Health administration
Health administration, healthcare administration, healthcare management or hospital management is the field relating to leadership, management, and administration of public health systems, health care systems, hospitals, and hospital networks in all the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors.
For management of health information systems, such as electronic medical records, see health information management.Terminology[edit]
Health systems management or health care systems management describes the leadership and general management of hospitals, hospital networks, and/or health care systems. In international use, the term refers to management at all levels.[1] In the United States, management of a single institution (e.g. a hospital) is also referred to as "medical and health services management",[2] "healthcare management", or "health administration".
Health systems management ensures that specific outcomes are attained that departments within a health facility are running smoothly that the right people are in the right jobs, that people know what is expected of them, that resources are used efficiently and that all departments are working towards a common goal for mutual development and growth
Research[edit]
Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is a field of inquiry that studies "how societies organize themselves in achieving collective health goals, and how different actors interact in the policy and implementation processes to contribute to policy outcomes".[12] HPSR is interdisciplinary and brings together expertise in a variety of biomedical and social sciences such as economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, public health and epidemiology.
The Commission on Health Research for Development[13] and the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Research[14] both highlighted the urgent need for focusing research methods, funding and practice towards addressing health inequities and embracing inter-disciplinary and intersectoral thinking. These reports and other academic and activist voices linked to them argued for greater voice and participation of developing countries in defining research priorities.[15] Since then creation of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research in 2000 and that of Health Systems Global in 2012 have consolidated the practice community of HPSR.
History[edit]
Early hospital administrators were called patient directors or superintendents. At the time, many were nurses who had taken on administrative responsibilities. Over half of the members of the American Hospital Association were graduate nurses in 1916. Other superintendents were medical doctors, laymen and members of the clergy.
In the United States, the first degree granting program in the United States was established at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By 1927, the first two students received their degrees. The original idea is credited to Father Moulinier, associated with the Catholic Hospital Association.[16] The first modern health systems management program was established in 1934 at the University of Chicago.[17] At the time, programs were completed in two years – one year of formal graduate study and one year of practicing internship. In 1958, the Sloan program at Cornell University began offering a special program requiring two years of formal study,[18] which remains the dominant structure in the United States and Canada today (see also "Academic Preparation").
Health systems management has been described as a "hidden" health profession[19] because of the relatively low-profile role managers take in health systems, in comparison to direct-care professions such as nursing and medicine. However the visibility of the management profession within healthcare has been rising in recent years, due largely to the widespread problems developed countries are having in balancing cost, access, and quality in their hospitals and health systems.[20]