Departmental Assessment Project

 

This project will be in conjunction with HCAD 5383 Health Care Institutional Management. The goal of the project is to develop an understanding of how departments function, how they measure themselves and how to talk about key medical procedures and technology.  You will work in groups of 2-3 for this paper. Group members will be randomly selected. You will develop a report, which provides an in-depth analysis of a specific clinical hospital department. The departments include: Cardiac Cath Lab, Emergency Room, Intensive Care Unit, Radiology, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Inpatient surgery, Outpatient surgery, Labor/Delivery.  

 

In your research you should visit at least three organizations of various types (for profit, not-for profit, public, urban, rural, systems, etc.)  These visits should include interviews with the department heads as well as clinicians (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) within the department.  At the same time, you should investigate the literature in academic journals, trade journals, and national periodicals for information on your department.  These two types of investigation should complement each other.  Your goal for the project is to be the class expert on your department.  We do not want you to focus on the specifics of a particular hospital, but your expertise should apply generally to all hospitals.

 

There are three deliverables for the project:

 

I.                   Health Care Institutional Management Paper:

 

The paper should cover the following aspects:

-          Current issues/hot topics 

-          Services provided

-          Management and organization (organizational chart, reporting, structure, etc…)

-          Staffing (training, education, salaries, …)

-          Regulations/compliance (JCAHO, other, …)

-          Financial management

-          Patient care committees (if applicable)

-          Top 5 commonly used administrative/medical terms (with their explanations)

 

 

II.                Operations Management Paper:

 

The paper should cover the following aspects:

-          Technological overview – discuss the history of the equipment used, focusing on any current hot topics and costs.

-          Process maps – flowchart the main process(es) of care.  For example, show how patients flow through the process and who they come into contact with.

-          Overview of key metrics – what are the main measures that management uses to track performance (productivity, financial, human resources, etc.)

-          Define the average and/or best practice for the entire industry, or give a range of expected values for the key performance indicators.

 

For both papers the page limit is 12 double-spaced pages, Font 12, exclusive of any appendices and references.  Both papers will have an introduction and conclusion and there may be some overlap in these sections, but there should be two distinct papers.

 

Both papers are due on Monday November 23rd. 

 

III.             Presentation

 

Each group will present to the class.  These will be a joint presentation of both the quantitative and institutional management components of the project.  The presentation should provide the audience with a basic understanding of the workings of your department on both the management and quantitative side.  You will receive a separate presentation grade for each class even though it is a single presentation.  While your presentation should touch on the material on both sides, you are free to focus on what you think is the most pertinent information for your classmates to know.  The presentation should include the use of appropriate visual aids.  All members of the group should present. The group doing the presentation will have 15 minutes to present its paper, followed by 10 minutes of questions and discussion. Each group is expected to prepare handouts to be distributed in class to facilitate note taking for other students. You will be penalized for exceeding the time limit and are urged to practice the presentation to be sure that you stay within the time limit.

 

Groups will be randomly assigned, but each group is free to choose their department on a first come first serve basis.  To choose your department,  send Dr. Schumacher an email (eschumac@trinity.edu) with your choice.  The class website for HCAD 5221 (http://www.trinity.edu/eschumac/HCAD5320/HCAD%205320.htm) will keep a running list of what departments are available.