Course Descriptions

This course is designed to provide graduate learners the opportunity to develop skills in both accessing relevant online library resources and engage in scholarly writing. The portion of the course focusing on library resources teach and strengthen lifelong research and information competency skills by introducing student to the nature of research and the role of library in the research process. Students learn the core concepts of information retrieval and essential techniques for finding, evaluating, analyzing, organizing, and presenting information. The topics covered include: using online catalogs to locate books and other library resources; developing research strategies; exercising critical thinking to evaluate information; applying critical and search techniques to electronic databases; understanding citation formats and using the internet as a research tool. The scholarly writing of the course will place emphasis on organization, effective conveyance of thoughts through written words, and writing for multiple types of audiences. Students will have the opportunity to improve both their academic writing and their research skills as they write a literature review or a proposal. Emphasis is placed on conventions of scholarly writing and organizational strategies as well as grammar, editing, and usage.

Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A) and during the 8-week summer session

This 8 week, 2 credit online course will explore ethical and legal issues that are timely and germane to health professionals. This course is based on the premise that to act in an ethical manner means to engage in conduct according to accepted principles, and to improve moral confidence and moral action we must prepare the next generation of health professionals with the ethical resources, tools and skills. A case based learning design will be utilized to engage students in ethical discussion, exploration, analysis with the goal of determining ethical and legal action that is sound and logical. This course will prepare students to make ethical health care decisions in the future.

Offered: 1st 8-week session fall semester (Fall A) and during the 8-week summer session

We live in a time exploding with data. Everything from individual wearable technology to community and national profiles, yet few students are prepared with the quantitative skills to analyze and evaluate that data and draw conclusions. This course will present basic statistical methods to a broad range of medical or public health problems. The course will emphasize the use of these methods and the interpretation of results using bio-medical and health sciences applications, healing clinicians move beyond the data to decisions.

Offered: 15-week session fall semester (Fall)

MHS 630: Essentials of Chronic and Infectious Disease Epidemiology (3 credits) In the past 15 years, we have seen a rise in chronic disease impacted by behavior and policy, infectious disease outbreaks and new mechanisms of spread never seen before in the US. Clinicians must consider the biosocial impact of globalization and environmental change upon health and disease. In this course we present fundamental concepts of epidemiology to assist the new clinician in their efforts to critically evaluate the health and medical literature, participate in monitoring and surveillance of disease, and interpret data in their individual practice, community, and nation to improve care in their practice and professional sphere.

This course focuses on understanding the healthcare macroeconomic ecosystem and the unique and innovative Maryland waiver system. The course introduces key concepts and analytical methods for formulating strategies that add value for patients as well as for providers and other organizations that affect health care delivery. The course covers
foundational concepts of practice coding and reimbursement along with the strategic management of resources, partnerships, and innovation, for organizations that offer
healthcare services in multiple areas. Through the application of course concepts to complex cases, the course develops depth of understanding and critical thinking skills in
strategy formulation for future leaders involved in health care delivery and ongoing quality improvement.

This survey course covers current federal and state legal principals governing the provision of healthcare and clinical education. The course will focus on three major themes: quality of care, access to care, and clinical education. Students will learn about professional licensure, disability, equitable care and access, malpractice, the provider patient relationship, informed consent, the regulation of healthcare facilities, public and private insurance regulation, and the application of professional ethics in healthcare.

Leading is a complex endeavor and involves vision, passion, purpose, and the ability to make decisions under pressure and uncertainty while motivating others. This course analyzes the symbiotic relationship between leadership and decision-making and advocacy, combining ethics, recent research, adaptive leadership theory and reflective practice to teach leadership, decision-making and advocacy skills.

Although digital technologies and breakthrough science hold immense potential for enhancing health care, in terms of empowering patients, improving access and equity,
and delivering better health outcomes. Health care’s digital transformation lags behind that of other industries. This course aims to help learners unlock hidden potential to
improve health care by providing a framework to enable learners to think strategically about digital solutions, develop and deploy them in health care’s unique culture and
ecosystem, and navigate the sometimes-competing needs of healthcare’s multiple stakeholders.

