Department of Nursing
NURS 3210
Course Number:
NURS 3210
Required
BSN Core
Course
Title: Introduction to Health Policy
Credit: 3 credit hours
Placement: Fall and Spring semester On Line
Hybrid
section subject to adaptation
Prerequisites: Admission to BSN Program, successful
completion
of
NURS 3110 or currently enrolled in NURS 3110
Text: Mason, D., Leavitt, J., Chaffee, M.,
(2007).Policy
& Politics
in Nursing and Health Care, 5th ed.
St.
Louis: Saunders Elsevier.
Faculty: Susan Huffman, MEd, MN, EJD, CNM
Assistant
Professor
Course
Description:
This course
is an introduction to the development and analysis of a wide range of issues
facing health care providers, payers, and consumers as well as current health
care reform strategies. Focal areas of this course include what is health
policy and the legislative process in policy making, access to health care in
the United States, health care delivery systems, the economics of healthcare,
and healthcare reform efforts. Current issues influencing health care
institutions and professionals are discussed.
The course is
presented on-line or as a hybrid version
with scheduled class time required.
Computer
Access:
This course
requires students to have access to a personal computer, the Internet, and
Microsoft office software. Students are required to have technical
competencies related to psychomotor use of computers.
Course
outcomes:
Upon
completion of the course, the student will:
Describe trends in health care costs
and cost containment strategies.
Discuss the structure of healthcare
delivery within the
Analyze the influences of historical,
political, economic, and cultural contexts of
Compare public versus private
financing of healthcare.
Explore the health care reform efforts
at the state and national levels.
Compare foreign health care delivery
systems with the
Identify the roles and the obligations
of the BSN graduate related to health policy making.
Evaluation
of course:
Students must
have a course grade of 75 to pass the course and receive credit. The
course will be evaluated as follows:
Online
participation 20%
Article
critiques 15%
Health care reform paper 40%
Presentation 25%
Grade
Legend:
A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 75-79
D = 65-74
F = 0-64
Requirements:
Students are
expected to participate in the on-line discussions and readings for
class. Students are required to access the Website a minimum of twice
weekly as part of the participation grade. One posting should be an
original thought from the Learning Activities for that week and one a response
to another student’s posting. A posting of “I agree” is not considered an
appropriate posting but should elaborate on agreement or disagreement of
another student’s posting and with valid support for the response.
Late
assignments will have 5 points deducted per day unless specific arrangements
have been made with the faculty prior to the assignment due date.
Disability Policy:
North Georgia
College & State University (NGCSU) is committed to the inclusion of
individuals with disabilities and to the principle of individual rights and
responsibilities. To that end, the policies and procedures of NGCSU
reasonably ensure that a person with a disability has equal access to academic
programs and co-curricular activities. (NGCSU Student Handbook, 2008-09, p.
64-65.)
The student
may contact the Coordinator of Student Disability Resources to obtain a copy of
the recommendations, to discuss the responsibilities the student has to inform
his/her professors, and to review the process to receive disability
accommodations at NGCSU.
Academic Integrity Policy:
- Honor
Code: "On my honor, I will not lie, cheat, steal, plagiarize, evade
the truth or tolerate those who do."
- Suspected
violations of the Academic Integrity policy should be referred by students to
the instructor. If the instructor concludes that a violation of the Academic
Integrity policy has occurred, the instructor will either (1) penalize the
student and file an incident report with the Academic Integrity Council or (2)
refer the matter directly to the Academic Integrity Council. If an incident
report is filed by the instructor, the instructor will review the completed
report with the student and will request that the student sign the report as an
indication that the student is aware of the contents of the report.
Attendance:
Attendance for students in the on-line
course will be determined through on-line postings on the Discussion
board. Students are required to post twice a week at different times
responding to the activities that are posted under Learning Activities.
The attendance policy for NGCSU states that students must miss no more than 14%
of their classes which equates to two weeks of work. Missing more than 14%
of the class or 2 weeks of postings, a student may be withdrawn from the
course. If a student has not entered or posted on the course within two
weeks of the beginning of the semester, the student may be withdrawn.
WF
designation:
Course faculty may assign a grade of “WF” to students who
withdraw before midterm and are failing the course at the time of
withdrawal.
Topical
Outline:
Unit
1
Introduction to Policy
What is Health Policy?
