Health is the fountain of happiness of all living being. Happiness is the most sought virtue humans ever searching. It also provides freedom to do what we like to do.
Threat to health comes in different ways. It may come as a simple disease, an injury or something other. Whatever may be the form, it will derail our comfort life and may steal a part our happiness.
If we imagine the disease or injury as a thorn in our normal journey of life, there is a person who can remove it and return our happy comfortable normal life. We call him a doctor. Some societies consider a doctor as a person next to God because God gives life, and a doctor maintains it.
Let us imagine a society with a small number of people, and a doctor who guarantees their health. Initially doctor can manage efficiently all health issues and related works alone.
A doctor is a lifelong learner also. His knowledge is the nucleus of the healthcare practice. So, he must learn and update new research findings which comes out every day.
When the number of members of the society increase, naturally the number of patients will also increase. If the doctor does all the works alone, gradually quality of service will deteriorate.
The possible way to maintain quality is to divide the work the doctor doing. This will enable the doctor to focus only on clinical examination and learning.
Here starts the birth of a hospital, a space for normalisation of life.
Sometimes a place for preventing a life from flying away.
When we think of a hospital, we remember only doctors and nurses. But a hospital is a cluster of experts. Functioning of a hospital is a teamwork of essential experts silently contributing to a single aim, ‘Bring back a patient to his healthy happy life’. Interesting fact is that most of them are invisible to us or behind our view. However, their profession is their choice and passion. They selected it knowing that very few people will recognise their contribution.
Healthcare administrative professionals are sharp-thinking, flexible and adaptive. They are good in communication and leadership qualities. They have professionalism, business skills and knowledge.
Consider for example, Practice Management. This stream is to ensure the quality of patient care.
The American Medical Association defines the goal of healthcare practice management as ‘enhancing practice efficiency, professional satisfaction and the delivery of patient care’
This is to be performed by Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Leading and Controlling.
The mission of the practice manager is to allow the doctor to remain focused on treating patients and acquiring and updating latest knowledge and free him from the burden of running the office.
The concern of a practice manager is to ensure fund flow, in other words whether the doctor gets paid properly for services rendered.
He ensures quality management such as establishing and monitoring patient satisfaction.
Except clinical examination, Practice Managers are responsible for everything that happens in a medical office; and after the MD, they are typically the highest credentialed person in the medical practice.
The responsibilities are that his eye should reach across administrative, legal, financial, technological, and more of the health practice system.
Healthcare practice is a sector providing happiness and freedom which all people seeking. A career in that sector is not only satisfying but dynamic and challenging also.
