Healthcare Services and Rehabilitation Sciences (BS)

Your path to a rewarding career

Learn more about the Healthcare Services and Rehabilitation Sciences degree program

The Healthcare Services and Rehabilitation Sciences major is designed to prepare you for graduate degrees in rehabilitation sciences. This major offers the necessary coursework for you to qualify for various rehabilitation graduate program options including:

Occupational Therapy or Physical Therapy
Our curriculum provides a strong foundation to continue to graduate-level OT or PT programs to ultimately become a licensed therapist. In addition, this program offers you practical experience through an experience-driven learning internship, allowing you to apply your knowledge in real-world settings.

Blindness and Low Vision Studies
This course of study prepares you to apply to two of WMU's Blindness and Low Vision Studies accelerated graduate programs. Some of our courses can be accepted for credit in these graduate programs, reducing the number of graduate credit hours needed.

We’ll prepare you with the necessary biomedical background, plus we’ll help instill professionalism, communication skills, skills in using research to make decisions, and we’ll help you understand our rapidly changing health care systems and policies.

The Healthcare Services and Sciences bachelor's degree can be completed fully online.

Therapy with older woman in Unified Clinics

Capstone experience

Test your skills while you're still learning through a capstone experience. You'll complete an internship, professional project or research project that you can add to your resume.

Core major requirements

HSV 1000:  Introduction to Professions in Health and Human Services
HSV 2250:   Lifespan Development
HSV 3000:   Research in Health Services
HSV 3700:   Health System and Its Environment
HSV 3900   Core Competencies and Contemporary Issues in Healthcare
HSV 4100:   Legal Issues in Healthcare Services
HSV 4400:   Diversity and Inclusion in Health and Human Services
HSV 4780:   U.S. Health Policy
HSV 4800:   Healthcare Management
HSV 4860:   Health Literacy Practices
HSV 4880:   Psychosocial Aspects of Health and Healthcare

Capstone Coursework

One of the following:
HSV 4890:   Health and Human Services Independent Research
HSV 4895:   Capstone Project
HSV 4900:   Internship in Healthcare Services

HSS core cognate courses

BIOS 1100:   Biological Sciences Lab
BIOS 2110:   Human Anatomy or
BIOS 1980:   Human Form and Function
MDSC 2010:   Medical Terminology
PHIL 2010:   Contemporary Problems in Ethics or
PHIL 3340:   Biomedical Ethics or 
NUR 3220:   Health Care Ethics 
HOL 4700:   Relationship-Centered Skills

Full curriculum details can be found in the WMU Course Catalog.

Electives 

In addition to the Healthcare Services and Rehabilitation Sciences core major and core cognate courses, students are required to complete at least 15 credit hours of electives. The choice of electives is determined by career goals and pre-requisites for graduate programs. Program advisors provide a list that provides guidance on the courses needed. Students should check the requirements of their preferred graduate program while pursuing their undergraduate degree. 

ADA  2250 Drug Use: Personal and Social Impact  
BIOS 1110 – Biological Sciences Lab
BIOS 1120 - Principles of Biology 
BIOS 2400 - Human Physiology 
BLS 3050 - Introduction to Adults with Disabilities 
CHEM 1100 - General Chemistry I
CHEM 1110 - General Chemistry Laboratory I
CHEM 1120 - General Chemistry II 
CHEM 1130 - General Chemistry Laboratory II 
GRN 1000 – Introduction to Aging Students
HOL 1000 – Choices in Living 
HOL 5360 – Wellness Skills for Health Professionals 
HSV 4820 – Post-Acute Care Administration
MDSC 4390 - Pharmacology for Health Professionals
MDSC 4450 - Pathophysiology for the Health Professional 
OT 2020 - Orientation to Occupational Therapy 
OT 4700 – Functioning of the Older Adult 
PHYS 1130 General Physics I 
PHYS 1140 General Physics I Lab 
PHYS 1150 General Physics II 
PHYS 1160 General Physics II Lab  
PSY 1000 - General Psychology  
PSY 2500 - Abnormal Psychology 
SIGN 1010 American Sign Language I 
SLHS 2000 - Communication Disorders and Sciences 
SLHS 2090 Communication Diversity & Access 
SOC 2000 – Principles of Sociology  
STAT 1600 - Discovery with Data 
STAT 2160 – Introductory Statistics 

Other courses with departmental approval