In choosing your topic, you should consider not only how interesting it is to you, but also how easy it will be to find information about it. You will need to find credible references and refer to them in your paper.

***What to Submit for this Assignment*********
For this assignment, submit a list of 3 topics you are considering for your paper. For each topic:
1) state what is interesting to you about this topic, and

2) speculate about which ethical theories or questions are raised by this topic.

Choosing a Topic
You can choose a topic inspired by discussions, short papers, and non-graded activities. Here are a few examples of possible topics:

• Should healthcare be universally available in the US? For example, should everyone receive the same quality of health care regardless of their ability to pay?
• How should we make decisions about which patients receive high-cost, scarce medical resources such as organ transplant?
• cultural diversity and differences in the medical environment
• profitability vs. patient care

You may choose to do a paper on another topic, too, as long as it involves policy and ethics in the medical environment. In choosing your topic, you should consider not only how interesting it is to you, but also how easy it will be to find information about it. You will need to find credible references and refer to them in your paper.

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During this course, you will be working on a research paper to be submitted at the end of LP6 (Week 11). Your paper will focus on a healthcare management topic that is a source of ethics debates. It should:

1) address the ethical theories or principles that most influence current conversations about this topic.
2) discuss how these ethical theories or principles translate into healthcare policy decisions.

These ethical principles must come from the course readings this is evidence that you understand and have considered materials presented in this course.

Your paper must be 5 APA-style pages (Times New Roman, 12-point font, and with 1″ margins). In addition to these 5 pages, it must also include a “References” page formatted in APA style that includes at least 6 credible sources. You can use the Web, books, journal articles, newspapers, or magazines. Keep in mind that you want good sources for your research ones that are current and credible.

During this Learning Plan, you should begin thinking about a research topic to submit to your professor for approval. You can choose any topic related to healthcare ethics.

For more tips and guidance on choosing a research topic, visit this ProQuest Research Companion learning module, available to you for free through the NAU Online Library. You may also wish to use Credo Reference‘s mind map search for brainstorming.

This assignment is worth 40 points and will be graded according to the scoring guide below:

Scoring Guide (40 Points)

Rating Scale
20-18	Work meets or exceeds criterion at a high level of competence.
17-16	Work reflects an understanding of criterion with minor misunderstandings/misconceptions.
15-14	Criterion partially met, but one or more important concepts/skills are missing or flawed.
13-12	Work reflects an attempt to meet criterion, but significant misunderstandings/misconceptions are apparent.
11-0	Criterion not met or work is absent.