medicaladminis

Basic Information About Medical Administration Jobs

Medical administration is a relatively broad field encompassing a wide range of careers and jobs. As a medical administrator, one may seek employment as a hospital administrator, a hospital manager, long term care administrator, administrator of a specific organization within healthcare but outside of hospitals, a clinic administrator, a public health administrator and an administrator of hospital supplies. Medical administrators may work with consulting firms and provide consultation to health care organizations. Most jobs within medical administration require a combination of managerial and leadership skills.

Job resources

With the field growing steadily over past decade or so, several portals and forums have now come up which make good resources for jobs in medical administration. The websites of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and the Association of University Programs in Healthcare Administration (AUPHA) are two good websites that feature sections on employment opportunities. These websites cater to both, those seeking medical administration jobs and also those who are looking to employ medical administrators.

Job profile

Working as a healthcare administrator requires a highly organized and punctual lifestyle. Several healthcare administrators, especially those that work within hospitals, work long hours and may be called up on to make important decisions in very little time. A career in medical administration deals with regulation and rationing of clinical medical services. For any hospital to work effectively, clinical medicine has to function in tandem with management of resources. Within medical administration, there is scope for specialization in field such as finance, information systems, staff relations, and government relations, administration of nursing staff, monitoring patient services, marketing, planning and public relations. Certain medical administration jobs may also require frequent travel to meet with officials and clients.

Growth of the profession

With its ever broadening scope, administration in healthcare organizations as a specialty is growing at unprecedented rates. Over the past decade or so, with a growth rate of 30%, more jobs have opened up in healthcare administration, per unit time, than any other profession. Of late, opportunities for medical administrators and manager are opening up outside of hospitals in other healthcare organizations and private settings.

Job requirements

With healthcare administration having become a specialty discipline and several reputed universities offering courses on it, a relevant master�s degree in healthcare administration is preferred for jobs in the field. However, master�s degrees in related disciplines such as business management and public health may be considered adequate by many employers. Certain specific jobs such as nursing care managers may be required to pass a licensing exam in order to be eligible to work. Applicants must clarify with their employers about whether or not their position requires licensure of any sort. In rare instances, those applicants without a master�s degree may be considered if they possess sufficient level of experience in the field. Certain jobs may require the applicant to have majored or specialized in disciplines such as biostatistics, epidemiology, management, finance, economics, bioinformatics etc. Fresh graduates might want to consider doing internships in order to gain experience and build on their CV.