Teaching healthcare management to medical students: An early experience.
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Date
2013-05
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Abstract
Background. Public health services throughout the country
are managed by healthcare professionals. However, our presentday
medical education does not prepare students to undertake
these supervisory and managerial responsibilities. Their lack of
preparation results in poor quality of patient care and service
and suboptimal use of valuable resources. We introduced
medical graduates to concepts of healthcare management and
collected their feedback to assess if they find this knowledge
relevant and useful.
Method. Concepts of healthcare management relevant to
healthcare professionals such as hospital set-up, hospital support
services, quality in healthcare, evidence-based care, managed
healthcare, etc. were introduced in a series of lectures during
the postgraduate orientation programme at our institution.
Student feedback was collected through a questionnaire with
items rated on the Likert scale as well as through a few openended
questions. Data was analysed for probability of responses
on a binomial scale.
Results. Students perceived the course material to be
useful and agreed that training in leadership and management
skills should be part of their medical education. Seventy per
cent felt that such training should be imparted during the
period of internship.
Conclusion. Current medical education should prepare
healthcare professionals to be able to deal with the intricacies
of healthcare delivery systems in addition to their clinical skills.
Training in healthcare management relevant to the needs of
healthcare professionals should be integrated into the medical
curriculum.
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KAUR NAVNEET, SINGH TEJINDER. Teaching healthcare management to medical students: An early experience. National Medical Journal of India. 2013 May-Jun ; 26 (3): 166-168.