Syllabus

Schedule

Course learning modules are divided into weeks. Each week starts on Wednesday at 12:00 am Eastern Time (ET) and closes on Wednesday at 11:59 pm ET, with the exception of Week 8, which ends on Sunday. All assignments must be submitted by 11:59 pm ET on the due date.

Course Schedule at a Glance

Learning Modules	Topics	Assignments and Due Dates
Week 1 1/3 – 1/10	Human Factors, Ergonomics, Role of Health IT	Introductory Discussion Discussion – Initial post by Sunday 1/7, responses by Wednesday 1/10 Topic Choice for Final Project – Wednesday 1/10
Week 2 1/10 – 1/17	Macroergonomics	Discussion – Initial post by Sunday 1/14, responses by Wednesday 1/17 Macroergonomics Analysis – Wednesday 1/17
Week 3 1/17 – 1/24	Human Error and Medical Failure	Discussion – Initial post by Sunday 1/21, responses by Wednesday 1/24 Human Error Analysis Paper – Wednesday 1/24
Week 4 1/24 – 1/31	Human Factors Analysis, Usability, and Human Factors to Consider When Designing/Selecting	Discussion – Initial post by Sunday 1/28, responses by Wednesday 1/31 Analysis of Challenges – Wednesday 1/31
Week 5 1/31 – 2/7	User Experience, Usability	Discussion – Initial post by Sunday 2/4, responses by Wednesday 2/7 Usability Analysis – Wednesday 2/7
Week 6 2/7 – 2/14	Clinical Decisions, Support Issues, Ubiquitous Computing Issues, Adoption Issues, Patient Safety Events	Discussion – Initial post by Sunday 2/11, responses by Wednesday 2/14 Safety Problem Analysis – Wednesday 2/14
Week 7 2/14 – 2/21	Human-Computer Interaction Frameworks (HCI)	Discussion – Initial post by Sunday 2/18, responses by Wednesday 2/21 Final Project Ignite Presentation – Wednesday 2/21
Week 8 2/21 – 2/25	Wrap-up and Reflection	Discussion – Initial post by Friday 2/23, responses by Sunday 2/25 Final Reflection – Sunday 2/25

Weekly Course Schedule

Week 1 — Human Factors, Ergonomics, Role of Health IT

Learning Outcomes:

• Examine the importance of human factors and ergonomics in health care
• Examine the role of health information technology

Course Materials:

Textbook:

• Chapter 1 – Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care and Patient Safety
• Chapter 2 – Opportunities and Challenges in the Pursuit of Patient Safety

Assignments:

Introductory Discussion: Briefly introduce yourself to your instructor and peers including your background and interests in health informatics. What are you most interested in learning about in this course?

Discussion Question: As you read about HFE this week, what surprised you? What topic did you find most interesting; why do you feel that topic is important? What is the role of Health IT when it comes to HFE and patient safety?

Topic Choice for Final Project: The culminating project for this class is a 5 minute Ignite Presentation. The topic for the Ignite Presentation is an analysis of a healthcare technology tool/application. Each week (weeks 2 – 6) you will analyze the technology you have chosen as it relates to that week’s readings. In week 7 you will create your Ignite Presentation about that technology based on your analysis from the previous weeks.

For this assignment, pick a technology tool or application that you will use as the basis for your weekly writings and final project. The technology you choose can be one that your are already familiar with, or not. However, choosing one you that you have some familiarity with may make things easier for you.

Submit a paragraph (or two) describing your topic. (If you need help coming up with a topic, there are some great ideas in your textbook.) Refer to the Topic Selection Rubric for submission guidelines.

Week 2 — Macroergonomics

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify technology’s role in macroergonomics and work system design

Course Materials:

• Textbook: Chapter 4 – Historical Perspective and Overview of Macroergonomics
• Carayon, P., Karsh, B.-T., Gurses, A. P., Holden, R., Hoonakker, P., Hundt, A. S., … Wetterneck, T. B. (2013). Macroergonomics in healthcare quality and patient safety. Review of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 8(1), 4–54. http://doi.org/10.1177/1557234X13492976

Assignments:

Discussion Question: What is the purpose of Macroregonomics? What role does it play in improving health care and patient safety? How can Macroergonmics be applied to your current (or future) position?

