Courses in the School of Public Health

School of Public Health

Courses

Epidemiology

• EPID 7200 - Advanced Epidemiologic Methods

  [3 Credits]

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  Students will explore methodological issues in epidemiology like measurement error, missing data, intermediate variables, complex study designs, meta-analysis, splines, propensity scores, simulation. Exercises with provided data sets and the student’s own data will be included. Prerequisite: EPID 6226 , BIOS 6210 .
• EPID 7202 - Grantsmanship and Proposal Development for Epidemiologic Research

  [3 Credits]

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  This course covers the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary for effective proposal development and grant writing. Included are sources of grant opportunities and funding and how to find them as well as identification of appropriate study questions and approaches for a given grant or funding target. Development and articulation of effective background documentation, rationale, research design, budgeting and budget justification and IRB process will be covered in the context of the mechanics of the grant submission process, including the key elements that reviewers use in evaluating a grant. As part of the course, students will develop a research question and prepare a grant application and budget, addressing the selected topic including the relevant IRB and HIPAA documents.
• EPID 7350 - Evolution of Epidemiologic Theory and Methods

  [3 Credits]

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  This course will examine the development of modern epidemiological concepts from the 19th to the 21st century. The course will utilize weekly readings and discussions of original key papers. Emphasis will be placed on exploring the links between epidemiological methods, concepts of disease and public health practice. Prerequisite: EPID 6226 , BIOS 6102.
• EPID 7351 - Sampling and Survey Methods

  [2 Credits]

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  Designed for doctoral degree students, this course will focus on sampling and survey methodology. First, sampling will be covered with emphasis on the practical problems of sample design, which will provide students with an understanding of principles and practice in skills required to select subjects and analyze sample data. Topics covered include stratified, clustered, systematic, and multi-stage sample designs, unequal probabilities and probabilities proportional to size, area and telephone sampling, sampling errors, and practical designs and procedures (e.g., non-response, coverage). The second phase of the course will focus on data collection, including the design of questions and questionnaires used in survey research as well as various survey techniques. Topics include techniques for measuring past, current, and future behaviors and events, the effects of question wording and cognitive guidelines for question construction, response formats and question sequence on responses, an introduction to the psychometric perspectives in multi-item scale design, strategies for obtaining sensitive or personal information, issues in translating questionnaires, and an introduction to techniques for testing survey questions. Methods and modes (e.g., face-to-face, telephone, mail, web-based) of data collection will be covered and compared, including self-completion versus interview surveys, alternative methods such as diaries, administrative records, and direct observation, and current advances in computer-assisted survey data collection (e.g., CAPI, CATI).
• EPID 7410 - Teaching Practicum

  [1-3 Credits]

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  This course will provide doctoral students in epidemiology with supervised teaching experience to develop their teaching skills. This experience will come primarily from serving in the role of teaching assistants for epidemiology courses. Developmental workshops and materials offered by the LSU Health Sciences Center’s Academy for the Advancement of Educational Scholarship and other resources will be incorporated as part of the training experience. Prerequisite: EPID 6226 .
• EPID 7700 - Epidemiology Seminar II – Doctoral

  [1-2 Credits]

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  This seminar series provides exposure to current research and special topics of interest in epidemiology. Doctoral students participating for credit will be expected to lead at least one session. Prerequisite: EPID 6210 .
• EPID 7900 - Dissertation Research

  [15 Credits]

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  (P/F) For PhD candidates who are conducting research for their dissertation. Prerequisite: Successful completion of the oral qualifying examination.

Health Policy & Systems Management

• HPSM 6225 - Health Outcomes Research

  [3 Credits]

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  The purpose of this course is to help students understand outcomes research and to provide background on the basic tools used in outcomes studies. It will also enable students to critically review and use outcomes data for clinical decision-making as well as health care program planning and evaluation.
• HPSM 6248 - Organizational Behavior

  [3 Credits]

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  This focus of this course is upon individual and small group behavior and communication among employers, employees, hospitals, clinics, academic medical centers, insurance companies, HMOs and PPOs. The topics addressed in classes pertain to issues of management within the changing health care market.
• HPSM 6258 - Healthcare Law and Ethics

  [3 Credits]

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  This comprehensive course addresses the principles and practice of health law and the relationship of health law and regulations to medical ethics. Subject matter encompasses federal and state laws and regulations that relate to the health professions and to provider organizations including professional liability, informed consent, rationing of health care, referral relationships, genetic testing, end of life issues and others. Emphasis will be placed on application of these principles, laws, and regulations to evolving systems of providing and financing health care in the United States.
• HPSM 6268 - Health Services Administration and Management

  [3 Credits]

