DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF AN UNDERGRADUATE ELECTIVE COURSE IN HEALTH-POLICY

Future health care professionals need to be well acquainted with the s tructure of the American health care system and options available for its reform. To address that need, a new undergraduate elective course was developed. Rather than focusing on issues within pharmacy, the cou rse concentrated on a wide range of issues facing health care provider s, consumers, and payers. The course format consisted of discussions o f articles from health care journals, writing assignments, and small g roup exercises. Course assessment consisted of: (i) a pre- and posttes t used to determine if students' knowledge of health care system/polic y issues increased during the semester; (ii) written ''one-minute asse ssments'' which allowed students to comment on especially important an d/or confusing concepts; and (iii) a formal course evaluation. Results of these assessments pointed to the positive impact of the course and suggestio ns for how it could be improved.