scholarly journals Design and Implementation of a Contemporary Health Administration Program for Health Managers

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanan Khalil ◽  
Chaojie Liu

Background: While there are core competencies required in health administration programs, little is known about how they are taught in health administration programs to support/change practises. This discussion paper describes an educational innovation to design a contemporary Master of Health Administration program to meet the current needs of health managers in Australia based on evidence-based practise.Method: A detailed gap analysis of health managers educational needs was undertaken with various stakeholders to design a contemporary health managers' program. Stakeholders surveyed in the course design included prospective students, international students' agencies, prospective employers, Alumni evaluation, mapping of health managers courses in Australia and faculty feedback. An integrative pedagogical approach was used to implement the program into action.Results: Various themes were emerged from the stakeholder consultations including the importance of basic knowledge of key subjects and the significance of learning new skills such as strategic planning and emotional intelligence in the workplace. The integrative pedagogical approach used is based on adult teaching principles, which were identified by Knowles. The subjects in the new course incorporate several knowledge-based presentations along with interactive activities, including use of general ability-based outcomes to define learning opportunities, case-based and problem-based learning, experiential learning, and comprehensive assessments.Conclusion: The results of this intensive consultation led to the design of a contemporary Master of Health Administration Course that included eight core subjects and multiple options of specialisations for students to choose from. Examples of specialisations include aged care and ageing, health promotion, data for decision making, public health, international development and Health Strategy and decision making.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanan Khalil ◽  
Chaojie Liu

Abstract Background While there are core competencies required in health administration programs, little has been known about how they are taught in health administration programs to support/change practices. This discussion paper describes an educational innovation to design a contemporary Master of Health Administration program to meet the current needs of health managers in Australia based on evidence-based practice.Method A detailed gap analysis of health managers educational needs was undertaken with various stakeholders to design a contemporary health managers’ program. Stakeholders surveyed in the course design included prospective students, international students’ agencies, prospective employers, Alumni evaluation, mapping of health managers courses in Australia and faculty feedback. An integrative pedagogical approach was used to implement the program into action. Results Various themes were emerged from the stakeholder consultations including the importance of basic knowledge of key subjects and the significance of learning new skills such as strategic planning and emotional intelligence in the workplace. The integrative pedagogical approach used is based on adult teaching principles, which were identified by Knowles. The subjects in the new course incorporate several knowledge-based presentations along with interactive activities, including use of general ability-based outcomes to define learning opportunities, case-based and problem-based learning, experiential learning, and comprehensive assessments.Conclusion The results of this intensive consultation led to the design of a contemporary Master of Health Administration Course that included eight core subjects and multiple options of specialisations for students to choose from. Examples of specialisations include aged care and ageing, health promotion, data for decision making, public health, international development and Health Strategy and decision making.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishal Ahuja ◽  
Carlos A. Alvarez ◽  
John R. Birge ◽  
Chad Syverson

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the approval and safe public use of pharmaceutical products in the United States. The FDA uses postmarket surveillance systems to monitor drugs already on the market; a drug found to be associated with an increased risk of adverse events (ADEs) is subject to a recall or a warning. A flawed postmarket decision-making process can have unintended consequences for patients, create uncertainty among providers and affect their prescribing practices, and subject the FDA to unfavorable public scrutiny. The FDA’s current pharmacovigilance process suffers from several shortcomings (e.g., a high underreporting rate), often resulting in incorrect or untimely decisions. Thus, there is a need for robust, data-driven approaches to support and enhance regulatory decision making in the context of postmarket pharmacovigilance. We propose such an approach that has several appealing features—it employs large, reliable, and relevant longitudinal databases; it uses methods firmly established in literature; and it addresses selection bias and endogeneity concerns. Our approach can be used to both (i) independently validate existing safety concerns relating to a drug, such as those emanating from existing surveillance systems, and (ii) perform a holistic safety assessment by evaluating a drug’s association with other ADEs to which the users may be susceptible. We illustrate the utility of our approach by applying it retrospectively to a highly publicized FDA black box warning (BBW) for rosiglitazone, a diabetes drug. Using comprehensive data from the Veterans Health Administration on more than 320,000 diabetes patients over an eight-year period, we find that the drug was not associated with the two ADEs that led to the BBW, a conclusion that the FDA evidently reached, as it retracted the warning six years after issuing it. We demonstrate the generalizability of our approach by retroactively evaluating two additional warnings, those related to statins and atenolol, which we found to be valid. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.


