Choosing Hospital Management as a Profession

By Dr. Bhawna Gulati

Healthcare is considered as a noble profession which works devotedly and selflessly 24X7 providing care for the patients. It is largely people driven/staff driven organization including doctors, nurses, technicians, wherein their quality of care or lack of quality determines the patient’s experience in the hospital. Hence, impacts their decision of revisit to the hospital in case of any future problems.  

In 1950s, there were largely two kinds of hospitals -- government hospitals and private hospitals owned by wealthy families. These private hospitals were largely run by the Muneems/Managers of these family businesses. They had no clue of the requirements of the healthcare or research or innovations and largely concentrated on running the hospital on low cost. Dais (professionally unqualified midwives) and unqualified staff conducted deliveries and provided care to patients. Hence, death rates of patients were very high.

Developments in Western world had started creating a stir and people in India were becoming more and more aware. As we say, Necessity is the Mother of Invention, a strong need was felt to look into the healthcare system functioning more closely and carefully. This was followed by an era wherein the hospitals were run by very senior doctors who by virtue of their numerous years of clinical practice gained knowledge about running the hospitals. They were trained in their clinical fields but not in administering these hospitals. Also, they had little time concentrating on managing the hospitals affairs and largely concentrated on treating their patients. The patients considered them as Gods and no one really questioned them. Still death rates were very high. Sometimes General MBA Graduates were hired to provide support to these senior doctor administrators as these senior doctors had little idea about fields like operations, marketing and finance etc. But these MBA Graduates had knowledge of business only and were clueless about requirements of healthcare concepts like hand hygiene, infection control etc.  And of course nobody spoke of quality of healthcare services provided to the patient. It was synonym with the duration of doctor’s time spent with the patient.  Further many Wealthy people opened hospitals for philanthropic activities, managing policy decisions by a Trust running these organizations. There were fewer discussions on efficiency of the hospital systems. Generally people were satisfied with their family doctor prescribing medicines for most of the problems they suffered from.

With Time, Increase in Medical Technology and healthier lifestyles, life spans of people in general have increased and so their medical needs. Patients became more aware and demanding - “Google Patients”.

Patients no longer preferred the smelly and uncomfortable environment where their relatives were constantly running for arranging medicines and other supplies. There were demands of good quality care and healthcare was now being perceived as a service industry. Further there were huge efforts made to provide better work environment to our doctors, nurses and talented workforce in Indian Hospitals to reverse Brain Drain and retain them.  There has also been an increase in Medical Tourists (patients coming for medical care along with sightseeing) from various countries to India due to the cost factor. Thus the healthcare has become a booming recession free sector with new hospitals opening almost every month. Government has also laid out elaborate regulatory requirements for hospitals to follow, to be able to function. They are also being increasingly vigilant with increased patient complaints and negligence cases being reported.

With passage of time challenges faced by hospitals also increased like rising costs, resource crunch, hospital services being covered under the Consumer Protection Act and swelling court cases against Hospitals. It was felt that we need specialized persons who are trained and equipped for handling the challenging and complex affairs of the hospitals. Hospital Management field thus evolved and developed as a specialized field for running the hospitals and other allied healthcare fields. Few leading colleges like AIIMS started offering this course in India, this trend followed now by many colleges and universities. This was supplemented by immense awareness about the quality in healthcare concepts brought by National and International Quality Standard agencies like ISO, NABH and JCI.

The owners of the hospitals were now Large Corporate Houses which focussed on efficiency (due to increased costs), profits and leanings from other fields were being applied in healthcare. This gave birth to the concept of having a qualified Hospital manager who is not only trained in Business subjects like finance, operations etc but also is aware of needs and challenges of the healthcare industry.

The patient’s expectations, attitude of hospitals owners and hospital functioning thus evolved tremendously over last two decades. Concepts like patient cantered care, patient experience and patient satisfaction in the hospital are now given immense importance as Better quality of care. Feel Good factors for patients and their relatives in the hospitals like Better Ambience, Comfortable recliner chairs for long waiting hours, Better Eateries with hot food 24 X 7, Book Shops, Florists etc can increasingly be seen. Though this has received criticism from one section of society but there is a larger section of middle class people who seek these comforts for themselves and their relatives.

