Employment trends and the traditional baccalaureate health administration student

Baccalaureate programs in health administration serve both traditional undergraduates--usually age 18 to 22 with little experience--and older adult students with more experience. The former group of students, as well as some older students who are changing their fields, are sometimes not as well informed as graduate students and adult undergraduates with health care experience about the impact of changes in the health care sector on employment opportunities. Furthermore, career advisers in placement offices may not be able to keep pace with the rapid change in health care. This article examines past and future changes in employment opportunities for baccalaureate students, with a particular focus on the changes that are occurring in sector employment growth. The implications of the continued shrinking in the acute care sector, the growth of managed care, the increased complexity of physician group management, and the ongoing rise in long-term care for employment are too often missed by students with limited experience in health care.