Bachelor's in Healthcare | �鶹��Ƶ

A World of Possibilities

�鶹��Ƶ's Lewis School of Health Sciences is now offering a new Bachelor of Science in Healthcare degree program that can prepare students for virtually countless careers in the healthcare field -- from patient care to public health and policy.

“Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors and the world of healthcare is changing rapidly,” according to Lennart Johns, Founding Dean of the Lewis School. “We have designed a curriculum with foundational knowledge, but also the flexibility to adapt to student interests and our changing world.”

The new healthcare major is designed for students who are interested in any facet of healthcare including pre-clinical, business, data analytics, public health policy, research, and bioethics.

Meet Lexi Keller '27

A Healthcare Major minoring in psychology with a concentration in Health Psychology. Lexi is also on our Direct Entry track for the Pre-Physician Assistant M.S. program. ⁠

“I learned about �鶹��Ƶ as I was searching for schools that had a direct-entry Physician Assistant program. Finding a school that had this program would save me a lot of time having to apply later after undergrad. The PA programs are highly impacted and are not guaranteed, which can result in a lot of time between your undergrad and starting your graduate PA program.”⁠

Direct Entry to Graduate Programs

Majoring in healthcare is also the newest option for �鶹��Ƶ’s Direct Entry initiative for healthcare. In this program, students complete four years of undergraduate study at �鶹��Ƶ for a BS degree, then directly enter our master's or doctorate degree programs in their chosen healthcare field.

There is no second application, as long as all the requirements and academic criteria have been met. �鶹��Ƶ’s Direct Entry program is designed to attract the best, brightest and most promising students who wish to enter the fields of healthcare. Direct Entry provides a guaranteed spot for first-year undergraduate students in our Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, MS in Occupational Therapy (MS-OT) program or MS in Physician Assistant Studies (MS-PA) program.

Curriculum

See the course catalog for current Bachelor's requirements and course numbers.

Course Catalog

Students in the Healthcare major will complete 25-26 core credits and 19 elective credits in healthcare, 22 credits in science, 10 credits in math, 4 credits in required seminar, and 39-40 credits which are open or free electives. This design allows a student to be highly focused or diverse in their coursework and the flexibility to design their own curriculum to meet their intellectual interests and career goals.

Embedded within the core Healthcare curriculum are the 15 Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students that have been endorsed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Core Requirements and Electives

�鶹��Ƶ Physical Therapy students in the lab

In addition to the �鶹��Ƶ Common Experience, the following are required:

Science Requirements (22 credits): Students must complete two courses of biology, two courses of general chemistry with lab, one course of general physics with lab

Math Requirement (10 credits): Students must complete two courses in math and one course of statistics.

Healthcare Core Requirement: Students must complete 25-26 credits of courses designated by the Healthcare major.

Introduction to Psychology
Bioethics Across the Healthcare Industry
General Medical Conditions
Medical Anthropology
Organizational Behavior
Evidence-Based Practice
Developmental Psychology
Health Psychology
Professional Experience

Healthcare Electives (19 credits): Students must complete from department approved listing.

One Healthcare elective: Intro to Health Systems; Health Systems Management; Health Policy Dynamics; Healthcare Marketing; Healthcare Operations; Healthcare Finance
One Healthcare elective: Medical Ethics; Responsible Conduct of Research; Biomedical Ethics
One Healthcare elective: Intro to Public Speaking; Introduction to Social Media; Principles of User-Experience Design; Writing for Media; Professional Communication
One Healthcare elective: Social Media Analysis and Applications; Fundamentals of User Experience; Foundations of Data Visualization; Making and Communicating Innovation
One Healthcare elective: Sociology of Family; Intro to Gender; Intro to Sexuality; Intro Race & Ethnicity; Men & Masculinity; Diversity Science, Racial Inequality; Health, Wealth, Inequality, and Environment; Women, Gender, Science; Cultural Psychology.
One Healthcare elective: Biology I: Inheritance, Evolution, and Diversity; Intro to Biomedical; Genetics; Pharmacology of Infectious Disease; Principles of Toxicology and Epidemiology; Immunology; Kinesiology; Biomedical Engineering Fundamentals; Pharmacology
One Healthcare elective: Social Psychology; Cognitive Psychology; Human Cognitive Evolution; Perception; Learning and Memory; Motivation and Emotion; Cognitive Neuroscience; Abnormal Psychology

Hands-On Experience

Students can gain hands-on experience through internships and shadowing opportunities at local hospitals and healthcare facilities in the area. These experiences allow students to observe healthcare professionals, learn more about different healthcare careers and connect what they learn in the classroom to real-world patient care.

Some local hospitals include:

RRH Canton-Potsdam Hospital: Located in Potsdam, NY, about a 5-minute drive from main campus
Claxton-Hepburn Medical Campus/Center: Located in Ogdensburg, NY, about a 40-minute drive from main campus
Gouverneur Hospital: Located in Gouverneur, NY, about a 45-minute drive from main campus
Massena Hospital: Located in Massena, NY, about a 35-minute drive from main campus
Clifton-Fine Hospital: Located in Star Lake, NY, about a 1-hour drive from main campus

Outcomes and Learning Objectives

At the completion of the program student will have attained sufficient knowledge, skills and behaviors to demonstrate to following abilities:

Think broadly and critically about the healthcare industry
Identify complex issues in healthcare and ideate workable solutions
Integrate new information to better understand complex issues
Work in teams
Appreciate cognitive diversity
Effectively communicate healthcare issues
Apply evidence to support positions and decision

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Bachelor of Science in Healthcare