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.

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.

Students learn effective management and communication skills through case study-analysis, reading, class discussion and role-playing. The course covers topics such as effective listening, setting expectations, delegation, coaching, performance, evaluations, conflict management, negotiation with senior management and managing with integrity.

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

This is a 3-credit seminar course designed to give students the basic information regarding health sciences research discoveries. It also provides students with the tools to approach translational research in their present and future work. The course covers the core competencies in clinical and translational research, and each session addresses a core thematic area. Students log-in once a week during the semester. Faculty members give a lecture, followed by a student-led presentation. The presentation is followed by a discussion in which all students are evaluated based on participation. Students are given a short essay assignment based on each lecture. The student presentations and short essays count toward the final grade. A research paper also is assigned. This coursework is entirely online. 

The capstone is designed to demonstrate the substantive application of the knowledge and skills that have been acquired in the courses taken as part of the M.S. in Health Science Program. The capstone functions as both the practice experience and the culminating experience for the program. The M.S. in Health Science capstone experience includes the following components: development of a capstone proposal; delivery of an oral presentation; and preparation of a capstone portfolio.