There are many different kinds of healthcare administrator jobs. They may be filled by people with a medical background or by people who have skills that prepare them for another aspect of healthcare administration, such as accounting, finance, or marketing. In any of these healthcare administrator jobs, a person will need to have good management, leadership, and organizational skills in order to succeed. In general, healthcare administrator jobs can be broken down into those that involve overseeing an entire medical facility and those that involve the management of a specific part of the facility.
In some healthcare administrator jobs, a background in medicine is required. Doctors and nurses are needed for positions that require direct supervision of other doctors and nurses. With their medical backgrounds, doctor and nurse administrators are in a good position to evaluate how effective and knowledgeable other medical professionals are. These healthcare administrators may determine what kind of training hospital staff needs and whether or not the patients are properly cared for.
A large hospital may employ a variety of different administrators to oversee each of its departments. These types of healthcare administrator jobs can involve managing employees, keeping track of expenses, and monitoring the condition of the equipment in a single department. Departmental administrators may oversee radiology, pediatrics, intensive care or any other division of the hospital. Some of these administrators may also manage the research and development of new treatments by tracking the progress of clinical trials and determining which trials to participate in. Most of these positions require some sort of medical background, though for some, an advanced degree in healthcare administration is sufficient.
Not all healthcare administrator jobs require a medical background. As with any business, a healthcare facility needs to run efficiently and smoothly in order to succeed financially. Large facilities may have administrators that oversee the budget and keep track of the accounting. Other administrators may manage the hospital's personnel, taking care of payroll and resolving disputes that arise between coworkers. A marketing administrator may also be employed in order to manage the facility's advertising and public image.
In a small medical facility, healthcare administrator jobs often require a person to have some experience in a variety of different fields. These administrators need to manage all aspects of an office, including the accounting, purchasing, human resources, and quality of patient care. Generalists like these must be able to complete a variety of different tasks each day to ensure that the business side of the healthcare facility runs smoothly.