Instructions

Read the questions carefully and be sure you understand the full intent of the questions before responding. You must answer both sections A and B. Briefly sketch your responses to questions before writing. The page limitations apply to the entire section (i.e., 8 double spaced pages for section A and 7 double spaced pages for section B) and you may allocate that page limit across the questions as you see fit. Font size is the equivalent of 12 point pica. There is no penalty for submitting a response that is less than the page limit. However, I will not read or count any response more than the prescribed page limit in any section (including footnotes). The content of the response and its organization are much more important than the length of the response or the number of words.

Please post your responses in your personal assignment folder under "Final Exam". All examinations are due no later than Wednesday, August 15, 2012, at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time. (But I will be happy to get them earlier than the deadline!) Good luck!

Examination Questions
A. Short Answers. (45 Points) Please respond to three of the following four (4) questions. (15 Points for each response). Responses are limited to eight (8) typed pages.

1. Employing the contemporary fable "The Ambulance in the Valley" (see below) as a case study, respond to the following questions:

a) How was the boundary set and how did this decision define "the problem"? How else could the boundary have been set?
b) How does the establishment of the boundary establish the preferred interventions?
c) In debating the choice, how was the success/failure of the intervention assessed?

2. The manager's essential job is to solve organizational problems and fulfill human needs through people working cooperatively. Unfortunately, schools, professors, and books can help you prepare yourself for the job but can't make you a manager. As you reflect at the completion of your graduate program, what are the most effective skills and personal attributes that you most need to develop in the next 3 to 5 years?

3. Assume that you (as a newly minted graduate of a health care program) have been invited to give a presentation to a local civic association on the major issues facing the health care industry over the next 5 years. Identify and rank order the five (5) key points that you would emphasize to the group. Briefly indicate your rationale for choosing and emphasizing each point.

4. Given the very wide range of information that you have been exposed to throughout your graduate program, develop a question that allows you to explore a topic related to leadership that is important to you (it could be something that you have learned a good deal about and need to organize your thinking, or it could be something that interests you but needs some research and/or thought). You must also answer the question. You will be graded on the quality of both the question and the answer.

AND

B. Case Study (55 Points) (Maximum seven (7) typed double-spaced pages)

Utilize the Surburban Health Center case by Burce Evans and George Cooley in the Rakich, Longest, and Darr Case Study book (pp. 357-360). Apply the case study guide you used for your management case study in the first part of this course as the framework for responding to the case. I want to know the issues, problems, options and your specific recommendation(s) the problem that Helen Lawson is having in her new job as supervisor in the Suburban Health Center.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed the Health Care Administration Capstone Course online. I hope my approach to organizing and delivering this class was a valuable learning experience for you. I hope you will especially comment on the utility of the chat session format in your course evaluation; I want to continue to use this learning format in the future, but only if you found it to be a valuable and fun learning tool. It really has been a pleasure working with you during the semester.

By the way, congratulations on completing the formal phase of your graduate education. Take the learning plan to heart and see this as just one important step in your lifelong search for personal and professional improvement and fulfillment. Just remember, it is the journey not the result that makes life worthwhile. I wish all of you much success as you continue in your career.

Sincerely, soon to be your colleague (no longer professor!), Steve Clauser.

See the poem for Section A below.

The Ambulance in the Valley

'Twere a dangerous cliff, and it fair scared folks stiff, But the view from the top was so pleasant,
That they swallowed their fear, and there crashed down each year Full many a squire and peasant.
"Sunthing's got to be done." Said the people as one, But answers did not at all tally.
Some said, "Put a fence 'round the edge of the cliff."
Some, "An ambulance down in the valley!"

Debate raged and stormed, and a Study was formed, An they might have been arguing yet,
But solution was found: "Let's pass the hat 'round, And see how much money we get."
A collection was made to accumulate aid And the dwellers in byway and alley
Gave pounds, shillings and pence - not to furnish a fence But an ambulance down in the valley.

"For the cliff is all right if you're careful," they said;
"And if folks ever slip and are dropping,
It isn't the slipping that hurts them so much As the shock down below when they're stopping."
So for years (you'll have heard) as these mishaps occurred Quick forth would the rescuers sally,
To pick up the victims who fell from the cliff,
With the ambulance down in the valley.

There said on finally, "It's a marvel to me, That we give so much greater attention
To repairing results than to curing the cause; We had much better aim at prevention.
For the mischief, of course, should be stopped at its source, Come, neighbors and friends let us rally,
'Tis far better sense to rely on a fence,
Than an ambulance down in the valley."

"He is wrong in his head," the majority said; "He would end all our earnest endeavor.
He's a man who would shirk this responsible work But we will support it forever.
Aren't we picking up all, just as fast as they fall, And giving them care liberally?
It's plain that a fence is of no consequence, If the ambulance works in the valley.?

Thank you again for enrolling in the class. I hope you enjoy the summer. Have a great graduation and good luck in the future!

Steve