Macroergonomics Analysis: Apply the theory of Macroergonomics to the technology you chose in week 1. In what areas do you think your technology is in line with this theory? In what ways do you think it can be improved and how might someone accomplish that? Submit 1½ to 2 page, APA formatted paper. Refer to Macroergonomics Analysis Rubric for submission guidelines.

Week 3 — Human Error and Medical Failure

Learning Outcomes:

• Analyze the cognitive impacts that play a role in a user’s ability to interact with technology

Course Materials:

Textbook:

• Chapter 6 – Error as Behavior and Murphy’s Law: Implications for Human Factors and Ergonomics
• Chapter 22 – Human Error in Health Care
• Chapter 23 – Medical Failure Taxonomies

Assignments:

Discussion Question: Looking at the the three approaches to human error described in your text, which perspective do you tend to agree with the most? Why? Think of a situation that has occurred as a result of human error; based on the perspective you chose, why do you think this situation occurred?

Human Error Analysis: Given what you have learned about human error and why it exists, consider how your technology is used and identify potential areas for human error. What processes can be put in place to help reduce the introduction of human error when this technology is used? Submit 1½ to 2 page, APA formatted paper. Refer to Human Error Analysis Rubric for submission guidelines.

Week 4 — Human Factors Analysis, Usability, and Human Factors to Consider When Designing/Selecting

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify human factors to consider when designing and implementing new technology

Course Materials:

Textbook:

• Chapter 17 – Human Factors and Ergonomics of Health Information Technology Implementation
• Chapter 38 – Human Factors Considerations in Health IT Design and Development

Assignments:

Discussion Question: This week’s readings included a number of challenges that we face in health IT related to either human factors or the environment. Pick one of those challenges. Why is it a challenge? How can the challenge be overcome? Are there tools that can help overcome it?

Analysis of Challenges: Evaluate the technology you have chosen based on the challenges discussed in this week’s readings. What challenges has your technology overcome with its design and what challenges do you think still exist? Based on the design tools and processes that you have learned about, what suggestions do you have for overcoming those remaining challenges? Submit 1½ to 2 page, APA formatted paper. Refer to Analysis of Challenges Rubric for submission guidelines.

Week 5 — User Experience, Usability

Learning Outcomes:

• Examine usability methods that can be used to enhance technology usability
• Examine what factors play a role in the user experience

Course Materials:

• Textbook: Chapter 38 – Usability Evaluation in Health Care
• Webpage: HIMSS EMR Usability Evaluation Guide for Clinicians’ Practices: 9 Essential Principles of EMR Usability from HIMSS (2015, April 9)
• McCartney, P. (2014). Human Factors, Usability, and the Electronic Health Record. The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, 39(5), 333.

Assignments:

Discussion Question: The user experience plays a critical role in the success of health information technology. Considering the factors that make up the user experience, think of a time that you were interacting with a technology and evaluate your experience. Was your experience a positive one? Why or why not? What factors could you tell were well thought out and what factors could have been improved upon. From a user perspective, why is the user experience so important?

Usability Analysis: What effect does poor usability have on an organization and what effect does good usability have? Evaluate the technology you have chosen using the HIMSS EMR Usability Evaluation Guide. This guide is based on 9 principles of usability for software; this guide can be applied to any tool. Make sure to address all 9 of the essential principles. Submit 1½ to 2 page, APA formatted paper. Refer to Usability Analysis Rubric for submission guidelines.

Week 6 — Clinical Decisions, Support Issues, Ubiquitous Computing Issues, Adoption Issues, Patient Safety Events

Learning Outcomes:

• Examine adverse outcomes that can occur when usability and human factors are not considered

Course Materials:

Textbook:

• Chapter 21 – Using Health IT to Improve Health Care and Patient Safety
• Chapter 19 – Trust In Health Technologies

Assignments:

Discussion Question: Research a safety event that occurred as the result of a poor user interface, system design or usability. Describe the factors that contributed to the event and provide ways, based on what you have learned, on how it could have been prevented.

