EVOLUTION OF THE HOSPITAL INDUSTRY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Assignment Instructions

EVOLUTION OF THE HOSPITAL INDUSTRY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Introduction

As a health care administrator, you will often do research on a topic to provide background information for decision making, committee work, or creating policies. It is often best practice to use a comparison table to lay out and visualize your research notations. For this week’s assignment you will complete a comparison table on hospital care across three time periods and analyze the similarities and differences of the different topics for each of the time periods in the table. You will summarize key findings for the topics and draw appropriate conclusions in a 2–3-page paper, with your comparative table in the appendix.

Scenario

Imagine you are a patient with a serious illness in a hospital in the 1800s, in the 1960s, and today. Think about the room configurations, the skills of the nurses and other staff, the level and type of care, and how you would pay for the care, both now and in the previous centuries.

Instructions

Using the Comparative Analysis Template [DOCX], write a 2–3 page paper about the similarities and differences in hospital care from the different time periods (1800s, 1960s, and today), as well as the conclusions you drew from your analysis. In addition, complete the Comparative Analysis Table: Hospital Care Evolution in the appendix of the assignment template.

Complete the following:

1. Use your textbook and at least two other resources included in What You Need to Know for this week or resources you find on your own to research how the hospital industry has evolved in terms of hospital environment, medical staff education, level of care in hospitals, and the payment systems. Use the History of Health Care Research tab in the Health Care Administration Undergraduate Library Research Guide to guide your research process.
   • You will need to reference a total of three scholarly sources in your paper.
   • Be sure to cite these references within the body of your paper correctly using APA style citations.
2. Complete the Comparative Analysis Table: Hospital Evolution, located in the appendix of the assignment template.
   • Provide two descriptive changes for each time period under each of the headings.
   • Add bullet points to each cell in the table to document the descriptive changes that you have found for each topic.
   • Document the source where you found the information for each cell in the table, using APA citation style.
3. Refer to the Comparative Analysis Assignment Exemplar [PDF] for an example of how to translate the information from the table into a written paper.
   • Note that the assignment exemplar is written about the evolution of physicians’ practices and not hospital care, which is the topic for this assignment.
   • Do not copy the exemplar text into your paper. You should submit original written work about the evolution of hospitals in your paper.
4. Write an introduction to the paper.
   • Include a brief explanation of the purpose of the paper and main ideas.
   • Reference significant trends that you noticed as appropriate.
5. Write the body of the paper.
   • Write the Hospital Care Evolution section in the assignment template, using the information from the Comparative Analysis Table you completed.
     • Describe your findings about each topic in the different time periods under each subtopic heading.
     • Explain the trends in hospital environment, medical staff education, level of care in hospitals, and the payment systems in a short paragraph (3–4 sentences) for each topic, using the subheadings provided in the assignment template.
     • Cite all references used within the body of your paper using APA style citations.
   • Write the Comparative Analysis section (1–2 paragraphs) in the assignment template.
     • Write a brief summary of your comparisons and analysis about the significance of the key changes from the different time periods.
     • Draw conclusions about how the hospital industry has evolved from the 1800s, to the 1960s, to today and about the significance of the key milestones from the different time periods.
     • Give specific examples of the impact on the quality of patient care during these time frames.
6. Write a conclusion paragraph where you summarize the main ideas included in the paper.
   • Explain why it is important to study the history of hospital care for your profession.