On the value of architecture and facility management in health administration education

This article discusses the role and function of architecture and facility management in health administration education vis-à-vis an interdisciplinary set of courses taught in a graduate-level health administration program. These courses provide the future health care executive with theory and applied knowledge on a variety of topics. These include the history of health care facilities, issues in facility planning and management, principles of patient and staff-focused design, campus master planning, participatory methods to involve end users in the design of their work, and care settings. Additional skills acquired include an introduction to contract negotiations, the reading of technical documents such as blueprints, the post-occupancy assessment of facilities-in-use, and familiarity with future trends. Students address the topic of managerial ethics in relation to the built environment in some detail as a vehicle to illustrate the nature of key fine-grain issues of importance to the health administration scholar and professional. The discussion concludes with the presentation of a model curriculum in this subject area.