Author(s):  
Michael Vallance ◽  
Stewart Martin ◽  
Charles Wiz ◽  
Paul van Schaik

Science education is concerned with the meaningful pursuit of comprehension, knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes. In Vygotskian social constructivist learning, personal interpretation, decision-making and community cooperation fosters long-term understanding and transference of learned concepts. The construction of knowledge requires learners to be actively involved in the process of learning. For effective science learning to take place an instructor’s pedagogical approach must be anchored in meaningful contexts so that students have actual opportunities to experience science. This paper presents the early stages of a research project that attempts to assess and define effective measurements for evaluating strategies for communicating science by using LEGO robots and Mindstorms™ RCX controllers that are collaboratively constructed and programmed by students using virtual technologies while physically situated in different locations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Anne Namatasi Lutomia ◽  
Julia Bello-Bravo ◽  
John Medendorp ◽  
Barry Pittendrigh

This article explores factors contributing to a non-dominant collaboration paradigm in a partnership between a government-based international development agency and a university-based non-governmental organization. Anchored in Wood’s and Gray’s collaborative framework, this article describes how the steeply hierarchical partnership navigated the elements of collaboration – organizational autonomy; shared problem domain; interactive processes; shared rules, norms, and structures; and decision making – to produce non-dominant values and practices deriving from negotiated processes, rules, norms, and structures that produced positive collaboration outcomes. In particular, a history of prior mutually beneficial interactions emerges as a critical precondition for achieving a non-dominant collaboration in this case study’s steeply hierarchical organizational relationship, one in which egalitarianism and equal decision-making regarding the agenda and the goals of the collaboration could have been highly constrained.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-146
Author(s):  
Woo-Young Chun ◽  
Ji-Hee Lee ◽  
Hyung-Jun Kim

This study examines the development of content scenarios to facilitate the training of on-site commanders in firefighting activities. To establish the training content scenario system, the three core competencies of the on-site commanders were set as situation judgment, communication, and decision-making. A system of scenarios was established to actively reflect these three core competencies when designing the scenarios. All the contents of these scenarios are based on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). The scenarios comprise 14 stages that are divided into four steps with the exception of stages 1 and 14, which mark the beginning and end of the training. It consists of the situation setting stage and the first, second, and third decision-making stages. Specifically, situation judgment and communication are important factors in each stage.


Author(s):  
Alexander C. Perino ◽  
Jun Fan ◽  
Susan Schmitt ◽  
Jennifer D. Guo ◽  
Patrick Hlavacek ◽  
...  

Background: Consensus statements have recommended against the use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in venous thromboembolism (VTE) for patients ≥120 kg and ≥40 kg/m 2 . We sought to determine use and outcomes of DOACs for VTE across weight and body mass index (BMI). Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients with first-time VTE 2013 to 2018 that were treated with DOAC or warfarin in the Veterans Health Administration. The Veterans Health Administration has implemented system-wide guidance for patient selection and shared decision-making for use of DOACs in VTE at extremes of weight. We stratified patients by weight and BMI and assessed (1) association of weight and BMI category to outcomes in those prescribed DOAC; and (2) association of DOAC, as compared to warfarin, to outcomes by weight and BMI categories. Outcomes of interest included major bleeding, clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding, and recurrent VTE. Results: The analysis cohort included 51 871 patients prescribed DOAC or warfarin within 30 days of index VTE diagnosis (age 64.5±13.1 years; 6.0% female; median weight 93.4 kg [25th–75th: 80.5–108.6 kg]). For patients ≥120 kg (N=6934 patients), 38.4% were treated with DOAC, as compared to 45.4% of those ≥60 to <100 kg (N=30 645; P <0.0001). DOAC prescription was not associated with major bleeds, clinically relevant nonmajor bleeds, or recurrent VTE for those in higher weight and BMI categories as compared to those in average weight and BMI categories. DOAC prescription, as compared to warfarin, was not associated with increased recurrent VTE in any weight or BMI category. Conclusions: Patients ≥120 kg and ≥40 kg/m 2 with VTE are frequently prescribed DOAC by the Veterans Health Administration, without an increase in bleeding or recurrent VTE. These findings suggest DOACs can be safe and effective in this population and may argue for broader adoption of pharmacy policies that promote careful patient selection and shared decision making.


