Tennessee, also known as “the Volunteer State,” is located in the southeastern part of the country. The economy is Tennessee, like most states in the country, has experienced a lag in the economy’s growth; the one exception is the health care segment of the economy. The mean average annual salary for health care managers was $90,010 but those with graduate level education and experience earned significantly more. There are many choices available in Tennessee’s colleges and universities to pursue a master’s degrees in health care management. Those graduates will look forward to top salaries and a rewarding career in health care.
University of Memphis
School of Public Health
The University of Memphis School of Public Health (SPH) offers students the option to choose from two master’s degree programs: a Master of Public Health and a Master of Health Administration. The School of Public Health also awards doctoral programs in Social and Behavioral Sciences, Epidemiology, and Health Systems and Policy. Students in the program have the opportunity to serve the community as they work toward their degree.
Master of Health Administration
The Master of Health Administration (MHA) program is providing students with the skills and knowledge to develop the competencies needed to enter successful careers in healthcare management. Graduates of the MHA program will have the following abilities:
- Required skills in leadership to use professional values and ethics making ethical decisions and problem solving
- Effective communication both written and orally while using effective listening and communication skills
- Critical Thinking skills in decision making
- Science/Analysis to understand structure of quantitative and analytical methods required
- Management skills to work efficiently and effectively with others, understanding basic concepts and tools integral in strategic thinking, planning and management
Curriculum for the program prepares graduates with knowledge and skills to handle the challenges and changes in health services management. The MHA requires a minimum of 53 credits and is offered as a full time or part-time program with classes available in the evening. A required MHA Internship consists of 300 hundred hours over a minimum of ten (10) weeks, with a maximum of six (6) months. Full-time students can complete their internship over the summer between their first and second year in the masters program. Internships are sponsored at health care organizations in Memphis including hospitals and Healthcare systems, clinics, physician offices, pharmaceuticals and long-term care organizations.
The Master of Public Health
is a 42-credit non-thesis program including a nine week, full-time field internship with an affiliated health agency or organization offering one or more health programs. The field practice allows the student the ability to apply academic theories, concepts, and skills to a work setting. Graduates of the Biostatistics concentration will have the following abilities:
- Evaluate preferred methodological alternatives to commonly used statistical methods when assumptions are not met
- Distinguish and apply different scales of measurement to understand implications for selection of statistical methods to be used based on these distinctions
- Apply common statistical methods for inference.
Additional competencies for Environmental Health concentration: 1. Explain genetic, physiologic and psychosocial factors that affect susceptibility to adverse health outcomes following exposure to environmental hazards. 2. Apply current environmental risk assessment methods. 3. Propose approaches for assessing, preventing and controlling environmental hazards that pose risks to human health and safety. 4. Delve into the general mechanisms of toxicity in eliciting a toxic response to various environmental exposures. 5. Develop various risk management and risk communication approaches in consideration of issues of environmental justice and equity.
Graduates of the Epidemiology concentration will have the following abilities:
- Integrate epidemiologic concepts in scientific, ethical, economic and political discussions of health issues
- Interpret epidemiologic data and measures
- Evaluate the strengths and limitations of epidemiologic reports related to infectious, chronic, or genetic diseases
Graduates of the Health Services Administration concentration will have the following abilities:
- Apply basic principles of program planning, development, budgeting, management and evaluation in strategic planning and marketing to public health
- Apply principles of strategic planning and marketing to public health
- Leverage quality and performance improvement concepts to assess and influence organizational performance issues
- Demonstrate leadership skills for building partnerships.
Graduates of the Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration will have the following abilities:
- Propose steps and procedures for the planning, implementation and evaluation in organizational and community initiatives
- Assess the role of social and community factors in both the onset and solution of public health problems
- Apply evidence-based approaches in the development and evaluation of social and behavioral science interventions.
Accreditation
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)
Contact
University of Memphis
The School of Public Health
Mark Hendricks, MHA
Director of Masters Programs
116 Robison Hall
Memphis, Tennessee 38152
(901) 678-2982
E-Mail: [email protected]
Program Website
University of Tennessee – Knoxville
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Founded in 1794, the University of Tennessee is a public research coed university that is located in Knoxville, Tennessee, one of the state’s largest cities. The 560-acre Knoxville campus is flagship campus for the state school with nine undergraduate college and eleven graduate colleges. More than 21,600 students are currently enrolled at the university and come from all 50 states and more than 100 foreign countries. In 2016, US News and World Reports ranked the University of Tennessee as the 103rd best National University. The mission (as stated by the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) is “promoting a healthy, educated, and civil society; encouraging life-long learning; and enhancing the quality of life within the diverse, global community by preparing professionals to lead and serve by conducting research and by engaging in service and outreach activities.”
