healthcare administration can change the healthcare industry

3 Ways You Could Affect Change with a Healthcare Administration Degree

Healthcare ranks among the largest industries in the United States. If your interested in making a difference, you may find that having a bachelor's in healthcare administration could be one of the most rewarding paths you can take.

The Feel-Good and Impactful Benefits of Healthcare Administration

There are plenty of white collar office jobs that lack the ability to provide emotional, mental, and moral satisfaction. These are jobs that are often characterized as 'pencil pushing' and 'drone work'. But working in healthcare administration is anything but mundane, as it uniquely offers rich and robust opportunities for employees to develop leadership skills and make lasting impacts in their workplace and on their own personal growth. This is because the main goals of healthcare administrators are in planning, developing, and implementing policies that make positive impacts in patients' lives and the operation of their healthcare organization.

Here are some key ways you could affect change in the healthcare industry with a bachelor's degree in healthcare administration:

  1. Help build effective policy through public health research: Many pursue a degree in healthcare administration because of their desire for a more behind-the-scenes, grassroots role in making and drafting public policy work. This path is known generally as public health research and doesn't require directly meeting with patients or managing hospital staff or equipment. Rather, the goal of a public health researcher is to conduct independent research to gather data and compile reports that will ultimately help guide future public health programs. 
  2. Be a front line health services manager to develop more effective programs: For those who thrive more in social arenas, then a better path for making an impact is as a services manager within the public health sector. In this position, the hired individual is responsible for developing programs, hiring and supervising personnel, and ensuring all administrative tasks are completed. It is also frequently their job to communicate with governmental agencies, healthcare staff, and other important policy makers. While this could mean you'll be sitting in a lot of meeting rooms, you'll in turn have a direct impact on the outlook of your healthcare organization and the industry as a whole. 
  3. Improve the quality of life in hospices and elderly/long-term care facilities: It's no secret that there are still a ton of abuses and faults in how we care for the elderly in this country. With a bachelor's in healthcare administration, you could either impact policy change by working within the aforementioned researching role, or you could choose to make a more immediate and direct change, within the confines of current policies, by working in facilities designed for elderly care. The growing number of patients and their families are in need of compassionate, informed, and engaged healthcare administrators that will help not only manage the provided range of services but also improve upon them.

If the above has you curious, then the next step before beginning the path towards your bachelor's in healthcare administration is considering these core competencies needed to be effective in this field:

  • Positive communication and relationship management: Healthcare administrators and executives must be adept at communicating clearly and respectfully with their patients, staff, industry leaders, and other partners. 
  • Leadership: Individuals in this field will have to create a shared vision, communicate with their team, and inspire those involved to make it happen. 
  • Professionalism: At all times, healthcare administrators must portray their best to set a high standard for themselves and their team members.
  • Knowledge of healthcare and the healthcare industry: This is an industry that is forever changing due to new government policies, technologies, and public opinion shifts regarding healthcare. As an administrator, whether you're focused on research or heading an organization, you'll need to be constantly on top of these changes to stay competitive.
  • Business skills: While certain roles will require a stronger emphasis on this, everyone in healthcare administration should have a good grasp of business principles.

Earn a Bachelor’s in Healthcare Administration

If you're interested in making lasting change and providing a positive and meaningful impact on peoples' lives, then few degrees will compliment you more than a bachelor's in healthcare administration. To learn more about the different roles within the healthcare industry, or to start your path towards a Bachelor of Science in Health Science with a concentration in Healthcare Administration, contact the team at ECPI University. It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

Learn more about ECPI's College of Health Science TODAY!

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