100

This course offers a general overview of the United States health care industry, its practitioners, its policy makers, and the values and priorities that drive them. Students examine the major influences in the continuing growth and change of the American health care delivery system along with critical legislative, political, and economic factors. The course addresses the effects of medical education, scientific discovery, rapidly advancing technologies, rising costs, changing demographics, and varying modes of delivery, as well as American values and assumptions regarding health care.

This introductory study of health issues facing communities in the United States increases student knowledge and awareness of basic health information, the wellness concept, healthy lifestyle choices, and accepting personal responsibility for achieving optimal health. The course emphasizes issues such as stress-management, mental and nutritional health and wellness, substance use and abuse, infectious and noninfectious diseases, as well as environmental and consumer health.

This course introduces students to information technology, computers, computer networks, and their application in the health care industry. Students gain a sound but basic understanding of information technology in health care, how computers and information systems are incorporated into health care facilities, how communications systems can help boost productivity, and how the internet can influence the workplace. The course offers health care and technology professionals an understanding of the rapidly evolving field of Health Informatics and its integral role in the health care industry.

This course provides students with an overview of the historical development of medical nomenclature and classification systems including ICD-9-CM and CPT coding. It concentrates on the coding of diseases, operative procedures, and the abstracting of clinical diagnostic data from medical information. It also discusses the coding of procedures and services rendered in both inpatient and outpatient settings to the highest level of specificity.

This course provides students with the ability to engage in basic Spanish conversation with patients and their family members in a variety of health care settings. The course offers the essential tools, enabling health care providers to communicate medical terminology, phrases, and questions to conduct patient interviews, physical exams, and record medical histories. Students also learn important cultural aspects of the various Spanish-speaking communities to understand the diversity of views on health care.