5 Healthcare Management Capstone Ideas
- Better Health Services for Veterans
- Seamless EMR/EHR Adoption
- Streamline Disaster Drill Procedures
- Improve Incident Reporting
- Increase Hospital Nurse Retention
Coming up with unique capstone ideas for healthcare management can be tricky. Capstone projects, the crowning achievement of the healthcare management degree program, aim to both complement and supplement classroom instruction. Students are expected to put into practice the skills and knowledge they learned throughout the program in order to tackle a real-world, current issue that healthcare managers face. A successful capstone project depends on the student’s ability to evaluate critical problems, effectively lead a team, and execute appropriate solutions. Here are five capstone ideas for healthcare management degree programs.
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Better Health Services for Veterans
A frequently overlooked population within the healthcare sector is veterans. Although veterans are often included among those with the most complicated medical needs such as both mental and physical issues, veterans often rely on money from the federal government as well as mandates that sometimes make it difficult, and sometimes impossible, for them to receive the care they need. A capstone project in this area would examine veterans’ current needs as well as possible solutions in the home health service area for those unable to travel independently in order to seek proper medical care.
Seamless EMR/EHR Adoption
Although it was thought that all healthcare organizations would have adopted the use of electronic health records and electronic medical records by now, there are still many medical facilities and physicians’ practices that have not yet completed the conversion to an online system. With a focus on small or rural practices, many of which may not have had the funding or time to implement such a critical record-keeping process, this capstone project would seek to solve the problems that are preventing those facilities from making the leap into this technology and help them to do it as seamlessly as possible.
Streamline Disaster Drill Procedures
Although no healthcare manager wants to find a use for a disaster drill plan, it is critical to have an objective in place before a catastrophe happens. Whether it is a tornado, a fire, an armed gunman on the property, or another type of crisis situation, all medical facilities should have proper disaster drills in place. A possible capstone project would create a comprehensive drill procedure manual specifically for a local facility that is need of such a plan. By examining possible scenarios, patient and staff information, and the floor plan, this project would offer the facility a comprehensive set of procedures in the event of a disaster or critical situation.
Improve Incident Reporting
Another worthwhile capstone project could address the continuing issue of appropriate and accurate documentation in healthcare facilities. This idea is best-suited for organizations that face higher incident numbers that they are required to report, including residential addiction or mental recovery facilities. These types of facilities that handle a large number of incident reports are more likely to experience unclear, duplicate, or even incomplete documentation interventions. The capstone should analyze the specific problems that a local healthcare facility faces as it struggles with incident reports and recommend information technology solutions that would provide an easy, secure method for keeping records of incidents.
Increase Hospital Nurse Retention
The healthcare industry, particularly hospitals, is facing a critical issue when it comes to retaining nurses. According to a 2014 study conducted by the RN Work Project, one in five new nurses leaves his or her first job within the first year. Reasons for decreased nurse retention can range from inconvenient work schedules to a lack of team support to a difficult work environment. Focusing a capstone project on this issue could look at why nurse morale is low and suggest strategies or measures that would improve the retention rate. Ideally, the student and a local hospital would work together to implement the proposed interventions to ascertain whether the retention rate improves throughout the course of the project.
Earning a healthcare management degree is quite the accomplishment, and completing a capstone project in this field is typically the final step of the journey. The above are just a few of many possible high-quality, worthwhile capstone ideas for healthcare management students that can help them on their way to a fulfilling professional career in this particular field.