A bachelor’s degree in Hospital Management can prepare you for a career as a hospital administrator.
Now the question is, what’s the role of a hospital administrator? He is a professional who works behind the scenes to ensure that healthcare organizations run smoothly. He won’t interact directly with patients but oversees the facility. Hospital administrators must work alongside doctors, nurses, and technicians regularly and direct operations of healthcare facilities.
Here’s a list of must-have skills for hospital administrators:
- Industry knowledge: The healthcare industry is highly competitive, and it is advisable to get advanced certification to further your career. Those with specialized and advanced degrees have the necessary skills and a network of key industry contacts to excel in this field.
- Leadership skills: As a hospital administrator, you are in an executive position and responsible for delivering quality patient care. You must oversee staff duties, make new policies, and monitor the day-to-day operations. You should be able to command respect from others and stay committed to protecting the organization’s vision.
- Critical thinking: Hospital Management degrees impart analytical skills that help you identify the best plans for improving healthcare. You must have a solutions-oriented personality to make informed decisions to achieve predetermined goals.
- Relationship skills: Hospital administrators must work as liaisons in their workplaces. They must interact with the governing board, doctors, finance team members, and staff. Excellent communication and relationship skills are needed to keep the facility running smoothly.
- Ethical values: A healthcare administrator must have sound ethics and high judgment standards to serve the patients. They should be sensitive to patient needs and focus on improving the quality of care. Since they must make many vital decisions, they must have high moral standards and sound ethics.
- Adaptability: The world is dealing with the problems of aging populations everywhere, and hospitals face maximum pressures. To keep pace with the continuously-changing healthcare landscape, administrators must be flexible. They shouldn’t hesitate to introduce changes and disrupt the status quo when needed.
- Quick thinking: You must be able to think on your feet if you make decisions on the fly. At the same time, you should be ready to take responsibility for all such decisions, good or bad.
- Teamwork: As a hospital administrator, you have to manage multiple teams and individuals to ensure that the facility’s day-to-day operations aren’t interrupted in any way.
- Communication skills: This is a must-have skill for a hospital administrator because he has to be clear when explaining the hospital policies, rules, and procedures to the staff. You must be articulate in your communications, whether over email or in person, and mindful of how you explain things.
- Mentoring skills: You must hire, train, and motivate the hospital staff to make them perform better. Motivating staff demands informal mentoring wherein you should be ready to receive positive and negative feedback.
- Problem-solving skills: Healthcare managers must have excellent problem-solving skills that help them tackle crises or workplace conflicts and emergencies.
- Analytical skills: The healthcare industry deals with huge volumes of data. As a hospital administrator, you must discover ways to maximize data analysis to ensure better diagnosis and treatment.
- Budgeting skills: This is a must-have skill for almost every industry, but more so for a hospital. Using this skill, you can discover if there are enough funds to invest in new equipment and staff.
If you are passionate about medicine and healthcare and keen to serve patients, you can become a hospital administrator instead of a doctor or nurse. It’s the perfect career choice if you are already business-savvy and good with numbers.
