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Module 1 Discussion |
The discussion question for this module is a series
of questions related to a case study found in Chapter 1 of the text. Please
answer all three questions (found below) in your initial response.
Chapter 1 (pp 7-15): CASE STUDY—GROUP HEALTH
EAST (GHE)
- 100,000-member
managed care organization - Mixed
model - 55-year-old
administrator (Mr. Jones) - Two
large multi-specialty groups, each with a separate clinic - 500
individual MDs in community - Affiliated
with two major hospitals in Boston - Each
clinic maintains a functional design - Two
divisions (support services and clinical services) - Considering
moving to a “matrix model”
Initial Discussion Questions:
- What
are the advantages and disadvantages of a matrix model for GHE in terms of
direct and indirect costs, as well as benefits such as improved
coordination? - How
many product lines should the organization identify? - How
should the organization determine which product lines ought to maintain
separate identities as part of the matrix design?
Be sure in your initial response you support your
findings and post with at least two quality, primary sources,
which may include you textbook. Cite and reference your sources.
(write 5-6 sentence summaries for each question).
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Module 2 Discussion |
The discussion question for this module is a series
of questions related to a case study found in Chapter 3 of the text. Please
answer all three questions (found below) in your initial response.
Chapter 3: CASE STUDY (3.2)—Breast Cancer Screening
In Case Study 3.2 in the text, Pisano and colleagues (2006) compared the
performance of digital to film mammography for breast cancer screening. Now
assume that the sensitivity and specificity of digital mammography is 85% and
95% respectively, the sensitivity and specificity of film mammography is 55%
and 85% respectively, and that 0.03% of women below the age of 50 have breast
cancer, and 12% of symptomatic women have breast cancer.
Initial Discussion Questions:
- How
successful is film mammography in identifying women with breast cancer, or
ruling out the disease in women without breast cancer? - Are
there any recent advances (previous 5 years) that could improve the
success rates? If so, please explain what they are.
Be sure in your initial response you support your
findings and post with at least two quality, primary sources,
which may include you textbook. Cite and reference your sources.
(write 5-6 sentence summaries for each question).
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Module 3 Discussion |
The discussion question for this module is a series
of questions related to a case study found in Chapter 3 of the text. Please
answer all three questions (found below) in your initial response.
Chapter 5: CASE STUDY (5.3)—Inpatient Quality of Care Indicators for
Bluegrass Hospital
Suppose that the Kentucky Hospital Association (KHA) decided to provide a
service to its member hospitals by using the inpatient claims database to
calculate inpatient quality of care indicators for each
hospital. They provide a report to each hospital comparing them to national
norms. Table 5.5 presents some of these indicators for Bluegrass Hospital, a
fictional 200-bed hospital located in Central Kentucky. Upon receiving this
report, Bluegrass Hospital organizes a quality improvement (QI) team to
evaluate and develop recommendations.
Initial Discussion Questions:
- From
an evaluation of the report card only, Bluegrass Hospital would seem to be
deficient in which areas? Why? - Since
the report is based on an evaluation of administrative data, what should
the first course of action be? Why?
Research an inpatient quality of care indicator and
provide a 5-6 sentence summary of an article from peer
reviewed literature that describes how performance on that indicator can
be improved upon.
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Module 4 Discussion |
Clinical, research and managerial epidemiologists
deal in risk. Risk is the chance that a person may or may not develop the
condition, with or without exposure, in a defined time period. There
is more than one type of risk.
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Type of Risk |
Absolute risk(incidence, prevalence) |
Relative risk (RR)(Odds Ratio) |
Attributable |
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Risk Objective |
To |
To |
To |
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Example |
Birth/death |
What |
Increase/decrease |
- What
do we know about the absolute, relative risk and attributable risk of
smoking and lung cancer? - How
may this knowledge help in private and public health epidemiology?
Be sure in your initial response to provide at
least two examples from peer reviewed literature that expound upon
this relationship (write 5-6 sentence summaries for each article).
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Module 5 Discussion |
The cost effectiveness analysis (CEA) is one type
of a benefit analysis tool used in managerial epidemiology. Others
include cost-utility, cost-effectiveness, cost-consequence, and cost of
illness. Since medical quality and health services have a high individual
perception regarding value, different stakeholders will have different
perspectives when performing and interpreting a CEA. Different decision
makers, i.e., physicians, administrators, employers, payers, government and
other public and private officials all have varying
perspectives. Therefore, it is the common perspective that is generally
most useful when making comparisons among the various interpretations of the
CEA or other cost/benefit analysis results and outcomes.
- Where
does the CEA fit into public health and clinical epidemiological
research, as well as, health services research? - What
are some examples and characteristics of medical cost and effectiveness
measures?
Be sure in your initial response to provide at
least two examples from peer reviewed literature that further clarify
or illustrate your response (write 5-6 sentence summaries for each article).
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Module 6 Discussion |
How research is designed is important to its
validity. In research, and particularly government funded research, the
Institutional Review Board is the authority on requirements for research
design.
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DHHS, Institutional Review Board |
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A. Introduction |
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B. Observation |
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J. Assignment of |
Four common research designs used in
epidemiological studies are cohort, case control, longitudinal, and
cross-sectional studies. However, there are also prospective and
retrospective, quantitative, qualitative and quasi (mixed) research
designs. Data is what drives medical research and its
design. Medical research drives scientific findings that ultimately
result in improving human health. All of the various research study
designs that fall into either descriptive or analytical epidemiology.
All research studies fall into either descriptive or analytical
epidemiology.
- What
are those study designs and how are they defined? - What
are the strengths and weaknesses of each of the designs you have
defined?
Be sure in your initial response to provide at
least two examples from peer reviewed literature that further clarify
or illustrate your response (write 5-6 sentence summaries for each article).
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Module 7 Discussion |
In last week’s discussion, we looked at types of
research designs. This week, we will look at requirements of designs
using real people, i.e., the clinical trials.
Office for Human Research Protections
(OHRP)
- There
are two types of clinical studies, i.e., clinical trials and observational
studies. How do they differ and provide examples of each? - Who
can participate in a clinical study and what is the process to protect
them from harm?
Be sure in your initial response to provide at
least two examples from peer reviewed literature that helps to
support your position (write 5-6 sentence summaries for each article).
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Module 8 Discussion |
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Disease may be classified as
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Be sure in your initial response to provide at
least two examples from peer reviewed literature that helps to
support your position (write 5-6 sentence summaries for each article).
