How To Become a Healthcare Administrator: Education, Experience, & Skills
Healthcare services are an essential human right that people need in day-to-day life. Hospitals, clinics, healthcare centers, all provide a necessary service. Healthcare administrators, however, are the ones that keep things in check and up and running. But, what does a healthcare administrator do, and how do you become one? Let’s find out.
Healthcare Administrator Duties & Responsibilities
Healthcare administrators work behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly in the healthcare department. They rarely interact with the patients themselves, but they are, in fact, constantly in contact with healthcare workers such as doctors and nurses.
Some of the key responsibilities of healthcare administrators include dealing with policy and the budget. They oversee the facilities or institutions rather than get involved in the “action” itself with the patients. More specifically, a healthcare administrator develops the work schedule for the staff, manages finances, patient fees, trains staff members, monitors the budget, makes sure that all the laws and regulations are being followed by the facility, and more.
Healthcare Administration Roles & Job Outlook
Healthcare facilities keep growing in demand everywhere in the world. Therefore the future growth for healthcare administrators is also high (The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 26% by 2022) due to the fact that every facility or institution needs someone to run things in the background.
Depending on the type of education one has or the region they work in, this is generally a high-paying job, with the top 10% of administrators earning $72.39 per hour. Usually, what jobs will require from those looking to get hired as healthcare administrators is for someone to be great at teamwork and team management, among other things like experience and skills. Whereas for education requirements, employers seek candidates with at least a bachelor’s degree, and depending on the role, they can require a master’s degree as well.
How to Become a Healthcare Administrator
Becoming a healthcare administrator comes with a lot of benefits, which is why a lot of people might want such a job for one reason or another. However, becoming one is not such an easy feat. There are certain requirements and skills that need to be met. That includes everything from a certain type of education to sometimes experience in the same or related fields.
Complete the Education Requirements
A job this important demands the proper education in the respective field. The healthcare administration requirements differ depending on the path you choose to take, however, a bachelor’s degree is the minimum education level required in order to be considered for a healthcare administration job. This particular requirement paves the way for getting hired as an assistant administrator, which is a direct path to becoming a full-on healthcare administrator. With a master’s degree, it is possible to apply for top administrative positions in most places.
Admission information
A few things are often required when applying for a bachelor’s or master’s degree in healthcare-related fields. The Pacific College through its bachelor program provides knowledge of the healthcare system, critical thinking skills, and the use of technology among other topics.
Some of the admission requirements include passing mathematics and English assessments and being a graduate with an associate degree or post-secondary education in a healthcare field.
The Admission period varies for most universities depending on a couple of factors. Though, one thing to keep in mind is that a lot of postgraduate programs start by October at the latest. Hence, the application period is often open at the beginning of summer. Location also plays part in the application process. Depending on a couple of regional factors, mostly to do with visa requirements, some universities may require that the application is sent earlier than the stated deadline.
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Courses & subjects covered
A bachelor’s degree teaches a couple of important things about healthcare administration. Other topics such as management, research, and law are also explored. Most degrees take four years and 120 credits to complete.
Some key courses for the bachelor studies include:
Healthcare quality management/assessment
Statistics
Research in healthcare
Managing healthcare human resources
Systems in long term care
A master’s degree qualifies postgraduate students for roles in healthcare administration, medical management, and healthcare executive roles. Master programs build upon the knowledge gained during bachelor studies. Most require between 30 to 40 credits and 2 years to complete.
Some key courses for master studies include:
Health policy and law
Strategic HR management
Healthcare quality and improvement
Global health and diversity
Gain Professional Experience
Besides the experience of learning and studying in university, a good way to gain professional experience in the healthcare field is by preparing for leadership roles through internships. Through that, it’s possible to gain a lot of knowledge and experience needed when applying for healthcare administration jobs.
Earn Certifications
A bachelor's or a master’s degree is not the only way to develop skills in the field of healthcare. It is possible to earn certifications through online or in-person courses in a lot of places as well. Coursera is an online course provider that offers certification in a lot of programs. Those programs include healthcare administration courses, helping you strengthen leadership, adaptability, management, and other key healthcare-related skills.
Further Your Education
If you're determined to gain some of the best credentials possible as far as getting hired is concerned, a master’s or a Ph.D. degree is the way to go about that. There are plenty of programs that offer great opportunities to further educate yourself in the administrative field. Administrators with a Ph.D. are highly respected professionals in the field.
Skills for Healthcare Administrators
There are certain skills that a healthcare administrator should possess in order to be right for the job, from seemingly rather simple things such as teamwork or communication to budgeting, and analytical skills. When you’re pondering questions such as how to become a hospital administrator, you must be aware that quite a bulk of skill is required to be considered for these high positions.
Leadership
Leadership is a skill much sought after in many working fields. However, it is that much more important to the administrative field, due to the nature of the job, especially when considering that a healthcare administrator deals with all the behind-the-scenes regulations and makes sure that everything is running smoothly. Being able to lead your team to come together and work as a unit for one purpose is key.
Holding the collective focus to one specific goal, motivating the team to work hard and fair are just some of the leadership qualities one should work hard to possess.
Communication
Communication is another skill that might seem simple on the surface, but it is rather essential. You can’t lead without being a good communicator. Expressing goals in an understandable manner while listening and communicating through every problem that shows up is one of the best ways to ensure that things keep on up and running.
Analytical skills
There are a few types of analytical skills, most of which include simple concepts such as being able to analyze your way through problems by looking at things objectively, thinking critically, and researching. Another part of this skill is being able to make sense of data. Apart from the aforementioned, drawing conclusions from things that other people might not see are there, is a crucial skill to have in this particular field.
Working in Teams
Teamwork makes the dream work, and working in teams in the medical field is crucial. Cohesion and being on the same page with each other makes tasks easier to fulfill. As an administrator, it is imperative that you get your team to work together in solving problems. Teams may vary based on certain fields and specialties, but communication has to run through the administrator and to the nurses, doctors, physicians who should then convey that togetherness into better care for the patients.
Problem-solving
Problem-solving begins with identifying the problem and then working towards finding solutions. A good leader knows how to get their team to work towards solutions, no matter the problem. It has to be taken into consideration that in a typical healthcare facility with so many people coming in and out and the entire system needing to function well, there will always be problems. Nevertheless, cooler heads need to prevail and solution-based thinking needs to be adapted in order to function properly.
Budgeting
One of the things that a healthcare administrator needs to learn to deal with is budgeting. The ability to take care of the finances is paramount when it comes to medical facilities or organizations. Keeping out of debt is something that everyone looks for and is very much a budgeting skill among things like long-term financial planning and arrangements.
A good understanding of patient care
While there are a few types of patient care (primary, secondary or tertiary), a good understanding of it begins at base level. Making sure the patient is taken care of under the best possible circumstances is the ultimate goal of a healthcare administrator. The well-being of the patient should always be the main priority of the healthcare staff, and consequently the healthcare administrator who manages it.
Becoming a healthcare administrator is surely not an easy task, however, hard work and commitment are key principles that will help you on your path to becoming one. By researching your educational opportunities and expanding your knowledge and skills, you will be more than prepared to start looking for opportunities in the field.