Unit
2. Developing
Policy
Unit
3. Power of
the Media
Ethics
Unit
4. Health
Care Delivery
Unit
5. Public
Sector Financing of Health Care
Unit
6. Private
Sector Health Care Financing
Unit
7
Contemporary Issues in the Workplace
Unit
8
Contemporary Issues in Government
Unit
9
Lobbying and Special Interest Groups
Unit
10 Contemporary
Issues in Community
Unit
11 Nursing in
International Community
Course
Evaluation
Online
Participation:
Students are
required to complete discussions online each week. Topics and discussion
questions will be posted from Sunday to Sunday on
The postings
will be graded by the following criteria:
Quality of
the original responses 20%
Adequate
research and reading associated with the posting 20%
Quality of
the postings to other students’
responses 20%
Appropriate
rationale to student responses 20%
Critique of
student
presentations 20%
Article
Critiques
Students are
to complete three (3) article critiques during the semester on various
political or policy problems that relate to nursing. The articles should
be from appropriate health policy journals or websites that correlate with
course materials. The textbook gives many appropriate health policy
websites as do each unit of study on
Include the
author, name of article, and journal or reference for each article at the
beginning.
20%
Identification of the policy issue and nursing implications
20%
Key points/arguments by the author
20%
Pros and cons of the policy issue or problem
20%
What three things did you learn from this article
20%
Critique the article as to your findings on this topic
The article
critiques (3) will represent 15% of your grade. Dates that these are due
are posted on the calendar and the critique will not be accepted after the
deadline without prior faculty discussion. The critiques should be sent
via
Due dates
for article critiques: August 31, September 21, & October 26 by 5:00
pm.
Health
Care Reform Paper
Health care
reform bills dominated the news the last two years as did an uninsured rate approaching
50 million people. Your assignment will be to write to the passed bill(s)
(including reconciliation) identifying the substance of the product, implementation
schedule, major pros and cons, implications for states, people & nursing
and a personal critique. A specific
rubric related to this assignment will be posted to eligible participants
within VISTA .
The paper
should be 8-10 pages long plus the cover page, abstract page, and reference
listing. A minimum of 4 references from appropriate health policy
journals or websites are required. Required paper format is APA , 6th
edition, typed and double-spaced. The paper represents 40% of your course
grade.
The
faculty may elect to use Turnitin.com for submission and or evaluation of a paper.
Grading
criteria for paper:
20%
Introduction and overview of the health care reform bill
15% Implementation schedule
35%
Analysis of the pros and cons of the bill
10%
Implications for the states, insurance industry, private sector
& American citizens and illegal aliens.
10% Implications nursing.
10%
Format, organization of thoughts, grammar, appropriate references, use of APA
formatting
3 bonus
points may be awarded for a detailed accurate quality discussion of the direct
legislative process that afforded the historic outcome! (One page double spaced
limit). The discussion can be in the
form of an outline, bulleted points or progressive organized narrative. This is an all or none award determined by
substance, quality, and originality.
Paper is due as
a VISTA mail attachment on Friday October
15, 2010 by 5:00 PM.
Presentation
online
Each student
is to select a political or policy problem or issue that has implications for
nursing. Identify the underlying issues of the problem or issue, analyze
the pros and cons of each and evaluate possible options. Offer a
recommended solution to the problem or issue. Present your problem or
issue on-line via PowerPoint of no more than 15 slides including the
introduction of your topic and the reference slide. Slides should be
original, brief, concise, and to the point. Points will be deducted if
the slides are too wordy according to the grading criteria so do not be tempted
to fill up a slide! Your goal is to introduce this problem or issue and
gain interest from your audience to also want to learn more. The PowerPoint
will be posted on the Discussions board for all to review and critique over a
two week period. You will be assigned a week to post your presentation
and will be either Monday November 9th
or 16th. Student
postings for those weeks will be to respond to a minimum of four students’
presentations (two per week).
The deadline
for required prior faculty approval for your topic is one week before your TBA
posting date. Prior topic approval must be gained for credit. A
minimum of 3 references are required for the policy issue presentation from a
peer reviewed journal or appropriate health policy website. The presentation
represents 25% of your course grade.
Grading
criteria
20%
Knowledge – understanding of the material
25%
Content – covered topic thoroughly
25%
Design – creativity, use of graphics, charts
20%
Length and organization of ideas
10%
References, spelling, formatting
We will be
exploring of Health Care Policy in another historic year that is shaping the
future of medical care delivery and nursing practice.