Thus the above have led to immense demand for the especially trained workforce of hospital managers to ensure seamless running of complex systems in our Indian Hospitals. Government also is increasing working towards improving public health systems for providing safe healthcare, to cater to the public needs. This has led to tremendous increase in requirement of health management professionals in public sector as well

Today Hospital management is a science and established field with MBA subjects like Operations, Quality Management, Marketing, Finance, Human Resource Management, Laws Requirements etc., are taught with a focus on hospital and their application in healthcare system. The Course is called with similar names in the industry like MBA or a Post Graduate Diploma/Degree in Hospital and/or Health Care Management/Hospital Administration. The career opportunities for this course are practically endless and graduates of this course can pursue a variety of career paths.

Health and Hospital Managers need to have a strong hold on concepts of fundamentals of a business, well versed in medical jargon and medico-legal aspects. They function as a bridge between the doctors and management of the hospital, ensuring the hospital function in a seamless and smooth manner. They oversee both medical and business side of the hospital. They manage a lot of behind the scene activities of the hospital to ensure medical care being provided to patient seamlessly.  

When people want to pursue a career in healthcare due to their passion, unless one has worked in the healthcare field, they are often unaware about hospital management and its prospects. This is largely due to the fact that hospital managers have very little interaction with the patients. But just like the idea of being a part of the organization, helps people find that it’s where they want to be. By working in healthcare field, hospital and healthcare management is a path worth considering due to huge opportunities which lie ahead in the career.

The applicants’ for this course can be any graduate- both medical background and non medical background with a passion for working in healthcare. There is ample scope for both kinds of backgrounds. Students from varying backgrounds like medical graduates, dentists, pharmacy graduates, engineers, B Com, B Sc, B Sc Computers, B.A, Maths Honours etc are increasing taking up this course for a bright career both in India and outside India.  I often come across bright students who share with us their passion for becoming a doctor but could not get clear the tough and non transparent system of medical entrance exams in India. They still wish to fulfil their childhood dream for a career in healthcare. This course helps in meeting their ambitions by offering them a hospital management degree and opportunity to work in healthcare industry and to make difference in people’s lives. Mid career working professionals from Indian Army/Defence that are looking for a change in career and Practising clinical doctors who had to take up administrative posts due to seniority, are also taking up this course actively. This course is offered both full time and part time/online mode by various universities/institutions in India now, to meet the diverse requirements and constraints of time, distance etc.

Since qualified Hospital Managers for running hospitals is also a requirement for National Quality Standards for Hospitals by National Accreditation Board of Hospitals and Health Care Providers (NABH), Quality Council of India. This further gave a greater push for their recruitment by private hospitals. Almost all State Governments are increasingly hiring qualified Hospital Managers for all District and State Public Hospitals to improve their functioning.

Thus this course caters to professions like managing Private Corporate Hospitals, managing Government Hospitals (Public Health), Health Insurance, Academic Careers (in Organizations teaching this course), opening your own venture(hospital/start up), MNCs with healthcare projects, NGOs, Health Care IT, Consultancy Services etc. With IT revolution in India and rapid digitalization entering the healthcare arena in India, many prominent IT companies like Accenture, Infosys, Delloite have a separate health vertical for developing and implementing software/IT solutions for both US and Indian Hospitals, there absorb Trained Hospital managers at attractive pay packages.

Thus for all those students who have a passion for healthcare and dream of a career in this field, Hospital management is a good and lucrative option.

As said by famous author; Stephen R. Covey;

So Butler’s cannot be Hospital Administrators!  Hospital Administrators are a breed in themselves. They make the operations precise, pack them into a deliverable packet, make them viable first and then profitable for the hospital promoters and ultimately for the Industry and the nation.

So choose Hospital Administration as your profession to do all the above.

About the Author:

A medical doctor with a Gold Medal in MBA (hospital management), Dr. Bhawna Gulati has 15 plus years of work experience in the healthcare sector. She is with Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad as an Associate Professor at the Centre for Health Care Management.

Dr Gulati's niche areas have been setting quality standards and Accreditation programmes and Market Research. She played pivotal roles in Wolters Kluwer as Manager – Clinical Solutions and in NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Health Care Providers) as the Deputy Director. She presented her research findings on prominent hospitals in Indian metros at the international level in the US and also pursued the Harvard Business Management Mentor Programme. She also handled empanelment of hospitals & health care providers by government agencies like ECHS and CGHS at national level.

 

 

 

January 2015 Dr. Bhawna Gulati joined Administrative Staff College of India as an Associate Professor at the Centre for Health Care management, Hyderabad.