U New Hampshire Student Kirsten Suchy from Southbury Wins National Essay Contest

Kirsten Suchy's Essay Published in Major Health Care Journal

DURHAM, NH (06/22/2010)(readMedia)-- University of New Hampshire student Kirsten Suchy '10, of Southbury, has won the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) essay contest for undergraduates.

Suchy, who received a B.S. in health management and policy in May, presented her essay, "A Lack of Standardization: The Basis for the Ethical Issues Surrounding Quality and Performance Reports," to the annual ACHE conference held this past March in Chicago. Attended by about 4,000 members, it boasts one of the largest gatherings of health care executives/managers in the world. This coming summer, her essay will be published in the ACHE national publication, Journal of Healthcare Management, which is known as one of the top journals in the field.

In her essay Suchy argues that consumers need standardized information in order to make comparative evaluations. Her essay was written for Professor Marc Hiller's senior-level course, Health Ethics and Law, a writing intensive course in which students spend the whole semester developing an argumentative essay on a selected ethical/legal issue in health care or public health. "At the end of the semester, I select what I consider to be the best essays from the ones submitted for a panel of three or four of my departmental colleagues to 'blindly' review," says Hiller. "They select what they think is the best and, usually after some minimal areas of recommended revisions, the essay is submitted to the ACHE contest. Then it's placed into a national review."

Suchy plans to continue her education and hopes to complete her master's degree in business and health care administration within the next few years. "Winning this award as an undergraduate has been extremely gratifying," says Suchy. "I was able to share my work with some of the most influential people in the field. Attending my first ACHE Congress event in Chicago was intimidating to say the least, but it was an amazing experience, and everyone was so gracious."