Student Opportunties

American Health Care Class

Course Title:    

American Health Care in the Twenty-first Century: How It Got Here; What It’s Like; and Where It’s Going. Service Learning in the Denver Health Care Community.

Course Number:  NATS 3580

Credit hours:  2

Instructor: 

Louise McDonald, MD - Director, University Health and Counseling

Course time and location:

Monday, 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm - Health Center, Ritchie Center, 3rd floor North Entrance

Course Description:

This course will provide University of Denver undergraduate students with the opportunity to explore and understand the American health care system, including the modes of delivery of health care in both the public and private sectors.  Students will study the history of the American health care system from its relatively simple beginnings to today’s complex structure, bureaucracy, and funding.  They will investigate and deliberate issues of quality of care, access to care, and health care ethics, and they will be introduced to the business and financial aspects of the practice of medicine in today’s managed care and government regulated environment. Students will then discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the American health care system, consider various speculations on the future of American health care, and develop possible solutions of their own. They will pair this knowledge to service projects in community health care settings in the Denver area, achieving assessable learning outcomes.