Author(s):  
Charlene A. Pope ◽  
Boyd H. Davis ◽  
Leticia Wine ◽  
Lynne S. Nemeth ◽  
Robert N. Axon

Among Veterans, heart failure (HF) contributes to frequent emergency department visits and hospitalization. Dual health care system use (dual use) occurs when Veterans Health Administration (VA) enrollees also receive care from non-VA sources. Mounting evidence suggests that dual use decreases efficiency and patient safety. This qualitative study used constructivist grounded theory and content analysis to examine decision making among 25 Veterans with HF, for similarities and differences between all-VA users and dual users. In general, all-VA users praised specific VA providers, called services helpful, and expressed positive capacity for managing HF. In addition, several Veterans who described inadvertent one-time non-VA health care utilization in emergent situations more closely mirrored all-VA users. By contrast, committed dual users more often reported unmet needs, nonresponse to VA requests, and faster services in non-VA facilities. However, a primary trigger for dual use was VA telephone referral for escalating symptoms, instead of care coordination or primary/specialty care problem-solving.


Author(s):  
Zbigniew M. Bzymek

The undergraduate course, Design of Machine Elements has been offered by the University of Connecticut’s Mechanical Engineering Department for many years. It has been one of the most difficult courses for students to follow and understand, and also for the faculty to teach. A strong basic knowledge of mathematics, theoretical mechanics and the mechanics of materials is required for students to take this mandatory course and to fully follow its contents. To understand entirely the concepts of Design of Machine Elements, students should be acquainted with the history of the strength of materials. Being aware of the importance of such a course the ME faculty has worked to establish outstanding structural engineering teaching and research methods, and to create a departmental nucleus of intensive development of engineering mechanics research and development. The efforts described in this paper have facilitated the teaching and learning of the mechanics of materials and consequently the Design of Machine Elements as well. To accomplish these in both teaching and practical problem solving the instructor must use the unconventional approaches and students must put a great deal of effort into learning the material. It is important for students to have a general knowledge of mathematics and theoretical mechanics, but as this is a foundation of the course, the instructor should review and clarify the specific assumptions of engineering mechanics and strength of materials. One of the pedagogical challenges to be overcome, which is faced by both instructors and students, has always been to connecting the basic theorems and application procedures of engineering mechanics to their practical use in designing machine elements and in calculating static and dynamic stresses and deformations. The concept of avoiding stress concentrations by properly designing the shapes of machine frames and parts should also be emphasized. Transforming plane stresses and deformations into three-dimensional representations and calculations should also be considered. Since machine elements are usually in motion, a dynamic approach to stress and deflection analysis is important as well. After introducing the analysis of dynamic stresses and deformations, the instructor should cover the concept of fatigue, which is the next crucial step. The instructors’ approaches and the unconventional methods they use to familiarize students with such complicated concepts are discussed in this paper. An analysis of representations of stresses and deformations and fatigue analyses of different machine elements are also considered. This paper connects to some approaches previously presented in earlier papers as well as in courses, books and discussions by outstanding engineering mechanics theoreticians, including UConn faculty, especially Dr. Roman Solecki. The paper concludes by recommending effective teaching approaches to complicated machine design concepts and summarizing the lessons learned. This paper is a companion piece to the IMECE 2015 50776 [1].


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