Safety Problem Analysis: Consider the technology you have chosen. Describe a safety problem that could happen or has happened as a result of not considering user experience, usability, or human factors with that technology. Address topics such as: user adoption, patient safety events, adverse outcomes, loss of productivity. Give examples of tools that might be applied to this technology to help improve these factors. Submit 1½ to 2 page, APA formatted paper. Refer to Safety Problem Analysis Rubric for submission guidelines.

Week 7 — Human-Computer Interaction Frameworks (HCI)

Learning Outcomes:

• Analyze the role of human-computer interfaces in human error

Course Materials:

• Textbook: Chapter 18 – Human-Computer Interaction Design in Health Care
• Saleem, J. J., Haggstrom, D. A., Militello, L. G., Flanagan, M., Kiess, C. L., Arbuckle, N., & Doebbeling, B. N. (2011). Redesign of a computerized clinical reminder for colorectal cancer screening: a human-computer interaction evaluation. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 11(1), 74-74. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-11-74
• Ignite. (2009, June 23). Ignite show: Scott Berkun: Why and how to give an ignite talk, Ep 19 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRa1IPkBFbg

Assignments:

Discussion Question: Pick a type of human-computer interface; describe what human errors are typically associated with this interface. Choose at least two design principles that you feel are important to consider with the type of interface you have selected. Talk about why you chose those principles and what benefits their incorporation will have in designing this interface.

Final Project Ignite Presentation: In week 1, you chose a technology tool/application to examine in this course. You compiled a lot of information and analysis about that technology throughout the course. Your final project is an Ignite Presentation about the technology you chose. An Ignite Presentation should be 5 minutes in length, 20 slides, and 15 seconds of narration per slide. Your presentation should include:

• Analysis and conclusions from your weekly assignments
• What most surprised you about this technology as you examined it throughout the course?
• What are the big advantages/disadvantages of this technology?
• What is the potential for growth or new areas of development/application for this technology?

Refer to course in Blackboard for steps in creating, uploading, and closed captioning your screencast of your presentation. You will submit three items for this assignment:

• YouTube URL for your Ignite Presentation
• APA formatted list of references used to create your presentation
• The script you used in your Ignite

Refer to the Ignite Presentation Rubric for submission guidelines.

Week 8 — Wrap-up and Reflection

Learning Outcomes:

• Reflect on challenges encountered while creating a presentation in order to improve future performance

Course Materials:

No additional course materials this week.

Assignments:

Discussion Question: In HIN 745 (the practicum class), you will do a live Ignite presentation. The recorded Ignite presentation for this class gave you practice with the format. This discussion is for you to share tips and suggestions for creating an Ignite. Post the URL to your Ignite presentation; please hyperlink the URL so that your classmates’ can easily access the presentation from the discussion board. Then comment on the following: What did you discover about creating an Ignite presentation? What did you find most challenging and how did you address that challenge? Do you have any questions you would like to ask your classmates about strategies they used?

Watch you classmates’ Ignites and read their posts on what they discovered while making their presentations. In your responses, ask your classmates’ questions about their creation process and/or offer tips you discovered that may help them in the future.

Final Reflection: Write a reflection on what you have taken from this course. What did you learn? What did you find surprising? How can you apply information from this course to your current or future employment? Because our ultimate priorities are to provide safe care to our patients and to improve outcomes, please touch on how considering human factors in system development can help with those priorities. Refer to Final Reflection Rubric for submission guidelines.

Student Resources

Online Student Support

Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you. Please don't hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.

Questions? Visit the Student Support Health Informatics page

APA Style Guide

• https://www.apastyle.org

UNE Libraries:

• Library Access for all students: Your library login ID and password are the same as the ones you use to log into Blackboard/Brightspace.
• MSIN Databases: https://library.une.edu/library-materials/find/research-by-subject/health-informatics/
• Library Questions: Ask a librarian or phone library staff at (207) 602-2361 or (207) 221-4330.

