{"id":13853,"date":"2025-11-07T15:11:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/?p=13853"},"modified":"2025-11-07T15:12:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:12:29","slug":"from-coursework-to-real-world-impact-understanding-the-healthcare-administration-capstone-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/2025\/11\/07\/from-coursework-to-real-world-impact-understanding-the-healthcare-administration-capstone-project\/","title":{"rendered":"From Coursework to Real-World Impact: Understanding the Healthcare Administration Capstone Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/directory\/profile\/jodi-olmsted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jodi Olmsted<\/a>&nbsp;brings a lifetime of experience to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwex.wisconsin.edu\/healthcare-administration\/\">University of Wisconsin Master of Science in Healthcare Administration<\/a>. With an extensive background in dental hygiene and consulting, Jodi teaches multiple courses in the 100 percent online program, including the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwex.wisconsin.edu\/healthcare-administration\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/06\/HCA790Syllabus.pdf\">capstone<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwex.wisconsin.edu\/healthcare-administration\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/11\/HCA789Syllabus.pdf\">pre-capstone<\/a>&nbsp;courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The capstone project takes everything students have learned throughout the program and gives them the opportunity to apply these concepts in a real-world setting. Jodi is passionate about being a mentor to her students as they work to complete their projects:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would say, through this entire process, that I\u2019m also just as much the mentor champion as people are going through these roles,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause I have that lifetime of experience, and because I\u2019m outside of your organizations, it helps for neutrality and an opportunity to help see things that, when you\u2019re internal, sometimes you don\u2019t see. So that you can bring something full circle and be proud of your final outcomes and what you produce for organizations.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jodi is an academic director for the Healthcare Administration program and professor in the School of Health Sciences and Wellness at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UW-Stevens Point<\/a>, where she earned her BS in Biology. She also earned her AAS in Dental Hygiene from Northcentral Technical College and is a registered dental hygienist. Her three graduate degrees are all in education, including her PhD from the University of Minnesota.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In her free time, Jodi enjoys traveling, reading, and cooking. She\u2019s also an adviser and coach for the Curling Association of UWSP, with her students having won multiple national championships.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Meet the Instructor: Jodi Olmsted\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x2dPdsy8m7A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the following Q&amp;A, we sat down with Jodi to learn more about what Healthcare Administration students can expect from the capstone project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What\u2019s the most common question or concern that students have regarding the capstone?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Number one is, \u201cWhat\u2019s the expectation as far as the capstone itself?\u201d And truly what you\u2019re doing is an applied experiential project where you are able to marshal and use all of the skills from the courses that you\u2019ve had through the program up until this point to resolve a problem at an organization. This can certainly be at your own workplace. So that\u2019s one of the main questions we get.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other one is \u201cWhat\u2019s the time commitment?\u201d Or \u201cHow much time and energy am I putting into this applied project?\u201d The expectation is that it\u2019s about 150 hours. One thing we like to make clear is that this is something you\u2019re doing for organizations\u2014whether it\u2019s your own company or someone else\u2014where they don\u2019t have the administrative bandwidth to do the projects themselves that they\u2019d like to do. So it\u2019s an opportunity to advance the mission, vision, and values of organizations, or to resolve or come up with suggestions for complex problems.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/uwex.wisconsin.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image0-rotated.jpeg\"><\/a>When should I start preparing for my capstone project?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t need to be focused on your project until you\u2019re through the middle two-thirds of the program and really absorbing what you\u2019re learning and thinking about in an applied manner. Not just in a philosophical framework, but really engaging with the information that you\u2019re learning and considering, \u201cHow would I use this at the organization I\u2019m with? How would I apply this information?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you start the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwex.wisconsin.edu\/healthcare-administration\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2022\/10\/HCA770Syllabus.pdf\">HCA 770: Organization Development and Strategic Leadership in Healthcare<\/a>&nbsp;course, you will begin doing the preparatory work leading to your pre-capstone and capstone courses. You will do a four-part project report in the Organization Development course, and oftentimes there\u2019s both a given scenario that people can use if you\u2019re not working for a professional healthcare organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What types of capstone projects have students completed in the past?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The projects themselves run the gamut. Anything from developing processes and procedures, developing new policies, training materials, data analysis and recommendations for changes, whether it\u2019s for electronic health records or for clinical practice modifications to make sure that the quality of care and the quality of life of patients and clients that are being served is improved upon. There\u2019s educational-type programming that has also been done, and there are employee policy handbooks that have been revised or developed from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"attachment_20961\"><a href=\"https:\/\/uwex.wisconsin.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/53669AD0-D170-47DB-96D4-78E2E0C32627_1_201_a.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uwex.wisconsin.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/53669AD0-D170-47DB-96D4-78E2E0C32627_1_201_a.jpeg\" alt=\"Jodi stands with Healthcare Administration student Bianca at her graduation ceremony. \" class=\"wp-image-20961\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jodi and Healthcare Administration student Bianca at her graduation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What if my project doesn\u2019t go as planned or something unexpected happens?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the things that\u2019s a real important expectation as we\u2019re moving through the capstone project is that you\u2019re doing a routine check-in with me, because that project proposal drives all your work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the project to be successful, every goal and the project deliverables have to be accomplished. If you say you\u2019re going to develop a handbook, the handbook is part of what you\u2019re presenting to, not only for the purposes of the class, but to the organization that you\u2019re doing that for. If you\u2019re doing a flow chart and a series of change processes, then that would be part of those deliverables.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We try to look at phasing projects because we can\u2019t always do everything in one step\u2014sometimes things take a longer period of time. One of the things that we do, though, is what I call routine check-ins. And that can be a phone call or a text. I have a weekly meeting on Zoom for the capstone group where it\u2019s a standing half-hour. You can hop on, we can talk, and brainstorm.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Communication between everyone is so important. If we don\u2019t have that communication and you hit a wall and there\u2019s an issue, I can\u2019t help people to overcome that or find a pivot point where we can still have a positive outcome.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What\u2019s the number one thing you want students to know about the capstone?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This is one of the things that, for me, is very much my educational philosophy: You need to focus on learning, not the grade. As an instructional designer and someone with three graduate degrees in adult education, I design a course for you to learn from and with, but you have to do the work to learn. If you take the time to use my bookings calendar and to meet with me, I\u2019m here to help you. So I think that\u2019s probably one of the biggest things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Interested in learning more about the online&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/uwex.wisconsin.edu\/healthcare-administration\/\"><em>University of Wisconsin Master of Science in Healthcare Administration<\/em><\/a><em>? Contact an enrollment adviser at 608-800-6762 or&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"mailto:learn@uwex.wisconsin.edu\"><em>learn@uwex.wisconsin.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jodi Olmsted&nbsp;brings a lifetime of experience to the&nbsp;University of Wisconsin Master of Science in Healthcare Administration. With an extensive background in dental hygiene and consulting, Jodi teaches multiple courses in the 100 percent online program, including the&nbsp;capstone&nbsp;and&nbsp;pre-capstone&nbsp;courses. The capstone project takes everything students have learned throughout the program and gives them the opportunity to apply [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11,12,15],"tags":[305,341,342,344],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13853"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13857,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13853\/revisions\/13857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/cps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}