Utilizing University-Based Partnerships to Enhance Undergraduate Health Administration Education: An Applied Community Health Assessment Data Module

The education of health administration students needs to be adaptable in an era of healthcare reform, thus requiring academic institutions to develop interdisciplinary approaches to provide relevant and applied learning experiences. To respond to this challenge, we present how an innovative universitybased partnership can provide a platform for advancing both the goals of the partners involved, and an understanding of population health content and the utilization of epidemiologic skills among undergraduate students. The purpose of this paper is to describe a learning exercise that is part of a webbased module of faculty and student resources developed to increase student knowledge and skills with respect to the relevance, process, and challenges of conducting a Community Health Assessment (CHA). The exercise was designed to: 1.) explain the significance and utility of a CHA; 2.) research and apply common quantitative data sources; and 3.) solve data acquisition challenges. The authors present the CHA exercise implemented in a required health management course to engage students in a simulated CHA experience using publicly available datasets and online tools. The benefits of this applied learning approach for students, the academic department, the institute, and the university to which they all belong are discussed.