The healthcare tetralogy specialization is intended for anyone interested in healthcare organization as practiced in the United States. A range of healthcare organizations are discussed (e.g., medical, dental, pharmaceutical, and public health). The specialization is particularly useful to anyone working in the healthcare industry who either has: 1) a developing interest in the issues important to the administration of healthcare organization operations; or 2) some expertise, but wishes an overview or refresher of the issues. However, those who do not work in the healthcare industry, but who interact with healthcare organizations of any type as patients/consumers will also find the specialization informative. Through the four courses in the specialization, you will cover many aspects of healthcare organization operations including the relationship between healthcare organizations and the health system as well as health care delivery, business process management, and quality improvement within healthcare organizations. Upon completion of the specialization, those who interact with healthcare organizations as patients/consumers will have a better understanding of the issues involved in the effective administration of healthcare organizations and operations. Those working in the healthcare industry, upon completion of the specialization, will be better able to contribute to the effective administration of the healthcare organization’s operations.
Applied Learning Project
The capstone project for each course requires learners to critically synthesize the material from the course to create a healthcare organization and communicate/present aspects of that organization’s operations to their learner colleagues. Each project is presented to learner colleagues via the peer-review feature and each learner evaluates the project of two learner colleagues. The peer-review feature is chosen because each project is presented from the perspective of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of that organization. One skill required of all CEOs is the ability to present their thinking and conclusions to others and expect evaluation and feedback. Another skill required of all CEOs is the ability to critically evaluate the presentation, thinking, and conclusions of others. The format of the communication/presentation is different for each course and reflects communication/presentation strategies of importance to CEOs of healthcare organizations.
