Bachelor of Health Science

BHS Course Curriculum

The program requires that a minimum of 33 semester hours of course work (including 24 semester hours of required core course work) be completed through the NSU B.H.Sc. program. A minimum total of 120 semester hours, of which 30 semester hours must fulfill general education requirements, are required in order to graduate with the B.H.Sc. degree

The B.H.Sc. program is designed for completion in a distance-learning format and requires no on-campus time. The course work is professor-paced using web-based delivery.

The curriculum is designed to build upon the existing knowledge base of the health care professional while focusing on the overall health care picture. Leadership, diversity, and conflict resolution are but a few of the areas covered in the curriculum.

Course Number	Course Title	Credits
BHS 2999	Introduction to Health Professions In this course, students will explore health professions beyond traditional career paths, such as osteopathic/allopathic medicine and dentistry. Students will learn about various health professions and their education requirements through hands-on experience and lectures by practicing professionals. This course will cover the following professions: anesthesiologist assistant, audiology, nursing, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant, respiratory therapy, sonography, and speech-language pathology.	3
BHS 3000	Improving of Healthcare through Interprofessional Collaboration The purpose of this course is to inform students of the steps for advancing patient safety, quality of care while minimizing cost through interprofessional practice. The course will explore health care roles and relationships as they interact with other providers, patients and families within communities.	3
BHS 3100	Current Issues in Health Care This course discusses current issues and concepts regarding health care to prepare the student with the essential vocabulary and thought processes to understand and evaluate the legal, political and ethical challenges facing health care in the US.	3
BHS 3101	History of the US Health System This course will examine the origins and ongoing development of the US health system. Students will gain historical understanding of the origins and forces that have influenced change within the US health care system.	3
BHS 3110	Health Care Ethics (Required) This course is designed to introduce ethical thinking and concepts regarding health care to prepare the student with the essential vocabulary and thought processes to understand, evaluate and participate in ethical decision making.	3
BHS 3120	Introduction to Epidemiology (Required) The purpose of this course is to introduce the history and development of epidemiology in relation to public health and disease. Communicable, epidemic and endemic as well as social disease will be discussed.	3
BHS 3130	Research Design in Health Care This course is designed as an introduction to basic research methods in health care. The student should gain an understanding of current, ongoing research in the field of health services. Research design and program evaluation will be discussed with emphasis on practical applications in health care settings.	3
BHS 3140	Health Care Practice The purpose of this course is to study the legal implications of licensing, practice, and contractual employment. The importance of understanding rules of practice and standards of care are discussed	3
BHS 3150	Principles of Leadership (Required) This course will provide an overview of numerous leadership theories to prepare the student for a leadership role in Health Care. The course will critically analyze the differences between leadership and management	3
BHS 3151	Health Services Management This course will provide an overview of health care and general management to prepare the student for a managerial role in Health Care administration. Course topics include human resource issues and policy, personnel planning, staffing, development, coaching and training of employees.	3
BHS 3155	Conflict Resolution in Health Care (Required) The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of the conflict and effective methods and strategies for reducing the incidence of workplace conflict including employee-employee conflict, supervisor subordinate conflict, patient-patient conflict and patient/client provider conflict.	3
BHS 3160	Health Policy (Required) This course provides the student with a broad understanding of policy, how health care is organized, dispensed and how the practitioner can better work in the system. Topics of discussion include cost control, long term care, quality control, ethical issues and insurance.	3
BHS 3161	Concepts of Health Care Finance The course introduces the fundamental tools, concepts, and applications aimed at providing students an understanding of numerous financial theories and techniques utilized in health care financial management. The course materials are structured around emerging health care policies and the role finance and economics play in establishing policy. Cases studies are drawn from a variety of sources such as health maintenance organizations, home health agencies, nursing units, hospitals, and integrated health care systems. Some topics of discussion also include: concepts of capital financing for providers, budgeting, financial ethics, payment systems, provider costs, high cost of health care, and measuring costs.	3
BHS 3162	Economics of Health Care Services This course will teach the student to use economic analysis to understand critical issues in health care and health policy. Issues to be studied include the demand for health care, health insurance markets, managed care, medical technology, government health care programs, national health reform, and the pharmaceutical industry. The course will focus on the US health care sector, but will also examine the health care systems of other countries.	3
BHS 3170	Health Care Delivery Systems This course is designed as an introduction to health care plans that are underwritten by the federal government as well as selected private HMO's. Topics will include Medicare, Medicaid, Public Health, Indian Health Service, Veteran's Administration, Military Health Systems and Managed Care. An understanding of the social, political and professional forces that shape the health care delivery system will be discussed	3
