"Managing one of the most valued services "
The limited resources in the world need to be controlled effectively in order to sustain human evolution, thus the birth of management. According to the American Marketing Association, management is defined as; "Guiding human and physical resources into dynamic organizational units which attain their objectives to the satisfaction of those served within a high degree of moral and sense of attainment, on the part of those rendering services". As the needs of humans became wants throughout human evolution, more specialization of management was required. One of the leading professions in the world today is HEALTH MANGAGEMENT.

Dr. Kithsiri Edirisinghe

Demand for HEALTH MANGAGEMENT is strongly evident as the demand lists show a large amount of job opportunities in the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other parts of Europe. Therefore, when one looks for opportunities for migration, especially to the mentioned countries, HEALTH MANGAGEMENT is one of the best options, due to the tremendous demand. Therefore it is important to look at this large number of opportunities available in a HEALTH MANGAGEMENT career and FAQs, (Frequently Asked Questions) of this profession are as follows:

What is HEALTH MANAGEMENT?

Healthcare management requires talented people to manage the changes taking place. In their roles, healthcare executives have an opportunity to make a significant contribution to improve the health of the communities their organizations serve. This is an exciting time for healthcare management. Healthcare is changing more rapidly than almost any other field. The field is changing in terms of how and where care is delivered, who is providing those services, and how that care is financed.

What are the industry applications of HEALTH MANAGEMENT?

Internationally HEALTH MANAGEMENT is one of today's most dynamic and growing fields, with a wide range of opportunities and challenges. In the healthcare arena the opportunities have expanded further from the traditional hospital care to health administration, health education and promotion, training , research & development, health planning organizations, in-home elderly care, hospice care, pharmaceutical research and medical quality assurance programmes, medico-legal consultants , medical and related training.

What are the career opportunities?

Healthcare Management is a huge, complex, and ever-changing field. In fact, healthcare services will increase 30 percent from 1996-2006 and will account for 3.1 million new jobs, the largest increase of any industry. They would work in operations and projects as Chief Operating Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Quality Mangers, Project Managers, Human Resource Managers, Supply Chain Managers, Process Improvement Consultants and Medical Information Managers.

Hospital Management: Focusing on hospital administration / management of Hospitals, health centres, elderly care centres and clinics. Public Health Services Management: Working in the public health sector in planning forecasting and managing health services.

Project Management: Projects related to establishing health care facilities and hospitals where they are involved in planning & design, equipment and training.

Healthcare Training Centres: Management of medical schools, nursing and other health related schools. Research and Development: Research and Development in medical administration and related healthcare services as research coordinator / administrator. The job opportunities created are immense in this field.

Quality and Risk Management: The role would envisage risk mitigation, quality management and infection control in healthcare settings in quality management. This is a new but evolving area with a large amount of job opportunities.

Disaster Management: This is a new but very important area in health management which is in demand
Clinical and Management Research: Management of Clinical research is a must in today's world where HEALTH MANAGERS are needed and it is a fast growing industry.

Medical Consultants: They support insurance and other clients in lawsuits and related cases in healthcare services.

What is the remuneration in the HEALTH MANAGEMENT?

Salaries are very lucrative across the globe. There is a high demand for qualified Health Administrators around the world as evident in the fact that the profession of Medical Administrator - (ANZSCO Code 134211) has been included in the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) published in Australia in 2010. Median annual salary of medical and health services managers in international settings were $80,240 (Rs. 800,000 per month) in May 2008. The highest 10 percent earned more than $137,800 (Rs. 1.3 Mn per month.)

What are the pathways to become a professional HEALTH MANAGER?

There are Diplomas, Degrees and Postgraduate courses and these courses equip graduates with the knowledge and technical skills to work as Health Managers. The pathways are as follows:
The Diplomas: Diploma in Hospital Administration, study 12 months in Sri Lanka.

BSc Degree courses: Bachelor's Degrees are the common choice of many and it is usually of 3 to 4 year duration and currently American programmes are available in Sri Lanka with a 3 + 1 pathway.
Postgraduate Programmes: Upon completion of the graduate studies, health, professionals could opt for Masters and then Doctorate programmes specializing in the area of focus. There are Australian and Malaysian programmes available in Sri Lanka where students could opt for 1+ 1 programmes or the completion of the entire program in Sri Lanka.

FAQs of Professional Career Pathways; Health Management
Source: Dr. Kithsiri Edirisinghe, MBBS, MSc, MD (Medical Administration) Cert. IV TAA Australia,
Managing Director, International Institute of Health Sciences (IIHS) , email: drkithsiri@iihsciences.com