Trinity University HCAD Herald

On Monday, February 9 th , the first-year graduate students took a tour of the Toyota Manufacturing Facility here in San Antonio. They began by watching a short video on the history of the facility. Shortly after, they were greeted by their tour guide. While on the tram, the students were able to see how the Kaizen and Lean methodology are utilized in the production of Toyota Tacomas and Toyota Tundras over 2.2 million square feet.   They were taken to the Body Weld Shop, the Plastics Shop, and viewed overhead conveyors transport the trucks from Paint to the Final Line in assembly. Overall, this was a great experience. It allowed the first year students to see first-hand how Kaizen and Lean is successfully done. As future healthcare administrators, understanding process improvement techniques and incorporating them is not only challenging, yet is fundamental for an efficiently operated hospital.  

Dr. Shay's Wednesday morning class was split 50/50 with normal class lecture and activities by a guest lecture from Dr. Aubree Shay on Health Behavior Theory. Dr. Aubree Shay is a Trinity Undergrad with a Degree from Univeristy of Texas in Social work and her P.h.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University. Class lecture from Dr. Shay covered specific health behaviors that were assigned to groups. The groups discussed in depth the influences that effect health behaviors both on the individual, family, community, organization, and society levels. Dr. Shay also discussed in depth the Theory of Planned Behaviors and the Transtheoretical Model(TTM). Dr. Aubree Shay Presenting on the Theories of Health Behavior

The first-year graduate students are eager to be back on campus! They are excited to work on the various projects, case studies and presentations this semester holds. In addition, many students are beginning to volunteer or intern at the local hospitals throughout the San Antonio area. Mr. John Hornbeak has played a pivotal role in helping the students find these internships and volunteer experiences. We would like to thank him for his time and help.    Justin and Dolapo battle it out! Patrick- the official score keeper This is the first time that these students will be taught by Dr. Kaissi this school year. They began their semester by participating in a game of healthcare jeopardy! The teams “US” vs. “THEM” played against each other in a friendly competition. I think the class can all agree that we greatly lack knowledge in the category "Medical TV Shows!"

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.  

First year students: Rebecca, Christina, Emily, Anna and Caroline We would like to extend our gratitude to AnneMarie Witecki, Megan Powe and Patra Katsigiannis for inviting the first-year students to the Women’s Forum on Thursday, October 30 th .  We were fortunate to listen to Keynote Speaker, Christann Vasquez, President of Seton Medical Center and a prominent figure in the health care industry.  Following our discussion with Ms. Vasquez, the students formed small discussion groups to speak about the challenges that females have in executive and leadership positions. The session ended with the opportunity for students to ask questions to a panel of successful Trinity Alumni including Xochy Hurtado, Tina Ortega, and Leah Spann-Lacy.  Many of the questions focused on work-life balance, raising children while in the work force, and the general challenges that women face in the business world.  Overall, this was a very informative and engaging session. W...