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Report on Service Learning in A Health Care Law Class
Description of Service Learning Project in Syllabus
You must volunteer 20 hours in a health care organization. You must write
a short paper (8-10 pages) describing the organization, the clientele and
the services it provides, your experience and your reaction. You should
relate your experience to what you studied in class. That is, you should
discuss the (1) health care organization issues, (2) access, quality and
cost containment issues and (3) bioethical issues confronting the organization,
the providers and the patients. |
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| Health Care Law initially consisted 33 students, 6 students dropped.
It could have been due to the service learning requirement, it also could
be do to the workload of the course. Historically, law students do not generally have any interim assignments.
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Location of Service Learning
 | Oakwood Nursing Home |
| Oak Creek Terrace |
| Preble County Dept. Of Health |
| Parkview Manor Nursing Home |
| Developmental Center for Handicapped Children |
| Kenton County Health Center |
| Suicide Prevention Center of Dayton |
| Maple Knoll, The |
| Children's Medical Center |
| AIDS Foundation for the Miami Valley |
| Diversion Alternatives for Youth |
| Miami Valley Hospital Volunteer Service Project |
| Center for Healthy Communities |
| University of Dayton Health Center |
| Volunteer CareGivers of Dayton |
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Evaluating the students experience
Reflection Paper. See 3 examples service learning reflection paper.
| Paper A is deeply moving with regard to the impact the learning had on
the writing |
| Paper B thoroughly related the experience to the issues in the health care
law class |
| Paper C was one of the "lowest" quality paper, lacking sufficient connection
to course materials. |
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Evaluating the Service Learning Project - Student
Perspective
As a method of evaluating the course I asked the students to identify two
things they liked about the course and would not want to see change and
two things that they did not like and thinks need to be changes
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N |
% |
| Liked Service Learning - Do not Changed |
23 |
85 |
| Did Not Like Service Learning Change |
1 |
4 |
| Did not Mention Service Learning |
3 |
11 |
| **I approached the community service learning project with a
significant amount of skepticism. I have experienced several
assignments such as this one several times throughout my
academic career. Both in high school and college I was
assigned similar projects which were assigned to raise my
awareness of societal inefficiencies and explore the civil
duty of helping the underprivileged. Although the intentions
of the assignments were always well founded my experiences
never proved to be educational. . . . My experiences at Kenton
County Health Center erased all skepticism that I previously
harbored for community service learning projects. I attribute
the change to several factors. First as a more mature student,
I sought ways to learn and relate "real-life"
experiences to the concepts learned in class. Secondly the
challenge of observing areas of the law which I am extremely
interested in practicing helped me become more aware. Lastly
knowing that the facility which I was involved with touched so
many people in the community, it felt like a privilege to help
by any means possible. These facts shed a new light onto the
meaning of community service learning project. In only twenty
hours of community service, I gained knowledge, insight,
understanding and awareness of how health care law affects so
many people. |
Selected
Comments from Project Paper
**This was a real interesting experience for me. I cannot say
that it is often that I am the minority in a neighborhood. I
cannot say that it is often that I take walks through
subsidized housing. . . I got to see the inside of Drew
Medical Center which I probably would not have seen otherwise.
I experienced the frustrating situation of working for two
hours straight trying scrape up $100 dollars for a woman
before her burdens were heavier by losing her electricity. I
had never even totally considered what losing your electricity
would be like for more than the duration of a storm. . . This
was an educational experience on many levels.. . . There is an
element to learning by doing that cannot be accomplished in
the classroom, and I was fortunate enough to experience it.
**My experience as a law intern at the University of Dayton
Health Center was extremely positive. . .It was truly a great
opportunity to be in a setting weekly where the core issues
being discussed in my Health Care Law class were brought to
life as I observed medical services being rendered as well as
reviewing the health care center's financial and future health
care delivery issues. . . Applying theory to practice was
truly an effective tool in my learning experience.
**I went into this experience very naive. . . It was
definitely an eye opening experience. While there were several
things about the way patients were treated that disturbed me,
I found it to be an overall enjoyable and educational
experience.
**Overall, this was an extremely exciting experience for me.
Not only did I get a chance to reach out to my community, I
gain an awareness, insight, and understanding as to how health
care law relates to practical situations. Health Care law is
an extremely important facet of society. It is different than
most areas of law in that it touches everybody whether they
realize it or not.
**I really enjoyed participating in this volunteer service
project, and what I learned about the hospital overall while
relating it to the materials that we have covered in our
health care class throughout the semester was extremely
educational. As a result, I plan to continue to work with
these departments on a volunteer basis, and as time allows.
