Project 3 FEA Plan

61%[footnoteRef:1] of international students who were admitted to Syracuse University in the Fall of 2017 intake did not respond promptly to the immunization and vaccination procedures and requirements before the start of the 2017 fall semester. 100% of international students were expected to get their vaccinations or upload their certificates before the beginning of their studies. Not responding to vaccinations requests is considered a violation to the requirements of the Syracuse University Health Center as well as the New York State Department of Health’s policy which reads: “Students born on or after January 1, 1957 must submit proof of immunity to Measles, Mumps, and Rubella.” [1: The percentage is from a questionnaire as SUHC didn’t respond till the moment of writing this report. 18 international students responded to this questionnaire.]

International students at Syracuse University come from 123 countries and therefore, have different educational and cultural backgrounds. As a result, they might have different attitudes and conceptions towards vaccination and health, and some lack exposure to technology backed appointment systems and the Online Health Portal.

Every intake, that is the Fall and the Spring intakes, all admitted international students are required to go through many orientations including health orientation as part of their registration process. International students’ orientations take place before the beginning of the semester classes. In case students arrive late to the campus, another round of makeup orientation is conducted.

Attending the orientation sessions is mandatory, and all international students are given cards which are stamped as proof of attendance and should be delivered to the Slutzker Center by the end of the orientation sessions/program.

After the international students’ orientation on health, ALL international students are expected to go online to their health portal, fill the required health forms, and either provide immunization records if already taken in their own countries or book an appointment to get the required vaccinations from the Syracuse University Health Center in time. However, many international students do not appear to comprehend the importance of immunization and vaccination and its implications for their health and academics as well as the Syracuse University community’s health.

International students, the Syracuse University Health Center, the Slutzker Center, and the academic and registration offices at Syracuse University are more or less involved. However, international students who don’t comply with the Health Center requirements primarily own this problem.

Every year, Syracuse University welcomes new students via two different intakes in the Fall and the Spring. Therefore, the problem can be witnessed twice a year. Due to the fact that more students are accepted in the Fall intake, the problem can be seen more frequently then compared to the Spring intake. For the fall 2017 semester, 61% of students didn’t respond within the specified period resulting in a violation to the health regulations.

A note given by the Syracuse University Health Center reads: “The mandatory immunization requirement form (on the patient portal) must be completed and received by Health Services prior to your arrival on campus. If these documents are not received, students will risk strict administrative consequences including the inability to register for classes and/or suspension of ID card services.”

Therefore, many consequences are expected as in the below table:

Proposed FEA Plan

To solve this problem, a thorough cause-analysis needs to be done. The Behavior Engineering Model (BEM), developed by Thomas F. Gilbert, is used to systematically analyze the possible causes. BEM is chosen because it checks information, tools/instruments, and motivation related causes for both the environment and the individual (international students in our case).

The model consists of six factors, three of which are related to the environment in which performance is taking place, and the other three are related to the performers themselves. At the same time, these factors are arranged in pairs under three categories, that are information, instrumentation, and motivation.

Assessing these factors is expected to lead to one or more causes that might be responsible for the undesired performance. For example, if performers were not told the expectations for desired performance, Gilbert’s model would identify a cause associated with insufficient data, the environmental factor associated with the information category in the behavior engineering model. All these six elements are necessary for acceptable performance.

Table 1: Gilbert’s six factors affecting performance

To collect data, questionnaires, focus groups, and documents will be used. These instruments cover all potential resources and are not very expensive. The below table identifies targeted audiences of each instrument.

2

It’s expected that the problem is mainly because of information. Therefore, these solutions in the below table are suggested to address the lack of information/skill.

39% of international students who responded to the questionnaire (7 out of 18) complied with the health requirements by taking their vaccinations before the beginning of the 2017 fall semester.

83% of international students who responded to the questionnaire (15 out of 18) didn’t know the health requirements before coming to campus.