[A bit of business administration--no problem for physicians: Master of Business Administration as panacea?]

Medical professionals with additional economic qualifications are in high demand. For doctors who aim for leading positions at medical institutions the most popular additional qualification is a Master of Business Administration (MBA). The demands on executive managers in hospitals have without any doubt changed in recent years requiring them to be trained in basic economic understanding, human resource management etc. in addition to having excellent medical training. However, MBA programs differ from one academic institution to the next. Due to the lack of standardized schedules in MBA programs it cannot be ascertained whether a candidate received adequate training and can offer the skills necessary for a higher level medical profession. In this paper the author suggests that specific training in individually required skills would be more reasonable and effective rather than encouraging medical staff to pursue academic studies leading to an MBA.