Healthcare management programme in demand for shaping future careers

One of the foremost questions that should cross the mind of a student before enrolling in any course is, is it about a career or the first job? We often observe that students remain confused about choosing the course to balance between career and job opportunities. Therefore, it is always important to choose a course that offers multi-disciplines and cross-discipline opportunities. Healthcare management education is a combination of medical science with business and management orientation. The recent experience of Covid-19 made us realise that ‘health is wealth’. Irrespective of seeing this phrase together or as individual words, you will find that to have a balanced approach towards life, the basic requirements are ‘good health’ and ‘good wealth’.

The question may arise what exactly healthcare management education is and what skills are needed to have a career in this field? The landscape of healthcare education has progressed significantly, especially in the last decade. The scope of healthcare education is not limited to the medical field today. Candidates who are equipped with multiple skills and can work across departments and disciplines are given priority. Hence, the need for a multi-skilled workforce and a special focus on business and management skills, have brought the collaboration between medical, business management, social science, tourism, and economics to the surface. Therefore, this is denoted as cross and multi-disciplined education. Undoubtedly, this field offers more scope to students exploring career options across industries. The candidates who aspire to be leaders and helm higher management positions (such as CEOs, COOs, CXOs), team players, empathetic, critical and design thinkers, are most suitable. However, all these skills can be crafted, developed or improved over a period of time. Hence, one mustn’t get scared or give up if they currently don’t possess these skills. The world of healthcare management is open for you.

As far as the scope of education is concerned, almost every country has realised the need for healthcare facilities in their nation and therefore the courses related to healthcare management are going to be most in demand compared to others. The involvement of regulatory frameworks, accreditations and quality standards in the healthcare industry, have led to an increased need of such professionals in these fields. However, there are many options available in healthcare management education related to short and long-term programmes. Being an education enthusiast, my advice is to balance the job and career therefore, as an undergraduate and post-graduate course carries more weight. However, short-term courses can be helpful — a cherry on the cake for improving skills. This field undoubtedly offers a safe career option at a low cost.

— Dr Sudhir Rana is Assistant Professor

College of Healthcare Management & Economics of Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE

For more information regarding the programmes, visit www.gmu.ac.ae