DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 1 Discussion
DQ1 Complex Adaptive Systems
Describe a type of health care organization that functions as a complex adaptive system (CAS).
What are the characteristics of this organization that suggest it is a CAS? How does this differ from a simple system?
Include your own experience, as well as 2 citations that align with or contradict your comments as sourced from peer-reviewed academic journals, industry publications, books, and/or other sources. Cite your sources using APA formatting. If you found contradicting information to what your experience tells you, explain why you agree or disagree with the research.
DQ2 Materials Question
Reflecting on your readings in this week’s learning activities, which particular topic or issue resonates the most with you and why? What big questions remain unanswered?
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 2 Discussion
DQ1 Embedding the Triple Aim
You are the chief quality officer of a large complex health care system who has been charged with embedding the Triple Aim framework into the organization’s culture.
How can applying systems thinking aid health care practitioners and leaders to achieve the Triple Aim?
Include your own experience, as well as 2 citations that align with or contradict your comments as sourced from peer-reviewed academic journals, industry publications, books, and/or other sources. Cite your sources using APA formatting. If you found contradicting information to what your experience tells you, explain why you agree or disagree with the research.
DQ2 Materials Question
Reflecting on your readings in this week’s learning activities, which particular topic or issue resonates the most with you and why? What big questions remain unanswered?
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 3 Discussion
DQ1 Factors Inhibiting Health Care Systems
George Halvorson declares that “health care is the epitome of a nonsystem” (2009, p. 2).
What is the basis for this declaration?
What major factors are inhibiting health care in the United States from functioning as an integrated network of complex adaptive systems?
Include your own experience, as well as 2 citations that align with or contradict your comments as sourced from peer-reviewed academic journals, industry publications, books, and/or other sources. Cite your sources using APA formatting. If you found contradicting information to what your experience tells you, explain why you agree or disagree with the research.
DQ2 Materials Question
Reflecting on your readings in this week’s learning activities, which particular topic or issue resonates the most with you and why? What big questions remain unanswered?
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 4 Discussion
DQ1 Disruptive Innovation in Health Care
Share with the class an example of a disruptive innovation in health care. What about this innovation and documented outcomes makes it disruptive? How has this product, service, or system improvement affected health care delivery or management?
Include your own experience, as well as 2 citations that align with or contradict your comments as sourced from peer-reviewed academic journals, industry publications, books, and/or other sources. Cite your sources using APA formatting. If you found contradicting information to what your experience tells you, explain why you agree or disagree with the research.
DQ2 Materials Question
Reflecting on your readings in this week’s learning activities, which particular topic or issue resonates the most with you and why? What big questions remain unanswered?
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 5 Discussion
DQ1 A Reformed Complex Adaptive System
The reformed complex adaptive systems perspective asserts that in order to bend the health care cost curve in a significant, sustainable way, the U.S. health care system needs to have at its foundation: (a) a double mandate that applies to all Americans, (b) accountable care organizations, and (c) electronic health records that belong to and follow each of us for life.
Describe each of these 3 components of a reformed complex adaptive system in your own words.
Do you agree or disagree with this assertion? Why or why not?
Include your own experience, as well as 2 citations that align with or contradict your comments as sourced from peer-reviewed academic journals, industry publications, books, and/or other sources. Cite your sources using APA formatting. If you found contradicting information to what your experience tells you, explain why you agree or disagree with the research.
DQ2 Materials Question
Reflecting on your readings in this week’s learning activities, which particular topic or issue resonates the most with you and why? What big questions remain unanswered?
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 6 Discussion
DQ1 Strategic Versus Operational Plans
Describe and then compare and contrast strategic versus operational plans used in your health care organization or one that you are familiar with.
How do these two tools, when used together, help a health care organization be greater as a whole system than the sum of its parts in a rapidly changing environment?
Include your own experience, as well as 2 citations that align with or contradict your comments as sourced from peer-reviewed academic journals, industry publications, books, and/or other sources. Cite your sources using APA formatting. If you found contradicting information to what your experience tells you, explain why you agree or disagree with the research.
DQ2 Materials Question
Reflecting on your readings in this week’s learning activities, which particular topic or issue resonates the most with you and why? What big questions remain unanswered?
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 7 Discussion
DQ1 Meeting the Demand for Resources and Supplies
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 50% of front-line workers reported that they did not have sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet the demand for health care services (Kacik, 2020). Simply stockpiling to prepare for the next epidemic is not the answer, as certain PPE (e.g., masks and gloves) deteriorate over time.
