DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND COMMUNITY
SERVICES
CONSUMER HEALTH-Online
HCSV 325-01
Spring Semester 2009
Instructor:
Jim Suver, Instructor, HCSV Department
Contact Information:
Office phone: (707)
338-0912 (cell)
Office
FAX: (530) 898-5107
Home Phone: (707) 658-1893
E-mail:
Post e-mail messages for me in the Blackboard mail folder for this course or
e-mail me at jsuver@csuchico.edu.
Online office hours: S-Th, 7:00-8:00pm (Pacific Time) in the
Course Chat Room
1.
Scope of Course
This online
course will examine major consumer health perspectives from historical and
contemporary viewpoints. Issues of cost, availability, and quality of
health care and their relationship to political and economic activity will be
discussed. National, regional, and local health trends (including the
rise of alternative and non-traditional health care consumer choices) will be
identified and analyzed. Individual and collective consumer strategies
will be analyzed.
HCSV 325
fulfills the requirements of the General Education Upper Division Theme,
Contemporary Health Issues, Area D. This course has a 1500 word writing
requirement, which is discussed in more detail elsewhere in the course outline.
The course addresses concepts of well being, health and disease; focuses
attention on how class, ethnicity, and gender affect selected health problems;
teaches methods for distinguishing hearsay from valid information; develops
knowledge and skills for making effective decisions that enhance health, and
facilitate and understanding of public policy; and addresses the impact of
biology, ethics, morality, politics, economics, and culture upon heath, health
care, and public policy.
Students
enrolled in this course will receive General Education Upper Division Theme
credit only if they have completed 45 or more credits prior to taking this
course.
2.
Required Reading Materials
•Anne Austin
and
• Online
readings found on the Blackboard course web pages
• Diana Hacker A Pocket Style Manual, 4th Edition. (Boston:
Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, any edition from 1999-2003).
ISBN 0312406843
3.
Course Format
This class is
entirely web based. There are no in-person sessions. All readings,
assignments and tests are found in the assigned textbook or on the Blackboard
course pages. All assignments and tests must be completed online and
posted in the appropriate sections of the Blackboard course pages.
4.
Grading
There are a
total of four assignments for this course. NO extra credit or make up work is
available. There will be two objective (true/false, multiple choice, fill in
the blank) tests during the semester on the dates indicated on the course
outline (assignments 1-2). The tests are non-cumulative.
There will be one consumer health care choices paper due for each student, described
later in the course outline (assignment 3). Lastly, there will be weekly
discussion postings, reading quizzes or folder assignments required for each
student (assignment 4).
All the
assignments just described carry equal point values (i.e., a maximum of 250
points for each of the four assignments). The total possible points for all
four assignments are 1000.
If assignments
are late (e.g., tests not taken during the appropriate time period, assignments
not posted before the due date), there will be a point deduction penalty
imposed. The amount of points lost will be at the discretion of the
instructor. If an assignment is missing, there can be no points available for
that particular activity.
Final Course
Grade Scale:
A 930 –
1000 C+ 770 - 799
A- 900 - 929 C 730 - 769
B+ 870 - 899 C- 700 - 729
B 830 - 869 D+ 660 - 699
B- 800 - 829 D 600
– 659
5.
Projects and Activities
• Weekly Course
readings and discussion posts, quizzes or assignment folder activities (250
total points possible; up to 18 points for each week’s posting): Based on the
assigned textbook chapters and online web readings there will either be a
discussion topic, reading quiz or written assignment due each week. The
specific details for each weekly assignment are contained on the Blackboard
course content pages for that week.
• Consumer
health care choices exercise (250 total points possible): A six-page paper based
on the topics in the text or an issue of your choosing
(check with me first). This assignment is described in more detail below.
6. Writing is
encouraged by University policy. The writing requirements for this course
(meeting general education requirements) are 1500 words (six pages).
Grammar and spelling will be considered in grading assignments. If you
have difficulty writing, the
7. In all
work, students must ensure that appropriate credit is given for all
materials. Ideas taken from other persons must be properly cited.
