Health Science Courses (HSCI)

Related Catalog Entry: College of Nursing and Health Science

Related Mason Website: College of Nursing and Health Science (http://www.ido.gmu.edu/departments/nursing/)

295 Nutrition for Health Care Professionals (3:3:0).Prerequisites: BIOL 124 and 125. Introduces the principles of sound nutritional practices in providing nursing care in clinical and community settings. This course is designed to give students a working knowledge of nutrition and how it influences health and disease. Special emphasis is placed on clinical nutrition such as therapeutic diets for cardiovascular, renal, and liver disease, weight control and diabetes, AIDS and other immunodeficiency diseases, the relationship of diet and cancer, and life-cycle nutrition. f,s

332/NURS 332 Concepts of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention throughout the Life Span (3:3:0). Introduces the student to the concepts of epidemiology, health promotion, disease prevention, and their impact upon the health status of culturally diverse and vulnerable individuals, families, small groups, and communities. Focus is upon health problems and potential interventions throughout the life span and incorporates the principles of teaching/learning and the process of critical thinking as they apply to the health professional.

402/HSCI 505/NURS 505 Case Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: Bachelor's degree or permission of instructor. Open to seniors. A survey course on the state of case management programs and practice for health and human service professionals. Special emphasis is placed on comparing the nature, process, and outcomes for baccalaureate and graduate students guided by the objectives.

405 Care and Management of Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders (3:3:0). A lecture/discussion course focusing on the care of persons with dementing illness in acute, community, and long-term care settings. Strategies for managing and supervising family caregivers and allied health personnel are also discussed.

436/NURS 436 Leadership and Management of Health Care (3:3:0). An introductory course in the leadership and management of health-related organizations. The course reviews administrative issues in health-related services with particular emphasis on developing organizational strategies for effective interfacing of medical, nursing, allied health, and administrative staff.

440/NURS 440 Community Health and Epidemiology (3:3:0). Addresses population-focused health care. Emphasis is on primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of health problems. Concepts of community, public health, and health policy affecting culturally diverse and vulnerable populations are examined.

453/NURS 453 Research in Nursing and Health Science (3:3:0). An introductory research course designed to present basic concepts and methods of research. The research process is examined as a foundation for scholarship. Emphasis is placed on critique and use of current nursing and health science research in clinical practice.

465/NURS 465 Professional Transition and Role Integration (3:3:0). A capstone seminar assisting students in synthesizing the varied dimensions of their role as a health professional. Special emphasis is placed on collegiality, professional role transition, and responsible membership within the health professions and society. (Writing-intensive course)

496/NURS 496 Violence in Today's Society (3:3:0). An interdisciplinary lecture/discussion course examining the magnitude of the problem of violence globally and more specifically within the United States. Case studies, guest speakers, drama, and small group discussion augment the lecture/discussion format and engage students in the learning process.

505/HSCI 402/NURS 505 Case Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: Bachelor's degree or permission of instructor. Open to seniors. A survey course on the state of case management programs and practice for health and human service professionals. Special emphasis is placed on comparing the nature, process, and outcomes for baccalaureate and graduate students guided by the objectives.

542/NURS 542 Health Policy (3:2:1). Explores issues surrounding the development of public health policy and the influence of policy of health care delivery, nursing, and other health professions. Classroom and field experience.

543/NURS 543 Global Health: Trends and Policy (3:3:0). Surveys health challenges in the world today; their social, economic, and epidemiological causes; and the role and likely success of high-tech medicine, primary preventive health care, social manipulation, and aid in alleviating the problems. s

571/NURS 571 HIV/AIDS: Concepts, Principles and Interventions (3:3:0). Provides an overview of all aspects of HIV disease to include retrospective and current concepts and analyses of the epidemic, global, and societal impact, and cutting-edge research. The course examines the development of therapeutic tools and skills to educate, reduce risks, control infection, and affect the care and healing of client, family, and community, as well as issues of increasing dilemma for health care professionals.

578 Introduction to the U.S. Health Care System (3:3:0). Explores the structure, function, and financing of the health care delivery system in the United States. The course is designed to familiarize students with the development of the various subsystems of care and the ways in which public, private and social forces influence the politics of health care, shape the system, and affect the public's health.

580 Alternative Health Care Practices (3:3:0). Explores the proliferation of alternative health care therapies in society and the role of the various professions in collaboration and participation. Cultural traditions and the scientific study of these therapies are evaluated. Lecture, discussion, seminar, and observation.