What changes are needed in resource and supply planning for a health care system to be prepared for a surge in demand during the next epidemic? Share innovative strategies and ideas that you have learned about in your work and in this week’s learning activities.
Include your own experience, as well as 2 citations that align with or contradict your comments as sourced from peer-reviewed academic journals, industry publications, books, and/or other sources. Cite your sources using APA formatting. If you found contradicting information to what your experience tells you, explain why you agree or disagree with the research.
DQ2 Materials Question
Reflecting on your readings in this week’s learning activities, which particular topic or issue resonates the most with you and why? What big questions remain unanswered?
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 8 Discussion
DQ1 Transforming Health Care
As a scholar-practitioner-leader, what might be your contribution toward transforming health care into a system that delivers affordable, high-quality care to everyone? Why are you interested in this area of contribution?
Include your own experience, as well as 2 citations that align with or contradict your comments as sourced from peer-reviewed academic journals, industry publications, books, and/or other sources. Cite your sources using APA formatting. If you found contradicting information to what your experience tells you, explain why you agree or disagree with the research.
DQ2 Materials Question
Reflecting on your readings in this week’s learning activities, which particular topic or issue resonates the most with you and why? What big questions remain unanswered?
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 1 Assignment
The Complex Health Care Organization: A Profile
Upon completion of this assignment, you will have critically evaluated an actual complex health care organization by reviewing its structure and key attributes.
Identify a health care organization. This can be the organization where you work, one with which you are familiar, or a leading health care organization frequently featured in the literature or the media. You will further explore this organization for your individual assignments in upcoming weeks. Unless you have chosen an organization featured in the literature or the media, please replace the actual organization name with a pseudonym (e.g., “Alamo Rehabilitation Center”).
Develop a profile of your chosen health care organization in an 8- to 12-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation. Do the following in your profile:
Describe the health care organization, including its:
Mission
Vision
Service lines or types of services provided
Size (using metrics of your choice)
Create an organizational chart to incorporate in your description.
Evaluate the health care organization on the following:
Market position (e.g., Is the organization growing, stagnate, or atrophying?)
Culture (e.g., Is the organization viewed as an innovator or a follower? What is the workplace culture?)
Application of Triple Aim (e.g., How is the Triple Aim important to this organization’s future?)
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 2 Assignment
Summative Assessment: Integrative Paper, Part 1: Systems Theories and Complex Adaptive Systems Thinkin
Assignment Content
Upon completion of this first of three parts to your Integrative Paper, you will have laid the foundation of systems theories and models that you will apply to a problem or innovation opportunity at a health care organization of your choosing.
Read the Integrative Paper Guidelines to prepare you for this set of three assignments during this course.
Choose 2 topics from the list of systems theories and conceptual models below:
General systems theory
Chaos theory
Complexity theory
Learning organization theory
Systems model of change
Viable systems model
Write a 1,050- to 1,225-word paper in which you do the following:
Describe each of the 2 selected theories/models including an overview and details in the form of key elements and relationships between the elements. Visual depictions are encouraged.
Compare and contrast the 2 selected theories/models. Consider the following:
What phenomenon or phenomena is the theory or model addressing?
How are the elements of each theory/model similar? How do they differ?
Where do the theories/models complement one another in explaining organizations as systems?
Explain what complex adaptive systems (CAS) thinking is and how the 2 theories/models inform or support CAS. A visual depiction of CAS is encouraged.
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 3 Assignment
Gemba Walk Plan
Upon completion of this assignment, you will have a documented plan to follow as you conduct your upcoming Gemba Walk to identify an opportunity for improvement in a health care organization. You will complete your Gemba Walk in Week 5.
View “The Gemba Walk.”
Select an organization for your walk and schedule the walk before Week 4.
Write a 350- to 500-word plan for your Gemba Walk of a health care organization. Use the “4 Ws” framework to describe how you will conduct your Gemba Walk and how you will collect information.
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 4 Assignment
Summative Assessment: Integrative Paper, Part 2: Contemporary Research in Complex Adaptive Systems an
Upon completion of this second of three parts to your Integrative Paper, you will have completed a synthesis and critical evaluation of contemporary research in complex adaptive systems (CAS) and innovation. You will have also explained how the systems theories presented in Part 1 of your paper help to explain the CAS in health care.
