Syllabus
Master of Healthcare Administration
HCA 765 – Communication for Healthcare Leaders (Fall 2022)
Credits - 3
Description
Students in the course will examine concepts, theories, and best practices for communicating in the professional workplace. The goal of this course is to refine their written, oral and visual communication. Participants in this course will develop strategies to create meaningful communication for a vast audience. Students will enhance their skills in natural and scholarly writing, oral presentation, and visual demonstrations.
Materials
Learning Objectives and Outcomes
Program Outcomes addressed by this course:
- Understand the purpose and process of communication in business and industry
- Recognize and be able to analyze effective and ineffective communication
- Understand and execute the written, visual, and verbal processes of communication
- Communicate information in a complete, accurate, and honest form
- Recognize and use the rhetorical and stylistic elements necessary for the successful practice of scientific and technical communication
- Prepare various types of technical documents that are appropriate and effective for diverse and various audiences (e.g. multicultural)
- Locate, evaluate, and incorporate pertinent information
- Convey clearly, cogently and correctly, through written media, the technical aspects of a practice to non-specialist audiences
- Balance verbal and visual elements of communication in technical documents
- Use clear, focused, specific, and grammatically correct language in documents
- Communicate information clearly and effectively in all class discussions and course assignments
Course Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of HCA 765, the student will demonstrate the ability to:
- Evaluate patient-facing promotional videos from a healthcare provider for their quality and efficacy.
- Develop a healthcare communications blueprint that includes the major paid and shared media channels, internal communications channels, and research backbone for a modern urban provider.
- Write a healthcare communications code of conduct that could be socialized across all departments in the provider as well as used for promotional purposes with potential patients and caregivers.
- Evaluate and present the strengths and weaknesses of a provider’s corporate branding strategy.
- Develop a cyber breach response communications plan that spans from the receptionist to the CEO and IT leadership.
- Develop a segmentation chart that describes the various messaging approaches for healthcare-related personas across a variety of generational demographics.
- Analyze a case study of a practical situation that has arisen for a major healthcare provider.
Assignments
Please note that all times in the syllabus and in the course refer to Eastern Time. The discussion area and assignment links for each week will open at the start of the week for submissions.
Discussion Posts: These assignments will assess your ability to clearly and accurately apply concepts from your readings and from your own experiences. Each week you are expected to submit an initial post and comment on at least 2 other students’ posts. You need to follow APA guidelines for citing any sources you may reference in either your initial post or your response to others. Refer to the Discussion Rubric and discussion question for submission guidelines. Please be sure to follow the individual directions provided with each Discussion Board Prompt, as the requirements may vary from Discussion Board to Discussion Board.
Initial post: You should submit your initial post by 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Your initial post should be approximately 500 words.
Response to others: You should comment on at least 2 other students’ posts by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. Your comments to others should be thorough, thoughtful, and they should offer some new content. Do not merely respond with “I agree” or “I disagree.” Engage directly with the ideas of your classmates and briefly mention which part of the post you are responding to.
Healthcare Communications Blueprint: In Week 2, you will develop a healthcare communications blueprint that includes the major paid and shared media channels, internal communications channels and research backbone for a modern urban provider.
Communications Code of Conduct: In week 3, you will develop a 3-page healthcare communications code of conduct that could be socialized across all departments in the provider as well as used for promotional purposes with potential patients and caregivers.
Corporate Branding Strategy Evaluation: In week 4, you will pick a provider, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their corporate branding strategy as a group, and produce a document presenting your findings.
Cyber Breach Response Communications: In week 5, you will develop a cyber breach response communications plan that spans from the receptionist to the CEO and IT leadershipand includes unified messaging and press relations implications.
Segmentation Chart: In week 6, you will create a segmentation chart that describes the various messaging approaches for healthcare-related personas across a variety of generational demographics: millennials, Gen X, Boomers, doctors, nurses, patients, families.
Case Study Analysis: In week 8, you will be sent a healthcare communications case study to analyze in order to apply the learnings from the past 8 weeks into a practical situation that has arisen in a major healthcare provider.
All assignments use scoring rubrics to assess student performance. Thoroughly review the rubric and assignment instructions for guidance on what’s required for each assignment.
Grading Policy
Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:
Grade Breakdown
| Assessment Item | Possible Points | Percent of Total Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Discussions (6 @ 2.9 points each, 1 @ 10 points) | 30 | 30 % |
| Evaluating Promotional Videos | 5 | 5 % |
| Healthcare Communication Blueprint | 5 | 5% |
| Communications Code of Conduct | 10 | 10% |
| Corporate Branding Strategy Evaluation | 10 | 10% |
| Cyber Breach Response Plan | 10 | 10% |
| Segmentation Chart | 10 | 10% |
| Case Study Analysis | 20 | 20% |
| Total | 100 points | 100 % |
Grade Scale
| Grade | Points Grade | Point Average (GPA) |
| A | 94 – 100% | 4.00 |
| A- | 90 – 93% | 3.75 |
| B+ | 87 – 89% | 3.50 |
| B | 84 – 86% | 3.00 |
| B- | 80 – 83% | 2.75 |
| C+ | 77 – 79% | 2.50 |
| C | 74 – 76% | 2.00 |
| C- | 70 – 73% | 1.75 |
| D | 64 – 69% | 1.00 |
| F | 00 – 63% | 0.00 |
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
Week 1: Oct 19 – Oct 26
Week 2: Oct 26 – Nov 2
Week 3: Nov 2 – Nov 9
Week 4: Nov 9 – Nov 16
Week 5: Nov 16 – Nov 23
Week 6: Nov 23 – Nov 30
Week 7: Nov 30 – Dec 7
Week 8: Dec 7 – Dec 11
| Learning Modules | Topics | Assignments and Due Dates |
|
Week 1 |
The Growth of Health Communications in an Era of Consumerization |
Introductory Discussion Evaluating Promotional Videos Assignment – Wednesday |
|
Week 2 |
The Communications Planning & Research Process |
Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday Healthcare Communications Blueprint – Wednesday |
| Week 3 | The Ethics of Healthcare Communications & Health Literacy |
Discussion – Initial post by Wednesday, responses by the following Sunday Communications Code of Conduct – Wednesday |
| Week 4 | Institutional Aspects and Building a Brand |
Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday Corporate Branding Strategy Evaluation – Wednesday |
| Week 5 | Crisis Communication |
Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday Cyber Breach Response Plan – Wednesday |
| Week 6 | Consumerization of Healthcare Communications |
Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday Segmentation Chart – Wednesday |
| Week 7 | Reaching “Hard to Reach” Audiences: Rural and Disadvantaged |
Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday |
| Week 8 | Effectively Deploying 21st Century Social and Mobile Technologies for Internal and External Communications |
Discussion – Initial post by Friday, responses by Sunday Case Study – Sunday |
Student Resources
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Attendance Policy
Online students are required to submit a graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. If a student does not submit a posting to the graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET, the student will be automatically dropped from the course for non-participation. Review the full attendance policy.
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.
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Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:
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