Courses Taught by Minal Patel

HBEHED613: Confronting and Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare

Graduate level
Residential
Winter term(s) for residential students;
3 credit hour(s) for residential students;
Instructor(s): Minal Patel (Residential);
Prerequisites: none
Advisory Prerequisites: none
Undergraduates are allowed to enroll in this course.
Description: Reducing racial/ethnic health disparities is core to the mission of public health. This course provides an in-depth examination of racial/ethnic disparities specific to healthcare and healthcare delivery in the United States. This course will critically appraise 1) the causes of these disparities including mistrust, and differential access, communication and treatment, 2) frameworks, theory, and measurement to examine disparities in care and 3) interventions to address healthcare-specific disparities, and change behavior at multiple levels of influence (policy/regulatory, health system/delivery, healthcare provider, and patient/individual). We will examine trends and critical issues in racial/ethnic healthcare disparities before and after the seminal Institute of Medicine Report- Unequal Treatment, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Learning Objectives: 10. Explain the social, political and economic determinants of health and how they contribute to population health and health inequities
Syllabus for HBEHED613

Graduate level
Residential
Winter term(s) for residential students;
3 credit hour(s) for residential students;
Instructor(s): Minal Patel (Residential);
Offered every year
Prerequisites: Perm. Instr.
Description: This course provides a hands-on experiential learning process to build understanding of effective design and use of health communication materials through both individual assignments and a team-based project conducted in cooperation with community-based organizations in the Southeast Michigan area. Students will learn how to identify and choose among different goals for health communication materials, to systematically analyze the target audience, and to develop personas to represent the audience during the development process. Students will also develop practical writing skills, learn how to involve the target audience in the material development process, and consider how best to evaluate the effectiveness of health communication materials. In the process, the course introduces students to the issues of health literacy, numeracy, and cultural humility as related to the design of public health communication strategies.