insights into how work really gets done in modern organizations by meeting, observing and interacting with other healthcare professionals.

A successful experience should provide you with a better understanding of the overall business environment, expose you to new work experiences that enhance your resume, provide you with valuable employment references and expand your networking contacts within the local business community.

• You will undertake career exploration, identify professional development opportunities and prepare for life-long learning by gaining first-hand knowledge of an industry and a professional career track.

You will assemble a career-building portfolio that includes self-analysis exercises, potential job opportunities, graduate school and professional development alternatives, information on relevant professional organizations, and a complete resume with work samples.

• You will enhance your critical thinking and communication skills through the analysis, reflection and discussion of current articles or books that relate to your projects, identify best business practices and demonstrate how work gets done in modern healthcare organizations.

If you are new to business work, familiarity with these issues will support your career transition from student to healthcare management practitioner.If you already work in an organization, developing and enhancing your skills in these areas will enhance your opportunities for advancement.Analysis and discussion of your learning will take place via online class meetings, papers and update reports.

You will enhance your potential to become effective managers and healthcare leaders by developing and applying in a “real world setting” many of the Essential Competencies that have been identified by the College.These competencies are vital for your career success in the complex and rapidly changing world of healthcare and business.

Each of you will fulfill common requirements such as:

• Submitting the Project Proposal
• Preparing and submitting weekly progress reports
• Completion of regular project-related work and updates
• Participating in online seminar discussions
• Present a final written report.

And of course, every student is expected to demonstrate self-initiative, independence, time management, communication and critical and creative thinking!

Your experience can be a mix of Independent Learning Activity and/or Employer-sponsored/ task-focused Work-based Learning Activity and/or Career Exploration experience.

The Independent Learning Activity is a flexible learning experience that allows students considerable latitude to design a significant project that meets their unique aspirations and needs.It is appropriate for students who have a special professional interest that they want to pursue, or career interest they want to develop.Typically this will involve conducting field-based research.For example, you might want to prepare a comprehensive business plan for a new start-up service line; perhaps there is a new internal quality initiative you want to develop; or maybe there is a new approach to finance or insurance issues you want to pursue.One tangible outcome of this effort will be a well-documented professional report that describes your work, includes perspectives from as many of the previous HCMT course topic areas as possible, and documents the results, probably in the range of 25 pages in length.

Another alternative within this track is a research-based thesis.This would be ideal for students who have identified a very specific, focused aspect of healthcare management they would like to explore more deeply via significant independent research.These topics are expected to have a practical, applied focus (real problem solving and decision making), not just an abstract, theoretical one.Perhaps you want to know more about the real challenges healthcare organizations face when they try to serve new markets or implement new service lines; maybe you are curious to know what financial issues arise from certain regulatory initiatives; or perhaps you want to trace the history and evolution of the delivery of healthcare in a different country.Using sound primary and secondary research methods, you will investigate your topic and prepare a fully documented, comprehensive, detailed research or strategic analysis, including the perspectives from as many of the previous HCMT course topic areas as possible, probably in the range of 25 pages in length.

An Employer-sponsored, task-focused work-based learning activity is a traditional alternative and is for students who want to gain significant work experience within a particular organization or career track.You will enter an organization with the goal of helping to identify, analyze, address and resolve a problem situation that the organization is aware of, but has not yet been able to resolve.Or you will help to design and implement a plan to capitalize on an opportunity situation of which the organization is aware, but has not been able to take advantage of.Maybe a healthcare organization needs help setting up a community development event; maybe a physician practice needs help to design a marketing research survey; or perhaps an organization needs to have job descriptions created for its employees to address an identified organizational change process.

This work-based learning activity alternative is available for students who are currently employed full- or part-time and who wish to make a significant additional contribution to that workplace.You will undertake an employer-specified assignment that provides significant new learning experiences, which go well beyond your regular workplace duties. For example, your employer may need an employee handbook created; perhaps there is a marketing brochure or website that needs to be designed; or maybe your employer needs your assistance opening a new clinic or office, or selecting and installing a new computer system.The employer must be willing to provide you with the resources and support to pursue the project.A tangible outcome of this effort will be a well-documented professional report that describes your work and documents the results, and includes perspectives from as many of the previous HCMT course topic areas as possible, probably in the range of 25 pages in length.

The Career Exploration & Development work-based learning activity is designed for students with a specific job or career field in mind but who lack the experience or contacts to break into it or to move to management opportunities.It tries to address the timeless dilemma many of you face:you can’t get that first job because you lack experience; you can’t get the experience because no one will give you that first job.Perhaps you want to enter the healthcare insurance industry, but you lack any knowledge of this field; maybe you want to be a communications/media relations manager for a hospital, but you have never written professionally; perhaps you want to be a healthcare entrepreneur, but you are not sure if you can handle the stressful lifestyle.After careful preliminary exploration of the career field, you will find an appropriate employer who will provide a work-based learning activity.A “learning agreement” will be negotiated with that employer that will ensure your exposure to significant aspects of the career, including possible promotion.

During the term you may follow a planned rotation through various tasks, participate in workplace meetings, and attend career-related workshops, trade association meetings and other events.You will complete a variety of analytical exercises, interviews and self-assessment projects all designed to expose you to the realities of the career field you have chosen.A tangible outcome of this effort will be a well-documented professional report that describes your experience and documents the results, and includes perspectives from as many of the previous HCMT course topic areas as possible, probably in the range of 25 pages in length.