UNE Student Academic Success Center

The Student Academic Success Center (SASC) offers a range of services to support your academic achievement, including tutoring, writing support, test prep and studying strategies, learning style consultations, and many online resources. To make an appointment for tutoring, writing support, or a learning specialist consultation, go to une.tutortrac.com. To access our online resources, including links, guides, and video tutorials, please visit:

• UNE Student Academic Success Center

Accommodations

Any student who would like to request, or ask any questions regarding, academic adjustments or accommodations must contact the Student Access Center at (207) 221-4438 or pcstudentaccess@une.edu. Student Access Center staff will evaluate the student's documentation and determine eligibility of accommodation(s) through the Student Access Center registration procedure.

Online Peer Support

Togetherall is a 24/7 communication and emotional support platform monitored by trained clinicians. It’s a safe place online to get things off your chest, have conversations, express yourself creatively, and learn how to manage your mental health. If sharing isn’t your thing, Togetherall has other tools and courses to help you look after yourself with plenty of resources to explore. Whether you’re struggling to cope, feeling low, or just need a place to talk, Togetherall can help you explore your feelings in a safe supportive environment. You can join Togetherall using your UNE email address.

Information Technology Services (ITS)

Students should notify their Student Support Specialist and instructor in the event of a problem relating to a course. This notification should occur promptly and proactively to support timely resolution.

ITS Contact: Toll-Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673.

Career Ready Program

The College of Professional Studies supports its online students and alumni in their career journey!

The Career Ready Program provides tools and resources to help students explore and hone in on their career goals, search for jobs, create and improve professional documents, build professional network, learn interview skills, grow as a professional, and more. Come back often, at any time, as you move through your journey from career readiness as a student to career growth, satisfaction, and success as alumni.

Policies

Technology Requirements

Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements

Turnitin Originality Check and Plagiarism Detection Tool

The College of Professional Studies uses Turnitin to help deter plagiarism and to foster the proper attribution of sources. Turnitin provides comparative reports for submitted assignments that reflect similarities in other written works. This can include, but is not limited to, previously submitted assignments, internet articles, research journals, and academic databases.

Make sure to cite your sources appropriately as well as use your own words in synthesizing information from published literature. Webinars and workshops, included early in your coursework, will help guide best practices in APA citation and academic writing.

You can learn more about Turnitin in the guide on how to navigate your Similarity Report.

Information Technology Services (ITS)

ITS Contact: Toll Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673

Course Evaluation Policy

Course surveys are one of the most important tools that University of New England uses for evaluating the quality of your education, and for providing meaningful feedback to instructors on their teaching. In order to assure that the feedback is both comprehensive and precise, we need to receive it from each student for each course. Evaluation access is distributed via UNE email at the beginning of the last week of the course.

Late Policy

Assignments: Late assignments will be accepted up to 3 days late; however, there is a 10% grade reduction (from the total points) for the late submission. After three days the assignment will not be accepted.

Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, but still within the discussion board week, there will be a 10% grade reduction from the total discussion grade (e.g., a 3 point discussion will be reduced by 0.3 points). Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded.

Please make every effort ahead of time to contact your instructor and your student support specialist if you are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.

Attendance Policy

8 week: Students taking online graduate courses through the College of Professional Studies will be administratively dropped for non-participation if a graded assignment/discussion post is not submitted before Sunday at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. Reinstatement is at the purview of the Dean's Office.

16 week: Students taking online graduate courses through the College of Professional Studies will be administratively dropped for non-participation if a graded assignment/discussion post is not submitted before Friday at 11:59 pm ET of the second week of the term. Reinstatement is at the purview of the Dean's Office.

Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures

The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.

UNE Online Student Handbook

UNE Course Withdrawal

Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

Academic Integrity

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit UNE Plagiarism Policies.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations. Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final. Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.