On papers, any direct quote must be enclosed in quotation marks and must be
cited, using the Hacker Style Guidebook, listed above in the Required Reading
Materials section.
8. Assignments
should be of the same quality that is expected of an employee in a professional
position. That means that grammar and spelling will be considered in
grading assignments. It means that due dates and assignment
specifications are taken seriously.
9.
Written papers and weekly assignment folder postings
All papers and
assignments for this course must comply with the following requirements:
• Items must
be free of typographical and spelling errors and must be grammatically correct.
• The final
course paper must conform to the Hacker Style Guide (see the textbook section
of this syllabus).
10.
Weekly Assignments (Note: You will be assigned either a written
assignment, a reading quiz or discussion post)
Written
Assignments: Each week, you will need
to read all assigned textbook chapters and online web articles. From
these readings, your assignment may ask you to post responses to various
questions or complete specific assignments on the appropriate Blackboard
assignment folder section. Your grades for this section of the course are
based upon the instructor’s assessment of both the QUALITY and QUANTITY of your individual
postings. Short, incomplete or late postings will receive lower point totals than longer, more thoughtful, more
complete and timely postings.
Students
should expect that the weekly MINIMUM
writing requirement will entail AT
LEAST three to six paragraphs (250-500 words) of well developed responses
to the subject(s) for that week. You must publish your work (so other
students may see your work) to receive credit (this is a function in
Individual assignment
postings are developed out of both the assigned reading and question material
presented by the instructor and the comments and insights from other
students.
The quizzes
are timed (lasting up to 30 minutes) by Blackboard. You have ONE timed test session during the
seven day test period to log in and complete the quiz. One can only log
on once. You must complete the quiz all in one session. You cannot
log off and log in later to finish. Blackboard is unforgiving with
violations of these few rules, so please understand them before the first quiz.
After you
complete and submit the quiz, you will receive your score automatically from
Blackboard.
Please read
the online quiz instructions on our course homepage BEFORE the first quiz.
Discussion
Posts: For weeks that a written assignment or
reading quiz is not requested, you will be asked to post your comments in the
discussion folder of
To develop a
coherent and concise assignment posting after reading the instructor assigned
material, students should examine existing responses on the assignment folder
before posting their own item. Early in the week, the first student
assignment postings on a particular subject will likely introduce additional
comment areas. Students posting later in the week should incorporate
these additional comment areas into their assignment responses.
Each week, the
instructor will review all weekly assignments, reading quizzes or discussion
posts, assign a point total, and will e-mail the student with the feedback
results. The “My Grades”
section of the Blackboard course home page will track each student’s ongoing
grade point total throughout the semester.
Your
first week’s writing assignment, based on the material in the Week 1
Assignment, is due to be submitted no later than 2/1/09.
11.
Timeliness of readings and assignments
Each week, you
will need to read the assigned chapters listed on the course outline
below. You will also need to read and complete the additional online
readings and assignments, reading quiz or discussion posts in Blackboard for
that week. You will have seven days to log in and complete the postings
part of the assignment.
The
assignment week starts at 12:01am on Monday and ends at 11:59pm on Sunday.
After that time and date, the assignment is late and will not be graded.
Therefore,
you cannot wait or delay in this online course, or you will be unable to
complete major portions of the work assigned.
12.
Online testing
There are two exams
scheduled for this course. Each is worth up to 250 points each. The
dates for the test are on the syllabus. Tests must be completed within
the seven day window on the scheduled test week. Further instructions on
the test taking procedures are provided on the Blackboard course page.
The online
tests are based entirely on the textbook readings. They are objective in
nature (e.g., multiple choice, true/false questions)
and are open book, open notes.
The tests are
timed (lasting up to two hours) by Blackboard. You have ONE timed test session during the
seven day test period to log in and complete the test. One can only log
on once. You must complete the test all in one session. You cannot
log off and log in later to finish. Blackboard is unforgiving with
violations of these few rules, so please understand them before the first test.
After you
complete and submit the test, you will receive your score automatically from
Blackboard.