BHS 3180	Interprofessional Collaboration The purpose of this course is to explore interprofessional health care relationships and communication approaches for effective teamwork and collaboration. Looking at behaviors in teamwork and communication for collaboration to prevent gaps in communication during transitional points. Fundamentals of teamwork and communication using the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Note: BHS 3000 is required as a pre-requisite or co-requisite with this course.	3
BHS 3190	Patient Education in Health Care Patient education is an integral part of health care in every setting, from patient treatment, to health and wellness promotion, to injury and illness prevention. The focus of this course is to explore the many issues that impact patient education, from both a health care professional and management perspective. Adult education theory, patient/practitioner interaction, communication barriers, strategies for success, web-based patient education, documentation, federal laws and initiatives and standards for patient education are some of the topics that will be examined.	3
BHS 3195	Therapeutic Communications for Health Care Professionals This course covers a variety of general concepts and contemporary discussions in the area of therapeutic communications. Attention is paid to self-awareness, basic communication skills, and therapeutic responses from all health care professionals.	3
BHS 4000	Cultural Competency in Health Care (Required) The purpose of this course is to develop competency and better understanding when confronted with issues related to culture, diversity and ethnically based customs, rituals, alternative health care choices, folk medicine, cultural structure and viewpoints and the practitioner's delivery of health care.	3
BHS 4001	Individuals with Disabilities and Special Needs With the continued graying of the American population and the extending life expectancy of individuals with disabilities there are a growing number of individuals facing chronic life challenges. These individuals are consumers of health care. It is incumbent on health care providers to understand how different challenges affect a person's abilities. Topics of discussion include: laws that impact services, the history of disability care, and specific disabilities and their impact on functioning.	3
BHS 4002	Social Marketing and Healthcare This course is designed to familiarize students with communication strategies for changing consumer health behavior. The course will examine how to structure, develop, and evaluate health communication interventions that can bring about population-level behavior change. It will begin with an overview of health communication and how it influences health behaviors and outcomes, both positively and negatively. Next, communication strategies for reducing health disparities for different vulnerable and at-risk populations will be explored with a primary focus on social marketing as an effective health communication strategy. Students will learn how to use formative research methods to gather consumer information required for program design and evaluate social marketing campaigns. Finally, this class will cover the role of interprofessional collaborations in developing, administering, and evaluating a social marketing campaign using a step-by-step format. Frequency: TBD.	3
BHS 4005	Alternative and Integrative Medicines in Health Care This course examines and analyzes alternative and integrative medicines and their impact on the healthcare industry. The approach to the subject is to present selected alternative and integrative medicine fields in an informative, non-judgmental format. Example topics include acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal medicine, homeopathy, massage and naturopathic medicine	3
BHS 4006	Fundamentals of Chinese Medicine This course will discuss and analyze the impact, origins and background of Chinese medicine. It is important to enter this class with an open mind, and understand that there are other forms of treatment for disease, different than those taught in westernized medicine programs. Critical analysis of the meridians and pathways and various signs and symptoms associated with disease will be covered.	3
BHS 4009	Sports Medicine Principles and Practice This course will present a study of athletic injuries and the principle concepts and practices of Sports Medicine including discussion of; prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. The major musculoskeletal portions of the body will be covered, major preventive measures will be studied, and the major sports injuries will be addressed. The course will identify the medical treatments associated with the major sports injuries.	3
BHS 4010	Health Promotion and Disease Prevention This course develops the knowledge and skills needed to work with communities to improve health status of the community. Major topics will include health promotion and disease prevention. Special emphasis will be placed on the "Healthy People 2020" initiatives.	3
BHS 4011	Bioterrorism: Health Care Readiness and Response This course uses a systems perspective to provide health professionals with an understanding of the prevention and response to the intentional release of harmful biologic agents. Category A diseases will be reviewed including anthrax and smallpox. Risk assessment and reduction for health care facilities will be discussed. The structure of public disaster response agencies and the potential difficulties integrating with privately-held critical infrastructure will be evaluated. Tactics and structural components from the class can also be used in unintentional outbreaks to reduce their impact.	3
BHS 4012	Torture, Violence and Trauma - Health Care's Healing Role This course provides an overview of the physical and psychological effects of torture, violence, and trauma. It focuses on the relationship between health care professionals and victims of human rights violations. Discussion topics include the detection, treatment and documentation of victims of these events. The course examines the role health care as it relates to incidents of torture, violence and trauma.	3