603 Advanced Clinical Nutrition (3:3:0). Explores advanced principles of sound nutrition and the application of these principles in clinical settings. Nutritional assessments are explored for the adult patients with chronic conditions.

626 Health Care Informatics and Computer Systems (3:3:0). Studies information and data management in nursing and the application of computer systems to solve problems on nursing practice, education, administration and research. The course focuses on generic concepts of information science and the use of computers to manage nursing health care data, incorporating computing skills for using specific software packages.

637 Gerontological Nursing: Normal Aging and Health Deviations (3:3:0). Examines the biopsychosocial aspects of aging. The emphasis is on examining the effects of age changes and health deviations on the functional capacity of older persons, and on interventions and promotion of the elderly's capacity for self-care.

659 Nursing and Health Care of Aging Persons and Persons with Chronic Illness (3:3:0). Focuses on the biological, psychological, and sociocultural aspects of aging and chronic illness. This seminar and discussion emphasizes examining the functional capacity of persons and capacity for self-care.

670 Quality Management in Health Care (3:3:0). Explores issues, trends, and methodologies in health care quality management within a systems framework with emphasis on law, ethics, principles, tools and techniques, cost, strategic directions, and evaluation. Roles and responsibilities of the various levels of health care managers are addressed.

698 International Health Care: Theoretical and Practical Dimensions (3:3:0). Examines international nursing organizations, programs, and projects in relation to comparative health care systems. Theoretical conceptualization, research approaches, and methodological issues in the development of international nursing are discussed.

699 Practicum in International Health Care (3:1:8). Prerequisite or corequisite: HSCI 698. Provides a practicum in a selected international health agency. The nursing programs are analyzed using a health care systems framework.

701 Quantitative Decision-Making in Health Systems Management (3:3:0). A survey course using an epidemiological framework to explore selected quantitative methods in addressing management problems and decisions in health care delivery systems. Managerial applications in the use of analytic techniques as employed to support decision making in health care systems related to cost-benefit analysis, reducing clinical variability, program and decision analysis using system and population based data. Also the application of forecasting, linear programming, network models and selected biostatistical techniques as applied in health systems management.

702 Managerial Accounting in Health Care Organizations (3:3:0). A practical examination of the controllership function in health care organizations and systems (profit and not for profit) with emphasis on policy formulation and evaluation of performance, including cost methods and systems, measurement criteria, and managerial planning, methods and techniques.

703 Financial Management of Health Systems (3:3:0).Prerequisites: HSCI 555 or admittance to a graduate nursing degree program (M.S.N. or Ph.D.) or Health Systems Management degree program (M.S. in New Professional Studies), and working knowledge of the health care industry. Examines the tools and methods of financial management in health care organizations and systems with emphasis on allocation and use of funds. Analysis of costs and constraints of alternative source of funds and the application of financial decision instruments and their effect on operational management and market value of the entity is covered.

704 Contemporary Issues in Health Systems Leadership and Management (3:3:0). Analysis of management theory and practice from recently evolving works that identify, analyze and resolve strategic organizational problems and issues in health care systems. Applied leadership strategy to effectively manage a variety of critical issues in health care systems, such as: Organizational development, change management, human relations and diversity, quality management for organizational and clinical effectiveness, technology, competing priorities, conflicting constituencies, delivery system redesign and health services research is covered.

705 Strategic Management and Marketing in Health Care (3:3:0). Develops executive skills for strategic decision making through the use of marketing-based tools and techniques as applied in health care systems: strategic planning, market research and opportunity/risk analysis, customer assessment, market segmentation and life cycle assessment for health care services in managed care and nonmanaged care environments.

706 Integrated Health Systems Management (3:3:0). Explores emerging structures for financing and delivery of comprehensive health services in integrated health systems. Successful development and management of alliances, provider hospital organizations, and managed care systems with an emphasis on strategies for vertical integration, community partnering, contract negotiation, governance, and management of antitrust situations.

707 Health Care Management Policy, Law, and Ethics (3:3:0). A survey course that prepares health care executives to understand selected legal and ethical principles as applied to complex decision making and policy analysis in the management of health care organizations and systems. Legal relationships (torts and contracts) and ethical references are used for selective managerial application in the analysis and management of organizational and clinical dilemmas, statutory and regulatory trends and the management of scarce resources and interdisciplinary teams in health systems.

708 Operations/Quality Management of Health Services (3:3:0). Examines the operations and quality management functions of a health care/service organization from a strategic viewpoint. From the perspective of the health care manager, the course explores the contributions of operations research and quality management to improve delivery and production of health services and business processes. Explores contemporary performance measures (quality and productivity) useful for improving process performance and selected decision support system methods from operations management.