Please read
the online test taking instructions on our course homepage BEFORE the first test.
CONSUMER HEALTH CARE CHOICES ANALYSIS EXERCISE
Use the Hacker Pocket Style Manual (listed
earlier in the syllabus) to complete this assignment
Assignment: Select one of
the topics or chapters in the course such as “Health Care Providers” from the
textbook. Once you have selected your topic, write a six page, double spaced
paper (two pages for each of your choices) using the content guidelines listed
below. You must cite at least three sources for your topic. You can
use the text material, plus information from two other sources. Therefore,
your final reference list would have at least three references. You must
have a separate reference list for this paper. It does NOT count in the six-page total. The due date for the paper would be a week
after the topic/chapter was assigned (but before May 17, 2009).
You may also
select a major health care issue such as mental health parity and present both
sides of the issue. It should meet the
same criteria as above.
There is some
flexibility in this assignment so e-mail me with your ideas for your
paper. I do read drafts if given to me a
week in advance. Please do not wait
until the due date to come up with an alternative idea.
THIS
ASSIGNMENT MUST BE COMPLETED AND POSTED IN THE ASSIGNMENT FOLDER NO LATER THAN SUNDAY MAY17, 2009. LATE OR
INCOMPLETE ASSIGNMENTS WILL HAVE A GRADE POINT DEDUCTION PENALTY IMPOSED.
COURSE OUTLINE
(This outline is subject to modification by
the instructor)
The chapters here refer to the assigned
textbook for this course, The
Topic
Area: Overview and Payment
Week
of 1/26/09, Week 1
Chapter 1: Health
and Health Care in
Post your
biographical listing in the Assignment Folder
First
week’s writing assignment due no later than 2/1/09
Week
of 2/2/09, Week 2
Chapter 2: The
Business Side of Health Care
Second
week’s writing assignment due no later than 2/8/9
Week
of 2/9/09, Week 3
Chapter 3: The
Payment Process: Insurance and third
Party Payers
Third
week’s writing assignment due no later than 2/15/09
Week
of 2/16/09, Week 4
Chapter 4: The
Payment Process: Government Payment
Programs
Fourth
week’s writing assignment due no later than 2/22/09
Topic
Area: Health Care Providers
Week
of 2/23/09, Week 5
Chapter 5: Health
Care Providers: Physicians
Fifth
week’s writing assignment due no later than 3/1/09
Week
of 3/2/09, Week 6
Chapter 6: Healthcare
Providers: Nurses
Sixth
week’s writing assignment due no later than 3/8/09
Week of 3/8/09, Week 7
Chapter 7: Other
Clinical Health care Providers
Seventh
week’s writing assignment due no later than 3/15/09
Week
of 3/23/09, Week 8
TEST
# 1—must be completed by 3/29/08
Topic
Area: The Delivery Systems
Week
of 3/30/09, Week 9
Chapter 8: Primary
Care: Health Care Providers’ Offices and
Clinics
Ninth
week’s writing assignment due no later than 4/5/09
Week of 4/6/09, Week 10
Chapter 9: Secondary Care: Hospitals
Chapter 10:
Tertiary Care: The Long-term Care
Continuum
Tenth
week’s writing assignment due no later than 4/12/09
Week
of 4/13/09, Week 11
Chapter 11:
Mental Health Services: A combination of
services
Eleventh
week’s writing assignment due no later than 4/19/09
Week
of 4/20/09, Week 12
Chapter 12:
The Public Health System: The
Government’s Role
Twelfth
week’s writing assignment due no later than 4/26/09
Topic
Area: Health Care industry and Research
Week of 5/04/09, Week 13
Chapter 13:
Medical Terminology and Pharmaceuticals
Thirteenth
week’s writing assignment due no later than 5/10/09
Week
of 5/11/09, Week 14
Chapter 14: Health
Care Research and Prevention
Fourteenth
week’s writing assignment due no later than 5/17/09
Consumer
health care choices paper due this week--no later than 5/17/09
Week
of 5/18/09, Week 15
TEST
# 2-must be completed by 5/21/09