Research Seminar on Health Services Organization and Delivery

Catalog description

An examination of seminal and current research on health services organization and delivery, emphasizing costs, access and quality. HPA 521 Research Seminar on Health Services Organization and Delivery (3) HPA 521 is one of two seminars designed to complement introductory courses in the graduate H P A curriculum. This course allows graduate students seeking careers in health services research to engage in deeper study and discussion of the classic and current research on the issues of health services organization and delivery in the U.S. health care system and to begin to explore their research interests for a thesis. The primary objectives of the course are: (a) to help students become familiar with a selection of "classic" and "cutting edge" papers in the field of health services research (b) to develop students' ability to critically read and analyze the health services research literature with an emphasis on the conceptual and methodological approaches used by researchers (c) to assist students in developing their ability to organize, synthesize and integrate research drawn from a variety of disciplinary approaches into a coherent foundation for further study in health services research (d) to improve students' oral and written communication skills, emphasizing organization, clarity, and the ability to give and respond to constructive professional criticism The readings for this class are all drawn from important journals in the field of health services research. Class will generally include 2 or 3 different activities designed to meet the objectives above. During each class, we will spend some time discussing the assigned articles to review the key points, analyze strengths and weaknesses of the research design, and consider how they provide a framework for studying the issues. In some classes, students will be asked to provide a short oral presentation of a topic, complemented by a written summary of the presentation topic. The class will discuss the paper and presentation, giving students constructive critical feedback on the presentation and paper. Finally, in some classes, the entire class will collaborate in developing a research question into a basic research proposal. Students will be responsible for writing papers, giving presentations, preparing written critiques of articles as a seminar class, the full participation of every student is necessary. Students must not only come prepared to class, they must be active participants in all aspects of the class each week. Grades in the class are based on oral presentations written papers, article critiques and student participation.