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  This course is designed to provide public health and health professional students with an introduction to the skills needed to manage and lead health care and public health programs, organizations and systems with an emphasis on planning and execution. The key activities (planning, deciding, communicating, controlling), competencies (conceptual, technical, interpersonal, political and entrepreneurial), roles (interpersonal, informational, decisional) and obligations (to individuals, the public, third parties, employers and profession) and the disciplines of resource management (human, organizational, financial) and quality and cost management will provide a theoretical and practical framework for the analysis of cases from the public and private sectors. The course is focused on what public health and health professionals need to know in all areas of practice today and includes overviews of the topics, case presentations, and study questions.
• HPSM 6269 - Healthcare Economics and Economic Evaluation of Healthcare Services

  [3 Credits]

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  The purpose of this course is to give students an overview of the major economic considerations in the health care industry and to demonstrate how economic ideas are crucial to an understanding of the functioning of the health care system from both policy (external) and health care management (internal) points of view. There will be a strong emphasis both on economic theory and on empirical studies of the various topics and on economic evaluation of health care programs including cost effectiveness, benefit and utility analysis. Prerequisite: HPSM 6268 .
• HPSM 6270 - Financial Management and Accounting in Healthcare Organizations

  [3 Credits]

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  This course introduces the most-used tools and techniques of health care financial management, including health care accounting and financial statements; managing cash, billings and collections; making major capital investments; determining cost and using cost information in decision-making; budgeting and performance measurement; and pricing.
• HPSM 6271 - Principles of Healthcare Quality

  [3 Credits]

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  This course will serve as a survey of the major concepts of quality in healthcare and the basic techniques used in planning, controlling and improving quality in healthcare in order to equip students to understand the multiple dynamics at work in quality issues.
• HPSM 6272 - Methods in Healthcare Quality

  [3 Credits]

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  This course is an in-depth presentation of methods and techniques for evaluating, monitoring, and improving the quality of healthcare. General approaches to the measurement of healthcare quality will be presented first. Report cards and provider profiles will then be discussed. After discussion of visual display of information, topics in statistical process control will be discussed in detail. Specific issues in healthcare measurement will then follow. A session will be devoted to patient satisfaction surveys. Additional sessions will concentrate on functional status measurement. Prerequisite: BIOS 6100.
• HPSM 6273 - Information Systems in Healthcare

  [3 Credits]

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  This course examines the rapidly evolving discipline of health informatics in the complex and diverse world of healthcare. The course will review the history, current applications, and the potential future of information, information management and information technology, including data acquisition, storage and processing; information systems (clinical and administrative); standards; security; decision support; and an understanding of medical/health informatics methods and principles.
• HPSM 6274 - Marketing in Healthcare

  [3 Credits]

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  This course provides an introduction to nature of healthcare markets, healthcare consumers and consumer behavior, marketing strategies and techniques, market research, sources of market data and the future of healthcare marketing.
• HPSM 6275 - Human Resources Management in Healthcare

  [2 Credits]

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  This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of human resources management in a wide array of health care organizations at the corporate, departmental, team and individual level and to gain an appreciation for the distinct roles that managers and human resource professionals play in resolving conflicts and dealing with other human resources issues.
• HPSM 6276 - Organizational Leadership

  [3 Credits]

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  This course studies collaborative leadership and the personalities and traits of effective leaders. Effective leaders work across boundaries in today’s world. Leaders in public health recognize that collaboration among organizations and people from diverse backgrounds is necessary to achieve successful health outcomes on the individual, community and national levels. The course explores how leaders achieve this and analyzes the differences between leadership and authority, the personality traits of successful leaders and the characteristics of the organizations they lead. The course uses the case study method where real situations are presented in which the leader must make decisions. The case studies, the supporting literature and personal experiences provide the material for learning.
• HPSM 6277 - Health Advocacy and Community Based Activism

  [2 Credits]

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  The purpose of this course is to consider public health issues that have social, political, and economic determinants and to examine how health professionals can promote change through advocacy and activism. The course consists of 3 parts, which are intertwined. The first part covers social epidemiology, a history of the U.S. health system and the role of government in health care, and the principles of organizing for social change. The second part builds on this foundation taking up the most important issues of the day. Perspectives are provided by visiting faculty who have played leadership roles in solving problems on the front lines. The third part is like the second but is based on readings with discussions led by students.
• HPSM 6288 - Health Policy and Law

  [3 Credits]

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  This course explores the formation, implementation, and evaluation of health policy, and the impact on the delivery of health services. The purpose of the course is to enable the student to more effectively participate in health related policy and political deliberations.
• HPSM 6289 - The Role of Government in Health and Health Care

  [3 Credits]

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  This course examines the role of government in improving access to healthcare, controlling the costs, and improving the quality and safety of healthcare. The impact of recent developments in the private and public sectors including changes in the provider and payer systems and the experience of other countries with different systems for organizing and financing will be examined. Special topics will include prescription drugs, mental health services, long-term care and HIV. Prerequisite: HPSM 6288 
• HPSM 6290 - Public Health Law, Ethics, and Human Rights

