How to Learn Effective Management Skills for the Healthcare Field
To be a good manager in the healthcare industry, you’ll need to combine the right knowledge, skills, training, and experience. Do you already possess the traits of a good healthcare manager? Or are you starting from square one? Either way, you can learn what you need to know with a practical education and some practice out in the real world.
Leadership for the Healthcare Field
Whether you supervise one person or many, effective management requires good people skills and an understanding of the rules and regulations of Human Resources. Choose a program that covers HR management, using real-world examples. Pay attention to lessons on how to lead and manage people. How will you get others to listen to you and follow your lead? Set a good example, communicate well, and offer feedback. How will you manage conflict? What are you allowed to do and how will you document your actions? There’s a lot you can learn in class, but add some common sense and a bit of The Golden Rule. How would you like to be treated? Explore multiple leadership styles, and the strengths and weaknesses of each, to help you develop your own leadership philosophy. Choose worthy leaders to emulate and build your own leadership style. Then put them to practice. If not on the job, find opportunities to lead in your community.
Project Management for the Healthcare Field
If you can lead people well, you’ll be better able to manage projects. But you still need to understand the basics of developing and implementing projects. A good course will discuss the design, set up, and maintenance of a business management project from start to finish. You’ll need to know how to initiate, plan, control, close, and report on the project’s outcome. Projects include a wide range of components, including scope, cost, communication, resources, risks, procurement, integration, planning, execution, quality control, and more. Most projects you’ll be involved in today will also require familiarity with project management software. Make sure your program teaches you how to use modern management tools.
Healthcare Accounting and Finance Fundamentals
You can’t manage projects or people if you don’t understand how the numbers work. Learn about how to record and interpret business transactions and the fundamentals of healthcare finances. Even if it is not part of your official role in your job, it will help you understand the health of your organization so you can make informed choices. A good program will introduce you to accounting standards and ethics, reporting of assets and liabilities, financial statements, the accounting cycle, financial planning, budgeting, and strategic planning.
Healthcare Economics
The healthcare market is large and complex. Learn about federal, state, and local policies that affect the industry. Understand the roles of providers and government agencies, the relationships between stakeholders, and the general process through which health care is provided. You can help your organization function well and provide for patients when you understand the industry and its challenges. For example, how did the Affordable Care Act affect the industry? Why does an aging population place more demand on healthcare systems? When you understand where the industry is, you have a better idea of how your individual facility and department fits into the bigger picture.
Health care is a multi-trillion-dollar industry with lots of opportunity for employment and advancement. But you need to have the right training and skills. Do you? At Charter College, the online Bachelor’s Degree in Health Care Administration degree completion program is designed to prepare you to become a manager or supervisor in a healthcare setting. Learn more about this and all our programs at Charter College.