Date of Award
2002
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Thomas J. Thompson
Committee Member
James A. Pietrovito
Committee Member
Phyllis M. Olmstead
Keywords
assessment, bloodborne pathogens, Caffarella, committees, compliance, constructivist teaching, Constructivist Teaching Inventory, consultancy, consultants, content design, curriculum, development, education, educational program, electrical safety, ergonomics, evaluation, federal regulations, fire safety, formative evaluation, hazardous materials management, healthcare facilities, healthcare organizations, HHEC, Huse Healthcare Educational Consultants, implementation, instructional design, Kirkpatrick, literature review, marketability, needs assessment, nursing homes, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, outsourcing, research methodologies, reimbursement, safety training, staff development, summative evaluation, teaching methods, training and development, workplace safety, Ziel
Abstract
Today's healthcare organizations must comply with a myriad of laws, regulations, and other requirements governing the organization, delivery, and reimbursement of health care services (Ziel, 1998, p. 1032). The problem is that loss of educational support in the institutions as a result of cut backs often results in non-compliance with federal regulations. Many healthcare institutions are no longer meeting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) educational requirements (Peck, 1997, p. 20). These healthcare institutions must now outsource to educational consultants to provide programs to address this compliance issue.
The purpose of this project was to develop and implement an OSHA education program that includes a plan for evaluation. This plan provided training and development about OSHA requirements to assist these healthcare organizations with OSHA compliance. The research questions for the study were (a) "What are the appropriate content and design of a curriculum for an OSHA educational program needed for healthcare organizations?" (b) "What teaching methods and strategies are most appropriate for the delivery of a training and development program?" (c) "What is the best way to implement the OSHA training and development program?" (d) "What evaluation method is most appropriate for the initial and continuous evaluation plan of the program?" The project used development, evaluation, and research methodologies.
The steps to answer the research questions included (a) a literature review; (b) the selection of an instructional design model; (c) the establishment of formative and summative committees to guide and validate the criteria and the plan; (d) the completion of a needs assessment to establish the needs of healthcare organizations; (e) the development of criteria for a curriculum; (f) the development of content and design for a curriculum; (g) identification of criteria for proposed teaching methods and strategies; (h) creation of an implementation plan; and, (i) planning an evaluation with measurable criteria.
Results of the needs assessment confirmed the need for an OSHA educational program. It further confirmed the need to utilize outside consultants by nursing homes to offer such OSHA educational programs. The results indicated that content and design needs of the curriculum required focus on bloodborne pathogens, hazardous materials management, and fire and electrical safety.
It was decided that constructivist teaching methods were optimum teaching methods for this project and that Caffarella's model would provide a suitable evaluation model. Kirkpatrick's conceptual model and the Constructivist Teaching Inventory (CTI), however, would be the most effective model for the plan for evaluation. Finally, it was concluded that this study was a valuable and marketable asset to Huse Healthcare Educational Consultants (HHEC) and that this was an appropriate and valid plan to allow HHEC to expand from a part-time to a full-time business. It was recommended that the list of educational topics for curriculum development be expanded to include other OSHA subjects identified in the needs assessment.
It was recommended that HHEC offer ergonomic education, as well as other topics not targeted by OSHA. Courses could be offered to all healthcare facilities, not only nursing homes. Finally it was recommended that the needs assessment be repeated in one year to assure that the education being offered is current and desirable in the market.