Being a healthcare administrator (also known as a health service manager or healthcare executive) is the kind of job that appeals to those who are extremely organized, who are excellent at problem solving, and who are able to negotiate and make important decisions.
Healthcare administrators are required in many different places including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and community health centers. They are the ones who keep everything running and ensure that everyone is happy and cared for.
If this sounds like the perfect career for you, read on to find out how to get started.
What Qualifications Do You Need?
Right now, as you can see from this analysis of MHA degree job trends, there are many healthcare administrator jobs available, with more positions opening up all the time thanks to new clinics and healthcare services, as well as the need to care for more and more people. Therefore, once you have your qualifications, finding a job should not be too arduous a task.
Regarding your qualifications, you will need to begin with a bachelor’s degree. However, in order to secure the high paying and high ranking administrator jobs, you will also need a master’s degree. This is where your MHA (Master of Healthcare Administration) will be required, and why it is an important qualification to achieve. Once you have it, you can have your pick of positions.
Experience
As well as having a relevant master’s degree, experience is also important if you want to become a successful healthcare administrator. Previous experience in this field can make a big difference to your chances of securing a job, and the salary that you are offered. You can gain this invaluable experience through internships and residencies, many of which can be worked at the same time as studying for your MHA.
It may be that you need to gain this experience by volunteering and working for free at a local hospital or clinic. Because current administrators will have a heavy workload, they will often be willing to allow volunteers – with the right security credentials – to work with them. However, if you are planning to do this, make sure that you allow time for your study as well.
General Skills
Being a healthcare administrator is not something that everyone can do; it takes a specific type of person to be able to do this work successfully and enjoy it. Having certain skills and abilities will help you to achieve a lot more in your work, and knowing that you enjoy using these skills will give you an insight into how much you will also enjoy the job once you are working.
Skills that are needed include:
- Management ability
- Leadership
- Organizations skills
- Data analysis
- Policy development
- Staff management
- Problem solving
- Communication
Being able to understand which tasks need to take priority, delegating when necessary, and generally being able to manage many different tasks under time pressure will be part of the job of a healthcare administrator. For some, this is how they thrive and it gives them joy to be able to bring their skills to the fore. If that’s you, then being a healthcare administrator could be exactly what you should be doing.
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