**This hour and a half was perhaps one of the best spent
evenings of my law school career so far. I used to be a social
worker and mental health counselor so I have greatly missed
the things in life that are real. The people I the world and
all their experiences whether they be difficult or pleasant
experiences are what make life real. And, I must say that
evening was a needed reminder of why I went to law school.. .
.My experience at the foundation was incredible. I look
forward to my continued work with those infected and affected
by the HIV virus.
**On reflection, the image of a nursing home and the reality
of a nursing home are two different things. . .As a volunteer,
as a continuing volunteer, in a nursing home, I can see that
nothing works, nothing works well, without the assistance and
help of people who volunteer their time and effort for no
other reason than because they are needed. As a law student, I
could see the issues of Medicare and bed rationing. . but I
could also see the point of view of the care facility and
their desire to keep a efficient money making business going
**In all, the community service program provided the students
with an opportunity to help others, while at the same time
gain first hand knowledge on the delivery of health care in
their community. The students were allowed to interact with
the residents or patients which again provided a different
perspective of the health care service. This program was an
interesting alternative to the traditional learning
environment.
**This was an eye-opening experience and I was grateful to be
a part of it. Law school focuses too much on the academic and
the theory aspect of law. This project gave the student the
opportunity to apply what we have learned in class, and hone
in on our interpersonal communication skills.
**I believe my volunteering experience at Oak Creek terrace to
have been a worthwhile and educational experience. . .While
finding out how a nursing home operates and seeing concepts
discussed in class come to fruition in real life was very
worthwhile, by far the greatest thing I received from my
volunteering was a sense of satisfaction which came from the
positive reaction I received from the residents I worked with.
To see an Alzheimer's patient smile at a game of ball toss, or
to be thanked for spending time with a resident by their
family made the time I spent at Oak Creek that much more
worthwhile because I felt like I had helped the people in some
small way and this in turn made me feel good.
**In conclusion the Oak Creek Terrace Retirement Community was
a good learning experience that helped me to see some of the
theory I learned about in class operate in the actual health
care industry. Aside from that the experience was a real eye
opener in terms of getting acquainted with and dealing with
the elderly. Given the fact that this segment of society is
growing and will be more significant it is important that I
become familiar with that group and feel that having done so
will put me at an advantage later.
**I really enjoyed my work at Parkview. Despite the items
discussed above, the staff there seem to try to do their best
in providing the residents a quality life. . . The most
positive experience I had at Parkview was the genuine
happiness the residents exhibited by talking to me. . . I wish
there was something I could have done instead just idle chat,
such as helping them with wills or financial planing.
**Through my experiences I learned a great deal bout how the
areas of antitrust, cost containment, access to health care
and quality control work in the world of health care.
**Although working twenty hours during the semester was
somewhat of a hardship, I think that the experience was
invaluable in many ways. I learned valuable lessons from
people that I cam in contact with. Additionally, I was able to
see textbook concepts in action.
**I think as an attorney, in any community I work, I will be
more effective if I have close ties to the community to be
involved with community for which I am working. . On a larger
scale, I think attorney in the health care field, whether
drafting legislation, representing insurance companies or
providers, need to keep an open mind for alternatives and
developments in the field of medicine.
**I have learned a lot at SPC and will continue with agency as
long as I continue to live in Dayton.
**This project allowed me to realize some of the real problems
associated with our health care system. The major problem is
that many people do not have physical access to health care.
Reading about theses people gives you some idea of the
problem, but it does not actually begin to hit home until one
meets the people the problem is affecting. The two people that
I helped were not deadbeats or non-productive members of
society. They were hardworking members of society that could
not afford transportation to obtain access to health care.
This nation cannot expect people to be productive if they are
not allowed access to health care. Without access to health
care, one's illness could keep them from work or school which
would have major impacts on these people improving their
standard of living
**I am very thankful that I have had this experience.
Considering that I wish to continue working in mental health
with my law degree, I feel that this time has been invaluable,
**I enjoyed my experiences with the Preble County Health
Department. I learned so much about how a publicly funded
health care organization operates in relation to the law. . .
I was able to experience a wide variety of things during my
service. . . I enjoyed my experiences very much. It was both a
learning experience and a life experience, I met many great
people and learned so much from them.
**Overall, my volunteer experience was very helpful in giving
me real life experience and examples of the health care issues
we learned about in class. However, the utility did not end
there. I also became aware of how fortunate I am, and that I
need to use my position to help others who are powerless. I
have never known anyone with the types of problems facing the
people I helped, and I firmly believe that this experience
will drive me to help change the system. Law school should
include more opportunities like this. The text book cases and
statistic we learn about are lifeless. It takes real life
experience to motivate and bring about change.
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