Trinity University HCAD Herald

In the HCAD's on-campus graduate program, first-year students occasionally take part in what are called "Briefcase Studies" as part of their Health Services Organization & Policy course. In these brief case studies (hence, "Briefcase Studies"), students are provided with a scenario in which they are broken into groups and play roles according to that scenario as they work in a short time frame to identify a policy solution or strategy.  For example, in one Briefcase Study, teams represented major hospital-based providers in the fictional market of Trinity Falls, and they were given the task of determining outpatient service location strategies based upon the characteristics of the local market and the characteristics of the organization they were assigned to.  Most recently, students participated in a Briefcase Study in which they were divided into three groups: Federal policymakers, state policymakers, and local policymakers.  Within these three groups, ind...

As part of their administrative residency experiences, Trinity HCAD students complete monthly journal entries in which they reflect upon their past experiences and look ahead to the future.  Our students are doing great and exciting things throughout their residencies, and from time to time we like to share with others what they've shared with us as they document their lives as administrative residents.  The following is an account of one of our students, Wil, and his experiences this past October as a resident at a major Texas hospital system. The first week of October was my last week at one of our system's facilities. This was bittersweet, because though I thoroughly enjoyed my rotation at this facility, I know that my next rotation will be beneficial and educational as well. One of my main goals of this week was to successfully hand off my project to the facilities manager. I read an article which stated the mark of a successful leader is when someone else can come ...

The first-year students are working hard on their departmental projects that are due the first week of December. The goal of the project is to develop a comprehensive understanding of how departments of a hospital function. Each group, comprised of 2-3 members, is responsible for studying a specific sector assigned by Dr. Schumacher.  In addition to reading academic journals and periodicals, the groups will interview department heads and clinicians to gain a full understanding on how these departments measure themselves and the technology they use.  First-year students  pose with Tom Malone, Chief of Nutritional Services as the VA Hugh, Mariah, and Aashini are currently visiting and learning about the dietary departments of hospitals. After the students become "experts" in their respective departments, they will present their findings to Dr. Schumacher, Dr. Kim, and the first-year class in early December.