Every doctoral student should be prepared to teach effectively. The focus of this course will be to prepare the student to be an effective clinical or field educator. Students will explore best practices, grounded in adult learning theory and evidence-based education for delivering and evaluating educational content across various domains (virtually or in-person) for diverse learning audiences. The impact of emotion and learning, intercultural leadership, communication, and professionalism will be explored in this course.

Participants in this course will develop proficiency in engaging in the evaluation and synthesis of research in their field. This course addresses foundational competencies for
generating pertinent research questions, conducting academic reviews, engaging in critical appraisal, and synthesizing literature in a scholarly format to facilitate participants’ contribution to the body of knowledge within their field. Part two of the course will build upon foundational MSHS course work, applying the principles and methods of quantitative and qualitative methods appropriate for applied health research. Learners will engage in evaluating research studies using a variety of methodologies to identify their application to specific field questions and develop their ability to analyze and interpret research data. Learners will produce the framework for a research project reflective of a design appropriate for their research question and field of practice in an applied topic.

This course will provide students with the foundational skills necessary to engage in academic writing for preparation and presentation across a spectrum of scholarly outlets
(journals, conference presentations, conference abstracts, technical reports, book chapters, etc.). Students will engage in the construction of logical arguments, the reporting and interpretation of data, generation of conclusions/discussions, recognition of target audience in selection of style, tone, voice, etc. as well as the process of redrafting and editing being mindful of feedback from colleagues and co-writers. Students will have opportunity to develop skills for peer review and development of constructive feedback.

To achieve more equitable healthcare leaders need to engage with communities where they provide care, commit to the larger programs at the federal and state levels, and take an introspective view of their own organizations. Participants in this course will apply previously learned knowledge and skills to engage with their local communities, advocate locally, regionally, and nationally for PA inclusion and implement quality improvement interventions relevant to their practice setting in pursuit of health equity.

Designed to help busy PA professionals advance their knowledge and keep current by providing a review of innovations, recent advances, and best practices affiliate disciplines
specialty groups. Focus will be on improving care quality and outcomes. Hands on impact labs will be conducted. At the conclusion of the symposium, participants will be
able to: Describe and implement new diagnostic modalities, therapeutic agents, and management strategies in their respective specialty. Recognize and implement best
practice, management. and care transfer of complex patients with significant comorbidities. Discuss the current and future management of patients. Impact lab topics
may include 1) Ultrasound 2) Telehealth 3) Digital Monitoring 4) Advanced procedures.

This course builds upon DMSC 713 and is designed to help busy PA professionals advance their knowledge and keep current by providing a review of innovations, recent advances, and best practices. Focus will be on improving care quality and outcomes. Hands on impact labs will be conducted. At the conclusion of the symposium, participants will be able to: 1) Describe and implement new diagnostic modalities, therapeutic agents, and management strategies in their respective specialty; 2) Recognize and implement best practice, management. and care transfer of complex patients with significant comorbidities; 3) Discuss the current and future management of patients. Impact lab topics may include but are not limited to Ultrasound, Telehealth, Digital Monitoring, and advanced procedures.

This course is tailored to meet the needs of an individual student and involves considerable self-directed learning to address an area in need of further review, remediation, or repeated content.

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the process of writing for scholarly journals, focusing on the IMRD (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) format commonly used for empirical work. Students will read and analyze articles from a variety of journals, focusing on both form and content of research articles, case studies, meta-analyses, and book reviews. Students will apply the course content to their own writing throughout the course, culminating in a portfolio of their revised work based on extensive instructor feedback. Students can use their existing research to produce the various writing assignments during the course and use this as an opportunity to submit an article for publication.

The purpose of this course is to study communication within the context of the cultural setting. The three main goals are: to provide students with materials, both cognitive and experiential, with which they can develop an awareness of their own cultural identity; to increase their knowledge of the special communication problems to be expected in a cross-cultural situation; and to offer students the opportunity to apply new insights to cross-cultural encounters.

In this course students will learn and practice applying concepts of intercultural development to various aspects of their personal and professional life. Students will also gain tools to continue learning and developing their intercultural skills over the course of their lifetime.

This course examines basic terminology and concepts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion through the exploration of US laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and similar laws and legal protections for certain classes of individuals. This course will help current and aspiring diversity, equity, and inclusion practitioners to establish a structured framework for systematic analysis of employee issues that may have legal implications.