PHS 3186

Dr. Q is one of THE BEST professors I have taken a class with at UVA. She’s so knowledgeable about health care systems and she genuinely loves what she teaches, which makes learning about it much more enjoyable and enriching.

Class breakdown: Attendance and Participation (15%) | Comparison Table (15%) | Weekly reading assignments (11%) | Health system problem (1%) | One page research summary (5%) | Issue brief (18%) | Instagram story (7.5%) | Flash talk (7.5%) | Take-home final (20%)

The course was flipped so we had lectures on new content on Friday (no in person class, just a recorded lecture) and in person Mon/Wed for discussion. The comparison table is basically filled out every week based on completion and then at the end of the semester for correctness. We had to read about 2 readings each week and then write 5-7 sentences about them, which she graded on completion. A large portion of your grade revolves around a health system problem you pick about mid-semester that you have to write a paper, 3 min speech, and a social media post about. She tells you exactly what she's looking for with her rubrics and assignments so expectations were pretty clear. Dr. Q is also super accommodating if you’re sick as she’ll let you zoom in.

This class took a decent amount of time and effort as I’m a slow reader and writer, but I found it all rewarding because I learned so much. But hands down one of the most interesting classes I’ve taken at UVA since you learn about the US healthcare system and other countries. Overall if you’re a GPH major, request this class super early as it’s very popular! #tCFF24

This is a fantastic course that I HIGHLY recommend for a GPH elective! Dr. Quissell does an incredible job giving you an in-depth understanding of different health systems. If you take this course, you will not regret it. The class is structured to allow you to learn a lot of material in a short amount of time, and I can't recommend it enough.

Class Structure: Monday and Wednesday we had our in-class lesson/activities then Friday classes we just had to listen to a recorded lecture for the upcoming Mon/Wed. It was a really convenient structure for those that don't like Friday in-person classes.

Course Work:
- Weekly comparison table (comparing different countries health systems), weekly brief 5-7 sentence writings on the readings, research summary (prep for Issue Brief), Issue Brief (researching a topic of your choice), Instagram Post (on Issue Brief topic), and Flash Talk (presenting your Issue Brief)
- She is very clear about expectations for each assignment with detailed rubrics so it is not difficult to do well

Recorded lectures were how I learned most of the content from class. I really liked the structure of these lectures because they provided a pretty detailed explanation of each country's healthcare system. Coupled with the reading, other articles, and the comparison table, each week I felt that I had a comprehensive understanding of the health system structure of that week's country. Additionally, assignments like the issue brief and flash talk allowed me to have an in depth understanding of three countries which I really liked because not only did I learn about all the countries Dr. Quissell lectured on, I then was allowed to explore more in countries I selected (in my case, the US, Germany, and Norway). Other major assignments included creating a social media post (about 10 slides) to describe your case study of a health systems issue in a specific country. I would have liked the class to be structured twice a week for a shorter class rather than once a week for about 2 hours, but I doubt she had much control over that. Overall, Dr. Q is a really well-informed professor in health policy and health care systems, so if either of those interest you, take this class! #tCFfall22

This class is very interesting! You learn a lot about how different healthcare systems around the world, and how each system has certain strengths and certain weaknesses. It is very interesting to learn about the ways in which the U.S. healthcare system can adapt to become similar to different systems around the world. The course is flipped, meaning that you have to do readings and watch pre-recorded lectures before class, and then the actual lecture itself (which is once a week) is a review of the lecture and then a hands-on activity. There are a pretty hefty amount of reading to be done, and the pre-recorded lectures are usually about 1-1.5 hours long. You also have to do a quick quiz before each class, which corresponds with the readings, but they are not worth too much. There are also multiple writing assignments, which take a good amount of time. The final is also just multiple short papers. All in all, the class is really great, and Professor Quissell is knowledgeable and amazing! #tCFFall2021