HLST 3230 Integrated Health Systems in Canada: Briefing Note #2 Instructions

What knowledge and skills are being assessed by this assignment?

The purpose of the briefing note assignment is to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they can:

• Understand the format for briefing notes used in government and health care organizations
• Apply the briefing note format to communicate important information to healthcare leaders and decision makers
• Summarize the key learnings from online learning modules, integrate the knowledge with course content, and make recommendations for health care system integration

Briefing Note Instructions:

• Students will prepare two briefing notes.   o Briefing Note #1 is based on the Week 3 CCO Module “Indigenous Knowledge and Traditional Health”.   

o Briefing Note #2 is based on the Week 8 CCO Module “Current Array of Indigenous Health Services”.

• Students will review the various briefing note resources on eClass and prepare a briefing note that addresses all items outlined in the table Briefing Note Requirements on page 2.
• The briefing notes can be completed as an individual assignment, or they can be completed in pairs.  Students are expected to make this decision based on their preferred learning style and their personal assessment of their capacity to complete the work collaboratively during a remote learning situation.  

If you do not have the time or the capacity to work together with someone else and contribute equally to the finished product, then you should opt to complete this assignment on your own.

•           Students who choose to complete their briefing note(s) in pairs are accepting the following terms: o Both students will develop a way to effectively collaborate and share information in a remote-learning situation (I suggest that ALL work be done on ONE shared Google Doc or similar shared file so that students have continuous access to each other’s work)

• Both students will contribute equally to the finished product
• Both students’ names and student numbers will be on the assignment and the Assignment Attachment Form o Both students will receive the same mark in ALL cases
• The assignment will have a short appendix that outlines the contribution of each student to the final product.  If there is no appendix, then the assignment will not be marked until the appendix is submitted and a late penalty will be incurred if the appendix is submitted after the due date.

Briefing Note Submission:

•           The Briefing Notes must be uploaded to the Turnitin link on eClass by the due dates posted on eClass.  

•           Submission of late files will incur a penalty of 10% per day.  Files more than 3 days late will receive a grade of zero.

•           To be marked by the Course Director, the submitted file MUST contain:  o          The Assignment Attachment Form (a Word version has been provided on eClass for ease of use) o   For Groups of Two Only: Appendix outlining each student’s contribution (how work was divided).  

Briefing Note Question:

•     Briefing Note #2 Scenario:  As a Policy Advisor at the newly created Ontario Health agency, you have been asked to develop a briefing note for all Ontario Health Teams that will:

1. Summarize Federal and Provincial policy jurisdiction for Indigenous health care programs and explain which Indigenous health care programs are federally funded and which programs are provincially funded,
2. Outline health equity issues that exist for Indigenous people, and
3. Suggest at least three ways in which Ontario Health Teams can integrate the concept of selfdetermination in provincial healthcare program delivery 

Briefing Note #2 Requirements

Helpful Hints

1. There is no one “right answer” for your recommendations, but there are better answers supported by information from the course.

2. High quality briefing notes have the following characteristics:

• • They are focused and detailed – they provide only the relevant information required to address the issue, but at the same time they provide enough detail so that the decision maker is well-informed
  • Information is presented in succinct way using sentences, headings, bold/underline, and bullet points strategically
  • The decision maker can scan the document quickly to understand the most important information quickly
  • They do not have information that is factually incorrect, or poorly explained

3.    Students most commonly lose marks for the following reasons:

• Formatting and Communication o         not double spaced 
  • does not conform to a “Briefing Note” format – too much is written in paragraph style so it is difficult to find information quickly – remember briefing notes are a way to quickly communicate important information and they are supposed to be a mix of narrative/sentences and bullet points.  The use of bullet points should be strategic so that the reader can glance and find your most important information right away. 
• Forgetting to reference information that came from elsewhere (if it isn’t your idea/fact, it should be referenced to cite the person or organization who published the idea/fact)
• Not enough explanation of the Recommendations – you should explain what your recommendation means – it shouldn’t just be a list.
• Incorrect APA  o Incorrect author or lacking author
  • Lacking page number in the in-text citation of a direct quote  o             Lacking reverse indentation in reference list  o    Reference format is not correct 
• Used acronyms without defining them first 
• Recommendations/options are not aligned with the information that was presented as

Background and Current Status

• Missing Assignment Attachment Form – receives late deduction because marker must wait for student to upload
• Missing Appendix if done in pairs – receives late deduction because marker must wait for student to upload