Administration skills key to transforming career
Michelle Medland is a big believer in change, even when it comes to her own career choices. Now a regional director for St. Elizabeth, a Vancouver-based home nursing care provider, she feels administration is an area where she can make the most difference in the health care sector.
Even in her university days, Medland wanted to go into a health-related field. She started out as a physiotherapist after graduating with a degree in kinesiology from McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ont. After a short time she went back to nursing school. After a few years working in acute care, she eventually ended up in an administrative role with Fraser Health in B.C.
The final piece in her quest for credentials was an MBA in health care through the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. It was learning the business and analytics side of the sector that gave her an entirely new take on things, she says. Now she is a regional director for St. Elizabeth and has learned administration is her true calling.
“I learned that front-line workers and decision makers speak an entirely different language. Having that combination of a professional degree with business helps me bridge that gap. When you start in the trenches, you have a much better understanding of what (the health care system) is all about.”
That understanding is essential in a sector that is going through unprecedented changes. “I am really enjoying the health system transformation that is going on right now,” Medland says. “It’s helping people like me think outside the box, work through challenges and gain an entirely different perspective.”
The health care sector provides a unique opportunity for people to drive change, says executive MBA director Sean Corbishley at the Sauder School of Business.
“It is a gigantic moving organism within which people can play many different administrative roles in both public and private sector organizations.” Sauder’s program attracts a range of applicants, from physicians and nurses to private sector students in sales, research and development, and even entrepreneurs. “One thing they have in common is that everybody wants to take their leadership skills to the next level and learn about change management,” Corbishley says. “The future of sustainable health care relies on people who have a business eye and analytical lens.”
Those coming from a health care background enjoy some advantage in that they have first-hand experience in understanding and meeting patient needs and what is crucial to success, he adds. “Administration in health care isn’t about someone in an ivory tower making decisions. What’s great about people from the front line is that they understand how things work on the ground and where the bottlenecks are. If they end up working on policy change for example, they know how to make decisions based on patient needs.”
He says the need for qualified health care administrators is bigger than ever. “There’s a huge demand because health care is always growing. We’re on the crest of a big silver wave, and health care is becoming more and more demanding. We don’t have endless resources, so we have learn to be more efficient with what we have. That’s where business skills are really handy.”
Jim Tiessen, interim director with the School of Health Services Management at Ryerson University in Toronto says brushing up on business skills is becoming an increasingly important priority for people in the field. To that end, Ryerson offers two part-time degree completion programs for professionals: health services management and health information management.
“A lot of older workers don’t have the degrees that are required today. But if they want to move into management, they need them,” he says. “One thing I’ve also noticed however, is that there are also a lot more young students interested in health-care management.”
Even private sector people are showing a keen interest in transitioning to health care, Tiessen notes. “They want to apply what they learned in business to the health care sector and are making the switch because it’s an area that really matters to them. There’s so much that can be done to make it better and more efficient. There’s isn’t a health care system in the world that isn’t struggling to control cost and overcome challenges.”
Having spent time in both public and private health care systems, Medland is also a big believer in working for various organizations and sectors in order to keep an open mind. As far as future plans go, she’s optimistic that administrators are up to the task. “There’s so much more than can be done, and should be done, to move health care forward.”