Master of Public Health
Public health professionals protect individuals and communities from health problems and promote health. The MPH program at the University of Tennessee prepares students with the skills and knowledge to enter careers as competent, future public health leaders. Curriculum for the MPH program includes 42 credits is a non-thesis degree program. To allow flexibility to those working students, the program is available in a part-time format with most classes available in the late afternoon and evening and most students complete the program in two to three years. Graduates of the program area prepared for executive management positions in public health. Curriculum for the program is competency based and graduates of the program will have the following key competencies:
- Analytic Assessment Skills
- Policy Development and Program Planning
- Communication (Oral and Written)
- Cultural Competency
- Community Dimensions
- Core Public Health Skills to identify and apply correct research methods
- Financial Planning and Management skills
- Leadership and System Thinking Skills
Students in the MPH have numerous opportunities to gain experience through community-based class projects, volunteering opportunities, and field placements. Additionally students can choose a specific area of concentration from the following:
Community Health Education Concentration coursework provides students with the skills and knowledge to use multi-disciplinary theories and change principles in planning, implementing, and evaluating interventions to allow individuals, groups, and communities to gain personal, environmental, and social health. The concentration includes completion of the following courses:
- Research Methods in Health Theory,
- Program Development, and Implementation
- Community Health Assessment
A 3 credit Health Education Internship (field practice) is also required with an affiliated health organization for nine week. Graduates of the concentration are well prepared to enter careers in the following settings: community, academia, mental health agencies, public health agencies, government agencies, environmental agencies, rehabilitation centers, professional associations, work sites, healthcare institutions, and voluntary health agencies
Health Policy and Management concentration provides students with the skills and knowledge to manage resources and provide leadership in providing positive health outcomes. Curriculum for the program develops students skills in team leadership, financial management, human resources management, communications, program planning and administration, and to enact positive change. Coursework for the concentration in Health Policy and Management include the following:
Organizational Dynamics in Health Care
Financial Management of Health Programs
Theories and Techniques in Health Planning
Future career settings include: federal, state and local public health or government agencies, voluntary health agencies, social services, and healthcare facilities.
The Veterinary Public Health Concentration is available in conjunction with the College of Veterinary Medicine. As professionals identify that animal, human and environmental health is connected, a national need for more veterinarians to work in public health, epidemiology, and food safety among other specialty areas in organizations has also grown. These areas of growth include public health agencies dealing with animal and human health to agencies and corporations responsible for food safety and security from the farm to the consumer level. There is an increasing need for veterinarians with an education in food safety, food and animal production, zoonotic diseases, biosecurity, research methods and public policy.
Juris Doctor/Master of Public Health
The Juris Doctor/Master of Public Health (JD/MPH) dual degree program (with a Health Policy and Management concentration) is offered in conjunction with the Department of Public Health and the College of Law. The program outlines the inter-relationship between the US legal systems and the protection and promotion of the public’s health to identify the roles public and private policy plays to create the conditions in which people can be healthy. Taken separately, the JD degree requires a minimum of 89 semester credits and can be completed in three years of full-time study, while the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree requires 42 credits and can be completed in two to three years, (depending upon whether a full or part-time program is pursued). The dual-degree program can be completed simultaneously and can be completed in four years. Students in the dual degree are required to participate in an internship for 1-3 summer terms in addition to taking normal course loads for four academic years. The curriculum for the program allows students to develop specialized knowledge in public health-related legal issues with the flexibility of professional training in core disciplines of law and public health.
Master of Science in Nursing/Master of Public Health
The Master of Science in Nursing/Master of Public Health (MSN/MPH) dual degree program in offered in conjunction with the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. Graduates of the dual program are awarded both the Master of Science with a major in nutrition (public health nutrition concentration) and the Master of Public Health. The dual program can be completed in less time than would be required to earn both degrees independently. The program is designed to for those students who want to pursue careers in public health nutrition with the skills and knowledge in both nutrition and public health. The program is available in a thesis or non-thesis format with a field experience
Accreditation
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)
Contact
University of Tennessee Knoxville
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
335 Claxton Complex
1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-3400
(865) 974-2201
E-Mail: [email protected]
Program Website
University of Tennessee – Knoxville
College of Nursing
Founded in 1794, The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is the flagship campus of the statewide University of Tennessee system. The university includes nine undergraduate, eleven graduate colleges with more than 38,000 students coming from across the US and more than 100 countries abroad. The university is located in Knoxville Tennessee and includes the following schools: the College of Engineering, the College of Law, the Graduate School of Business, the College of Nursing, and the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. In 2016, US News and world Reports ranked the College of Nursing at University of Tennessee as 40th for Best Nursing School Masters Programs. The College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville opened for enrollment in July 1971 responding to the need for nurses prepared at the college level.
Master of Science in Nursing (Nursing Administration Concentration)
The Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a specialization in Nursing Administration prepares students for careers as leaders, managers, and practitioners who will facilitate positive changes in health within the healthcare system. Curriculum for the program prepares advanced practice nurses to enter careers in adult health nursing, nursing of women and children, mental health nursing, nurse anesthesia, and preparation for roles as nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists or nursing administrators. Graduates of the MSN program include the following competencies:
- Providing evidence-based advanced nursing care in varied health care settings to diverse populations, including individuals, families and communities
- Use theoretical and ethical principles while accounting for patient values to guide advanced practice nursing
- Collaboration of ethically responsible activities in research
- Participate in evaluation of care outcomes
- Assume roles as leaders and collaborators within inter/intra-professional teams and communities to advocate, plan, provide, and evaluate Healthcare
- Contribute to healthcare services within systems that promote prevention, safety, quality and social justice to improve patient outcomes
- Communicate (oral and written) credible and relevant evidence to varied audiences to support practice decisions
Accreditation
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
Collegiate Commission on Nursing Education (CCNE)
Contact
University of Tennessee – Knoxville
The College of Nursing
1200 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996
(865) 974-4151
E-Mail: [email protected]
Program Website
With current advances in patient care combined with the growing, aging population in need of healthcare, the requirement for competent, compassionate healthcare professionals with an education in health care management continues to grow. According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Healthcare management is projected to grow 22 percent by the year 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations. There are many options to choose from in the college and universities in Tennessee to purse a master’s in health care management.
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