BHS 4013	Global Issues in Human Trafficking This undergraduate level course is designed to raise awareness and knowledge of the global, national and local issue of human trafficking and contemporary slavery. Students will acquire important terminology related to the issue, and recognize the various forms human trafficking can take domestically and globally. Physical and psychological impact of exploitation on the victims and traffickers recruitment methods will also be explored. Students will research the role that private citizens, professionals, government agencies, the media or faith-based organizations can play in addressing the issue.	3
BHS 4020	Topics in Maternal Child Health The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) issues and topic areas. One to two MCH topics will be discussed weekly. To adequately prepare for class discussion questions and course assignments, students are expected to complete the required readings for each session. This course is designed for individuals who have an interest in working in the area of maternal and child health, program development and intervention.	3
BHS 4031	Statistics for Health Sciences This course is designed to introduce the conceptual foundation of statistical analysis & statistical reasoning of health sciences data, and prepare the student to calculate, interpret and utilize appropriate software packages for basic statistical analysis.	3
BHS 4050	Community Capacity Building: An Interprofessional Approach This course provides students an overview of the role health care professionals can take to improve the health of communities by introducing them to strategies for capacity building. Strategies including facilitating linkages and teambuilding between sectors, consensus-building, developing skill base ad resources of communities, organizations, and individuals to improve health. Students will learn to identify relevant organizations and stakeholders within the community, who by working together, can delivery health outcomes within the community. Note: BHS 3000 is required as a pre-requisite or co-requisite with this course.	3
BHS 4100	*Academic and Professional Writing (Required)** The purpose of this course is to strengthen the skills and thought processes students require for successful academic and professional writing. Proper sentence and paragraph structure, grammar, punctuation usage, formatting and bibliographic referencing will be discussed. Students will learn the five chapter model utilized in scholarly writing and be introduced to the fundamentals of APA formatting. * must be taken during the first semester of enrollment in program	3
BHS 4110	Health Care and Aging This course examines the psychosocial and cultural variations associated with maturing and aging. Topics covered will be an overview of life choices, living wills, and treatment, as well as cultural implications of senior care.	3
BHS 4140	Independent Capstone Health Science Studies (Required) Students select an area of cooperation with the course advisor and/or program director. The project may include such items as work-related studies, conference attendance, grant proposals and/or planning documents. A comprehensive paper will be developed and delivered according to the APA form and style manual. Students must receive departmental and advisor approval in order to be allowed to register for this course.	3
BHS 4150	Science of Sound This course is designed to introduce students to acoustics. Students will study production of sound waves in general, and more specifically the production of sound waves during speech. Students will also study the characteristics of sound waves, how sound waves are propagated through a medium, and the perception of sound.	3
BHS 4151	Linguistics & Psycholinguistic Variables of Lang. Dev'l. This course will provide an overview of speech and language development as it relates to the typically developing child from birth through adolescence. This course will include topic areas related to the dimensions of communication, neurological and anatomical basis of communication, models of speech and language development, and speech-language differences and diversity.	3
BHS 4152	Neuroanatomy & Neurophysiology of Audition This course will provide an introduction to the gross structure of the brain and spinal cord. Functional relationship of their parts with emphasis on the auditory and vestibular peripheral and central nervous systems will be discussed.	3
BHS 4153	Speech and Language Disorders for Health Care Practitioners Overview of speech and language delays and disorders, their etiology, and treatment. How health-care practitioners can identify persons with possible disorders and make appropriate referrals. Consideration of the communication needs within health-care system of persons with speech-language disorders.	3
BHS 4154	Effect of Hearing Impairment on Speech and Language Phonologic, morphologic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects of human communication associated with hearing impairment. Study of methods of screening hearing-impaired patients for concomitant speech and language disorders. Prerequisite: course in normal language development.	3
BHS 4160	Education for the Health Professions This course will provide an opportunity to explore learning theories, learning styles, testing and assessment, education trends, and utilizing technology in instruction as it relates to the health professional and professions.	3
BHS 4300	Interprofessional Education Seminar This interprofessional education seminar focuses on preparing health sciences students with the foundational skills needed to work in teams to effectively collaborate and coordinate care in clinical and population health. This seminar provides learners with evidence-based knowledge and skills on selected health care topics through an interprofessional lens. Through lectures and presentations from leaders in Interprofessional Education and Collaboration, readings, case studies, and work groups, students will learn and practice competencies included in the four core competency domains of interprofessional collaborative practice, as well as leadership skills for team-based, community-oriented health care. Key themes include interprofessional communication, collaboration, leadership and professionalism will be integrate throughout the content. Note: BHS 3000 is required as a pre-requisite or co-requisite with this course.	3