About Capstone

Since 2011, our students have completed over 150 Capstone projects, serving communities across the nation and internationally. Each year, small teams of students come together for their culminating assignment in their master’s degree. Together, they solve a healthcare organization or business challenge. Several Capstone projects have resulted in significant organizational advancement, including service line development or accreditation, increased safety within Emergency Departments, and improving customer experience. Previous projects span the nation from Oregon to Alaska and Hawaii to Connecticut. International work includes clinic development and maternity wing construction in a remote African village. Regardless of location, students and sponsors benefit from these experiences. 

Become a Capstone Sponsor

Each project has an “on the ground” organizational sponsor who commits to regular meetings with the team. The sponsor helps answer organizational questions, provide access to data and people, and receives the students’ reports and deliverables. This requires, on average, 1 – 2 hours a week of the sponsor’s time. We intentionally seek projects that help communities who are not well-served by the current system.  

During the term, student teams apply project management skills and a variety of frameworks to analyze challenges and provide recommendations. This includes a combination of interviews and background research as well as the creation of recommendations. Students share updates with sponsors regularly throughout the project, including an interim presentation that summarizes their analysis. The team spends the second half of Capstone developing their recommendations and preparing their accompanying deliverables. Final deliverables include a consulting report and verbal presentation. Additional deliverables are project specific and may include frameworks, proforma, survey tool, or playbook. The team concludes with a final presentation to the sponsor and invited stakeholders.