  [2 Credits]

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  This course examines the legal powers and duties of the state that exist to assure the conditions for people to be healthy and the limits on that power to constrain the autonomy, privacy, liberty, proprietary, or other legally protected interests of individuals for protection or promotion of community health. Consideration is given to the role of the state from legal and ethical perspectives, to the application of ethical principles to populations as well as individuals and to the inherent rights that exist for all humans to a healthy life.
• HPSM 6292 - Health Policy Analysis

  [3 Credits]

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  This course focuses on key issues, concepts, arenas and actors in decision making for health policy. Decision models will be used to describe, explain, and predict behavior and health outcomes. The policy analysis methods include: forecasting, case method, technology, political feasibility, and economic viability assessments. Whether descriptive or analytical, the objective of any policy analysis is better understanding of information through research and actions taken by key stakeholders in the health arena. This course will teach students about government intervention to correct market failures and regulation of the health sector. For example, the US political-economy pressures government officials to respond to demands for federal entitlement programs, private-sector health benefit programs, alternative health policy approaches, and regulation of health services. Regulatory mechanisms governing healthcare industries are explored.
• HPSM 6400 - Independent Study

  [1-3 Credits]

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  This course provides the student an opportunity to study a topic in depth while under the guidance of a faculty member. The focus of the course will be a specific aspect of a public health discipline, which is not the primary focus of exiting public health courses. The course will involve directed readings and may require completion of a paper or study project that provides evidence of comprehension and professional proficiency in the area studied. Independent Study may only be taken for a maximum of 3 credit hours toward the MPH Degree.
• HPSM 6600 - Culminating Experience/Capstone in Health Policy and Systems Management

  [3 Credits]

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  All professional degree programs identified in the instructional matrix shall assure that each student demonstrates skills and integration of knowledge through a culminating experience. A culminating experience is one that requires a student to synthesize and integrate knowledge acquired in coursework and other learning experiences and to apply theory and principles in a situation that approximates some aspect of professional practice. Prerequisite: BIOS 6100 Biostatistical Methods I, (BIOS lab) OR BIOS 6200Principles of Applied Statistics ; EPID 6210Principles of Epidemiology ; ENHS 6238Principles of Environmental Health ; BCHS 6212Behavioral Science Theories in Public Health Practice ; and
  HPSM 6268Health Services Administration and Management
   .

Interdisciplinary Courses

• PUBH 6201 - Geographic Information Systems for Health Care

  [3 Credits]

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  This course provides a solid foundation in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), explaining basic concepts and demonstrating how to implement core data analysis techniques. In this course, students will learn what GIS are; why GIS should be used in public health, and how GIS can be used to map and analyze the geographical distributions of populations at risk, health outcomes, and risk factors, to explore associations between risk factors and health outcomes.
• PUBH 6221 - Foundations of Public Health Ethics

  [1 Credit]

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  This course will examine public health issues in light of scientific, moral and political considerations including autonomy, individual rights, coercion, justice, community, the common good, the norms of research, and multi-cultural values. The student will obtain a working knowledge ethics of the skills in public health ethics to explain and apply them in the professional life of the public health practitioner including consent, privacy, responsibility to the community, the operations of an internal review board, the rights of the individual. The application of ethics over a range of public health issues will be delivered from an historical perspective from ancient Greece to present day.
• PUBH 6500 - Special Topics

  [1-3 Credits]

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  Public health topic taught and credit assigned by public health teaching faculty member.
• PUBH 6600 - Culminating Experience/Capstone

  [3 Credits]

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  (P/F) All professional degree programs identified in the instructional matrix shall assure that each student demonstrates skills and integration of knowledge through a culminating experience. A culminating experience is one that requires a student to synthesize and integrate knowledge acquired in coursework and other learning experiences and to apply theory and principles in a situation that approximates some aspect of professional practice. Prerequisite: BIOS 6100 Biostatistical Methods or BIOS 6200 - Principles of Applied Statistics ; EPID 6210 - Principles of Epidemiology ; ENHS 6238 - Principles of Environmental Health ; BCHS 6212 - Behavioral Science Theories in Public Health Practice ; and HPSM 6268 - Health Services Administration and Management .
• PUBH 6800 - Practice Experience

  [3 Credits]

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  (P/F) The Practice Experience is a fieldwork project or activity that immerses the student in one or more aspects of public health operations under the guidance of a preceptor. The fieldwork is to be taken in its entirety within one semester. Required for all MPH students. Prerequisite: Students must complete at least 10 public health credits (including the EPID and BIOS core courses and the core course from the students’ home program) satisfactorily before a student may begin his/her practice experience.