NURS 5001 Healthcare Policy 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 and ethical factors affecting 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 advanced practice nurses in affecting health policy formation and implementation. 6. Analyze the ethical dimensions of health policy and the impact on various populations. Prerequisites and Co-requisites Admission to the RODP-MSN program or permission of Coordinator. Course Topics Historical overview of United States health care policy Policy and politics: a framework for advanced nursing Policy development and analysis Financing healthcare Ethical decision making Collective strategies for political action Political action through professional organizations Global healthcare systems
Required Textbooks Please visit the Virtual Bookstore to obtain textbook information for this course: http://www.bkstr.com/ American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) Washington, DC: APA ISBN: 1-4338-0561-5 Supplemental Texts Assigned periodicals, documents, position statements, and Internet online articles. Supplementary Materials Supplemental periodicals and journal articles assigned by instructor. Hardware Requirements The minimum requirements can be found athttp://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm Software Requirements The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htmadditional 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 as well as a statement of virtual office hours and other communication information. Testing Procedures All course requirements are submitted online and will include short papers related to the required reading material. One final 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 by the posted due date. Exam format consists of essay type paper. Grading Procedure Module assignments, three papers Lesson 1 paper assignment (60% of final grade)
Lesson 3 paper assignment 20% Lesson 5 paper assignment 20% 20% Final Exam, paper assignment 20% Online Discussions (13 discussion 20% boards will be graded for 1.5 points each. Introduction and Impact on Practice discussion baords will ge graded for.25 points each). Grading Scale A = 93-100 B = 85-92 C = 77-84 D = 70-76 F = <70 Assignments and Projects Throughout the course short papers will be submitted related to the modules. All papers will be expected to be double spaced and written using APA format, as listed in the required textbooks. All reference lists should be in APA format. Papers are to be written in MS Word only. The document is expected to be free of grammatical and punctuation errors. The paper and reference page must be in APA format, as described in required textbooks. The student will submit the paper via the assignment drop-box. The student is advised to keep a copy of all written work. Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic dishonesty are prohibited. Students guilty of academic misconduct, either directly or indirectly through participation or assistance, are immediately responsible to the instructor of the class. Any paper found to have any part or parts of an assignment plagiarized will receive a zero grade on that assignment the first time this is discovered. If a subsequent discovery of plagiarism is detected, the student will receive an "F" in the course. Information regarding scholarly integrity can be found at the following website: http://vl.rodp.org/cite.htm Detailed descriptions and/or grading rubrics for all assignments can be found on the content page below the lessons and above the literature. 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 must notify the instructor prior to the class and make alternative arrangements. Zero points may be awarded for late entry discussion board postings/responses.
The aim is to encourage interaction among students and faculty, not simply to present information. Students are required to respond to all posted 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 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 discussion submissions. However, the student is held to academic standards of writing style and the use of proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. Each student will be expected to reply/counter at least two (2) fellow student's entries for each discussion board. Responses must shed insight or a new perspective and not just an "I agree" entry. Plan to post your original response to the discussion board question no later than 1/2 way through the week. In this way, you and your fellow students have something in which to make a response during the second 1/2 of the week. Trying to post all responses (original and 2 responses to students) at the deadline, leaves little opportunity for quality responses and may result in a lower score for you. Punctuality Students are expected to: Check the course calendar for the due dates of assignments. Read all web pages within the D2L course. Check the course News/announcements and discussion boards frequently. Course Ground Rules The student is expected to: Learn how to navigate in the D2L 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 before the assignment is due. Address technical problems immediately. Guidelines for Communications 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. See the link to the Virtual Library on the left-hand side of the opening page of the course. Assess the Library/Librarian as needed for assistance. 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 contact the Student Technical Support staff 1-866-550-7637.