709 Health/Medical Informatics for Health System Managers (3:3:0). Introduces health/medical information systems with emphasis on systems analysis and design to support managerial and clinical communications and decision making. Explores trends and innovations in information technology and systems, focusing on the managerial oversight of health/medical information systems. Includes review and analysis of the issues and uses of databases and database management systems for clinical and managerial transactions and decisions in health care organizations and integrated health systems.

710 Health Management Practicum and Capstone Seminar (3:2:6).Prerequisite: All course work. A team-based field practicum in health management, problem analysis, and project management in a health care/service organization. Learning teams define a complex problem in the assigned facility and conduct an analysis of the problem with recommendations for management decision action. Analysis of the problem provides the context in which theoretical concepts and management skills are applied to conduct the project. Practicum seminar uses case study analyses to explore problem-solving approaches in a variety of situations and health care/service organizations.

750/NURS 750 Legal Issues Relevant to Health Care Administration (3:3:0). Examines federal, state, and local statutes and regulations that impinge upon the operation of health care agencies and health care education enterprises. s

760/NURS 760 Health Care Financial Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: Admission to the graduate nursing program or master's degree. Investigates selected theory decision analysis and techniques of accounting and financial management in health care administration. Students develop the knowledge and skills necessary for effective participation in a health institution's financial planning and analysis.

762 Aging and Health Care Policy (3:3:0). Prerequisite or corequisite: HSCI 637, SOCI 599, or NURS 659 or at the discretion of instructor. Focuses on a policy perspective in relation to older adults in the community and in long-term care facilities. Students analyze policy issues and health care delivery systems as they affect the older adult, through lecture/discussion, field trips, projects, and policy analysis papers.

800 Multivariate Statistics and Data Analysis I (4:3:2).Prerequisite: A graduate-level bivariate statistics course. Covers, in detail, multiple analysis of a variance (ANOVA, ANCOVA, and factorial design), Exploratory Factor Analysis, and multivariate regression analysis. The course emphasizes application and interpretation over formula derivations and mathematical calculations with emphasis on applying multivariate tests to health science data bases using structural packages with an emphasis on SPSS.

801 Multivariate Statistics and Data Analysis II (3:3:0).Prerequisite: HSCI 800 or an equivalent multivariate statistics course. Examines discriminant analysis, canonical correlation, structural modeling (LISREL and pathanalysis) and confirmatory factor analysis. Emphasis is placed on applications and interpretations in the analysis of health science data. The use of SPSS is stressed.

830 The Scholarship of Writing (3:3:0). Boyer's framework for scholarship shapes the presentation of theory related to writing for scholarship. Students apply research in composition to inform writing for a variety of scholarly purposes, including overall conceptualization of research papers and proposals, writing for publication, and writing for scientific, creative, quantitative, and qualitative research. Seminar and intensive writing.

855 Ethics in Health Care Administration (3:3:0).Prerequisite: Admission to Ph. D. program or permission of instructor for other (non-Ph. D.) students. The philosophical foundations of health care ethics students analyze specific ethical dilemmas faced by administrators in health care settings.

866/NURS 866 Health Care Public Policy (3:2:1). Focuses on the process of formulating health care policy and analyzing its implications for nursing administration in nursing and education and nursing service. Current and impending health issues, the legislative process, and program implementation evaluation are examined. s

920/NURS 920 Qualitative Research in Nursing and Health Care (3:3:0). Co- or Prerequisites: NURS 955/HSCI 960 and a multivariate statistics course (HSCI 800 or equivalent); familiarity with e-mail and computers. An analysis of the philosophical foundations and approaches to qualitative research in nursing and health care administration, health care policy, and health care ethics within the scholarship of discovery, integration, application, and teaching. Computer analysis is required.

930/NURS 930 Quantitative Methods in Nursing and Health Care (3:3:0).Prerequisites: NURS 955/HSCI 960 and a multivariate statistics course (HSCI 800 or equivalent). Examines advanced principles and special problems in quantitative research methodology. The emphasis is on measurement as it relates to nursing and health care administration, health care ethics, and health policy research. Computer analysis is required.

960/NURS 955 Philosophical Bases of Inquiry (3:3:0).Prerequisite: Admission to nursing doctoral program or permission of instructor. The philosophical bases of the discipline and practice of health related disciplines are examined within the scholarship of discovery, integration, application, and teaching. Comparison of nursing and health science philosophy with relevant related discipline philosophies also is examined.