MANAGEMENT RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR MHA PROFESSIONAL FORMAT STUDENTS
1. The Management Residency Project can be done at the workplace. When completed within one semester, the student should expect to put in about 32 hours a week on work related to the project. It can be spread over two semesters, in which case the time commitment will be halved.
2. The project should be clearly defined, apart from routine job-related activities of the student. Please review the Graduate Student Handbook, master's residency section for guidelines on what constitutes a project.
3. The student will submit a project outline (2-3 page concept paper) to the residency advisor within a month of the start of the semester. It will have the following: a) Background (including some references from literature), b) Project objective, c) Proposed process of implementation/how the project objectives will be achieved.
4. An interim report incorporating the above, plus the progress achieved to date, will be submitted to the residency advisor about two and a half to three months from the start of the semester.
5. The timeline for concept paper and interim report will be finalized at the beginning of the semester.
6. At least one week prior to on-campus presentation, the student will provide an email draft of the final residency report to the academic residency advisor. This draft should have been approved by the student's residency site preceptor or project mentor if applicable, or should have been approved for presentation by the organization.
7. The residency project faculty advisor will be one of the faculty members of the Department of Health Services Policy and Management, to be decided in consultation with the MHA Professional Format program director. Each student will also be assigned a second reader, generally a PhD candidate with research interests allied to the residency topic. The draft report on approval by the faculty advisor, will be sent to the second reader for review and comments prior to the presentation.
8. All students will schedule an on-campus presentation and submit the final Management Residency Project Report on this date, during the week prior to graduation. All students will make a formal power point presentation of their residency project to the faculty advisor, second reader and if possible, the site preceptor. The final Project Report should have items a), b) and c) in greater detail, establishing the project background, plus documentation of d) project implementation process, e) project outcome(s), f) discussion/practical implications, and g) references from literature. At least some of the references should be from academic journals (as distinct from trade/business newsletters or bulletins). References should follow a consistent format throughout, on the lines of a standard academic journal in health care. Please review the detailed guidelines in the Master's Residency section of the Graduate Student Handbook at http://hspm.sph.sc.edu/PROGRAMS/GraduateHandbookHSPM.rtf.
9. To be cleared for graduation, students will submit, to the Department, three bound copies of the final report, approved and signed by the site preceptor or organization representative as well as the MHA residency advisor.
10. Management Journal: All MHA Professional Format students will maintain a Management Journal during the residency period. Every week you will document a description of one incident/situation/problem in your workplace during the week. The case should have involved you either as a participant or closely involved observer. The case should illustrate some aspect of what you learned in your MHA program. The case will document how you/your supervisor/employee handled or reacted to the incident/problem, your management diagnosis, and assessment of how it was handled. It could be a financial analysis issue, or any aspect of management. Apply what you learned in your courses to structure and analyze the incident/data. (If the residency is completed over two semesters, the documentation would be fortnightly rather than weekly.)
The journal will be turned in to the MHA residency project advisor on the day of project presentation.
11. Each student is responsible for keeping in touch with the residency advisor, through email/phone, to stay on track, get suggestions, and resolve difficulties. The student is responsible for submitting on time to the advisor the concept paper, the interim report, and the final draft, prior to the presentation.