A career in healthcare administration can allow you to positively impact the lives of patients without providing direct patient care yourself. In addition, you could work toward creating a supportive workplace culture that values its staff members, their professional development and their contributions to patient care. If you choose to earn a degree in healthcare administration, you may have opportunities to develop competence in the following areas:
Legal and Ethical Principles in Healthcare
It’s important to fully understand the legal and ethical principles within the field. This includes everything from recognizing, analyzing and resolving ethical dilemmas to understanding legal liabilities within healthcare administration.
Professionals should know the safety policies of their facility or organization and should understand the obligation to protect not only patients but also the staff and facility itself.
Business Analysis and Finances
As a healthcare administrator, you will be focused on addressing the business and operational needs of the organization. Therefore, you will need to understand basic business operations and performance as well as possess essential managerial communication skills, which may include conflict management, negotiation, external partner marketing and change management.
Additionally, as a healthcare administrator, you will need to understand finance principles. This includes understanding how the facility is operating in terms of financial performance, billing and budgeting. You will also need to make decisions for your facility based on these factors, so it is essential to understand how these factors impact the goals of the organization.
Healthcare Research and Methods
Leading and managing healthcare facilities involves analyzing data and incorporating new knowledge gained through research. The goal is to find ways of improving patient care, enhancing operational efficiency and supporting the professional development of staff members.
