With the increasing demand for health care facilities, the demand for professionals managing such facilities has also increased. Professionals with degrees in hospital management and healthcare management are in great demand nowadays as they have the skills and knowledge to manage such facilities and their workflow.
Although many people use the terms interchangeably, healthcare management is a fairly new field of study while hospital management and administration is a course that is already offered by many reputed institutions and has been quite a sought after degree for decades now.
Durgapur Society of Management Science offers the most comprehensive Hospital Administration Course in India and students from all over the country seek admission here to further their career in this domain. DSMS is known for its excellent teaching facilities as well as placements. Although DSMS is counted amongst the best hospital management colleges in Durgapur, many students send in their enquiries for a course in healthcare management as there is still not much awareness about the healthcare management course. So here are the key differences between the two courses.
Who are Hospital Administrators?
These are professionals who take care of the day to day management of hospitals. They are responsible for ensuring proper coordination between various teams so the hospital can run smoothly. Along with managing the resources, hospital administrators also have to deal with the vendors and suppliers in order to ensure that all the operations are carried out smoothly. These people are as such, as much in a customer facing role as they are in a management role.
Who are healthcare managers?
Healthcare managers work closely with doctors, nurses and even patients in order to understand their needs and offer the best care. Activities like planning, co-coordinating and directing non-clinical activities, supervising members of the staff including the doctors, carrying out quality assurance and risk assessment are some of the responsibilities of health care managers.
Now that you have got an overview on what these two domains are, let us take a closer look at their key differences.
While for a health care manager the key areas of work include management and administration of the hospital and leading various programs and policies, hospital administrators are primarily concerned with the day to day running of the facility. Hospital administrators ideally take care of the backend operations while the healthcare managers see to the operations part of it.
While the healthcare managers do not need to pay that much attention to the day to day activities of healthcare facilities, they have to respond to emergency situations and maintain the well being of the patient as well as the support staff. The health care manager may not always have to be at the front line but must ensure that the facility has the required infrastructure to provide adequate treatment. In order to carry out their responsibilities these professionals may not always have to be present on site. Hospital administrators on the other hand have to be present at the facility and always available to deal with issues that may be disrupting the workflow in the facility.
Healthcare managers also work closely with teams carrying out clinical trials and other research work in order to facilitate smooth working of the same. They also supervise health camps and other such initiatives taken by the hospital as they have thorough understanding of various medical practices and procedures. The administrators are largely responsible for the supply chain and as such do not have to concern themselves with clinical procedures and practices.
In order to run a healthcare facility smoothly, professionals with knowledge of both of these domains are required. Students must choose either of these courses based on their areas of interest and understanding.
Related Read: What are the advantages of studying healthcare or hospital management?