TEACHING TIPS & TOOLS
The Instructional Value of a Fictional
Case Study of a Mobile Medical
Application
Asa B. Wilson
Introduction
The academy often displays a positive view of difficult aspects of healthcare
administrative employment and career progress. Medicare fraud, forensic
accounting, diagnostic errors, cost shifting, ethical drift, customer service
lapses, and profit motive excesses are acknowledged as health service
occurrences. These uncomfortable, discouraging realities are not considered a
routine part of day-to-day health administration. Instead, they are discussed
objectively as issues addressed by technical approaches, such as statistical
process control (SPC), big data applications, root-cause analysis, conflict
resolution, alignment of incentives, visionary leadership, alternative payment
models, strategic positioning, and healthcare value methods.
Also, in-service offerings for student health administration groups
(facility tours, guest speakers, conference attendance support, employment
opportunities, compensation projections, and essay contests) foster
enthusiasm and confirm a sense of mission to be realized in a healthcare
management career. Yet, there is a countervailing reality that is expressed
during internship debriefing focus groups and reported progressively in
follow-up surveys. Once employed, undergraduates are often surprised and
, 400 The Journal of Health Administration Education Winter
2020
discouraged by on-the-job issues. A former student’s email captures this
dismay:
The HIM department is totally dysfunctional … Sometimes I wish I wasn’t
in health care any longer though. Maybe I’m just confused because of all the
drama that’s occurred over the past year. I don’t know.
Please address correspondence to Dr. Asa Wilson, 120D McLean, Methodist University, 5400
Ramsey Street, Fayetteville, NC 28311.
Helping students anticipate potentially difficult features of healthcare
employment is an obligation and opportunity for the academy. In support of
this view, the purpose of this articles is to describe an instructional approach
that introduces students to employment challenges and inoculates them
against the attendant discouragement; done without diminishing a student’s
passion for a health services career. A semester-long case study assignment
using a medical novel involving a cell phone medical application developed
by a for-profit corporation is used. The course requires a primary source text
and uses a fictional case study assignment to foster analysis of the novel’s
central characters and its plotline. Formal course content becomes the
student’s information tool kit used to build a creative analysis of the novel’s
characters and narrative. A fictional case study has value because it allows
students to individually and collectively analyze the narrative, its characters,
and plot dynamic without concern for the correct answer in the instructor’s
manual.
Academia is facing criticism from employers about the limited critical
thinking strengths of its graduates. One response points to a renewed interest
in literature as a useful adjunct for fostering critical thinking and analytical
skills (Zakaria, 2015). Also, McTigue, Thornton, and Wiese’s (2012)
authentication approach to using historical fiction as a teaching tool is
informative. The overarching authentication question is whether or not a
given piece of fiction is a realistic representation of factual history. Answering
such a question requires research and critical analysis—all accomplished as
students become informed, engaged historians. Finally, Diatta (2018) has
shown how literature is a useful adjunct in establishing an understanding of
social justice. In like manner, authors of realistic medical fiction have created
The Instructional Value of a Fictional
Case Study of a Mobile Medical
Application
Asa B. Wilson
Introduction
The academy often displays a positive view of difficult aspects of healthcare
administrative employment and career progress. Medicare fraud, forensic
accounting, diagnostic errors, cost shifting, ethical drift, customer service
lapses, and profit motive excesses are acknowledged as health service
occurrences. These uncomfortable, discouraging realities are not considered a
routine part of day-to-day health administration. Instead, they are discussed
objectively as issues addressed by technical approaches, such as statistical
process control (SPC), big data applications, root-cause analysis, conflict
resolution, alignment of incentives, visionary leadership, alternative payment
models, strategic positioning, and healthcare value methods.
Also, in-service offerings for student health administration groups
(facility tours, guest speakers, conference attendance support, employment
opportunities, compensation projections, and essay contests) foster
enthusiasm and confirm a sense of mission to be realized in a healthcare
management career. Yet, there is a countervailing reality that is expressed
during internship debriefing focus groups and reported progressively in
follow-up surveys. Once employed, undergraduates are often surprised and
, 400 The Journal of Health Administration Education Winter
2020
discouraged by on-the-job issues. A former student’s email captures this
dismay:
The HIM department is totally dysfunctional … Sometimes I wish I wasn’t
in health care any longer though. Maybe I’m just confused because of all the
drama that’s occurred over the past year. I don’t know.
Please address correspondence to Dr. Asa Wilson, 120D McLean, Methodist University, 5400
Ramsey Street, Fayetteville, NC 28311.
Helping students anticipate potentially difficult features of healthcare
employment is an obligation and opportunity for the academy. In support of
this view, the purpose of this articles is to describe an instructional approach
that introduces students to employment challenges and inoculates them
against the attendant discouragement; done without diminishing a student’s
passion for a health services career. A semester-long case study assignment
using a medical novel involving a cell phone medical application developed
by a for-profit corporation is used. The course requires a primary source text
and uses a fictional case study assignment to foster analysis of the novel’s
central characters and its plotline. Formal course content becomes the
student’s information tool kit used to build a creative analysis of the novel’s
characters and narrative. A fictional case study has value because it allows
students to individually and collectively analyze the narrative, its characters,
and plot dynamic without concern for the correct answer in the instructor’s
manual.
Academia is facing criticism from employers about the limited critical
thinking strengths of its graduates. One response points to a renewed interest
in literature as a useful adjunct for fostering critical thinking and analytical
skills (Zakaria, 2015). Also, McTigue, Thornton, and Wiese’s (2012)
authentication approach to using historical fiction as a teaching tool is
informative. The overarching authentication question is whether or not a
given piece of fiction is a realistic representation of factual history. Answering
such a question requires research and critical analysis—all accomplished as
students become informed, engaged historians. Finally, Diatta (2018) has
shown how literature is a useful adjunct in establishing an understanding of
social justice. In like manner, authors of realistic medical fiction have created
