Teaching healthcare management to medical students: an early experience

Public health services throughout the country are managed by healthcare professionals. However, our present- day medical education does not prepare students to undertake these supervisory and managerial responsibilities. Their lack of preparation results in poor quality of patient care and service and suboptimal use of valuable resources. We introduced medical graduates to concepts of healthcare management and collected their feedback to assess if they find this knowledge relevant and useful.

Concepts of healthcare management relevant to healthcare professionals such as hospital set-up, hospital support services, quality in healthcare, evidence-based care, managed healthcare, etc. were introduced in a series of lectures during the postgraduate orientation programme at our institution. Student feedback was collected through a questionnaire with items rated on the Likert scale as well as through a few open- ended questions. Data was analysed for probability of responses on a binomial scale.

Students perceived the course material to be useful and agreed that training in leadership and management skills should be part of their medical education. Seventy per cent felt that such training should be imparted during the period of internship.

Current medical education should prepare healthcare professionals to be able to deal with the intricacies of healthcare delivery systems in addition to their clinical skills. Training in healthcare management relevant to the needs of healthcare professionals should be integrated into the medical curriculum.