Read the Integrative Paper Guidelines to prepare you for this second of three assignments during this course.
Locate 3 scholarly, peer-reviewed articles on systems thinking and/or innovation in the University Library. All articles must meet the following criteria:
Reports of original research or systematic reviews
Published within the past 5 years
Setting or focus in health care organizations
Write a 1,050- to 1,225-word paper in which you do the following:
Critically analyze the research reported in the articles, with a focus on the research problems, major factors explored, key results, and significant contributions to your understanding of systems in health care.
Identify and discuss any research with roots in the theories or conceptual models discussed in Part 1 of your Integrative Paper.
Analyze how findings from this research apply to problem-solving, effecting change, and fostering innovation in health care organizations. Use the health care organization you profiled in Week 1 as an example.
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 5 Assignment
Gemba Walk Executive Summary
Upon completion of this assignment, you will have summarized a real-world opportunity for improvement in a complex health care organization that is the result of your Gemba Walk.
Refer to the Gemba Walk Plan you developed in Week 3.
Conduct a Gemba Walk.
As a systems thinker, innovator, and change agent, produce a 525- to 1,050-word executive summary in which you do the following:
Discuss the 4 Ws and your findings from your Gemba Walk.
Discuss where you see an opportunity (a) to solve a problem, or (b) for innovation.
Discuss potential challenges or barriers you anticipate in addressing the problem or implementing the innovation, and explain how you would approach them.
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 6 Assignment
Balanced Scorecard and Executive Summary
Upon completion of this assignment, you will have used the Balanced Scorecard tool to define objectives, measures, targets, and initiatives for the health care organization you selected and described in the Week 1 assignment.
Review the 4 perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard described in this week’s readings and visually depicted in The Balanced Scorecard by Robert Kaplan.
Construct a Balanced Scorecard, using the Balanced Scorecard Template, for the health care organization you identified in Week 1. For each of the 4 perspectives, define at least 3 objectives, measures, targets, and initiatives. Ensure that the objectives are clearly aligned to the organization’s mission and vision described in the Week 1 assignment.
Write a 400- to 600-word executive summary in which you reference and include the Balanced Scorecard table you created. Describe the following in your summary:
How the objectives are aligned with the mission and vision
Why the measures and targets shown were selected
How the initiatives will help achieve the objectives
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 7 Assignment
Summative Assessment: Integrative Paper, Part 3: Applying Systems Thinking and Research to a Complex Health Care Organization
Upon completion of all three parts of the Integrative Paper, you will have brought together the systems theories, contemporary research, and your application of this work to a real-world opportunity for improvement. The result will be recommendations for change and innovation through the lens of systems thinking.
Read the Integrative Paper Guidelines to prepare for this final of three assignments during this course.
Review the results from your analysis of a problem or innovation opportunity conducted in Week 5.
Write the 1,050- to 1,225-word “Application” section of your integrative paper in which you do the following:
State the specific problem or innovation opportunity.
Summarize the setting within the health care organization where this problem/opportunity exists.
Identify and describe the stakeholders involved and those who are essential to effecting change (and why).
Describe the recommended solution in complex systems thinking terms.
Specify the expected outcomes and how they will be measured, including (but not limited to) how results from this solution contribute to the organization’s pursuit of the Triple Aim.
Present a synthesis of the specific theories, conceptual models, and research into complex systems thinking and innovation that support your recommended solution. Be persuasive by drawing on scholarly sources used in the “Breadth” and “Depth” sections.
Write a 350- to 700-word “Conclusion” section for the paper in which you do the following:
Discuss how the solution will improve the performance of the health care organization.
Contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the broader health care ecosystem and discuss how such problems or opportunities can be addressed in other organizations.
DHA711 Administration Of Complex Health Care Systems
Week 8 Assignment
End-of-Course Reflection on Complex Health Care Systems Concepts and Professional Development
Upon completion of this assignment, you will have articulated the systems theories and concepts from this course that made the greatest impression on you. You will also share how you plan on further developing your systems thinking knowledge and skills during your doctoral and professional journeys.
Reflect on the theories and concepts covered in this course.
Create a 2- to 3-minute video in which you answer the following questions:
Which complex health care systems theories or concepts resonated the most with you? Describe them in your own words.
Why did these theories/concepts resonate with you?
How has your way of thinking about the health care organization changed?
How do you plan on further developing your understanding of these theories/concepts and applying them as a scholar-practitioner-leader?
