Education for health services administration : an examination of met and unmet needs

Abstract

Health systems in Canada, as in many other countries, have been crisis oriented. Expenditure upon all areas of the disease curing professions has risen at an accelerating rate in the past decade. The post-war introduction and development of national health insurance has led to massive construction and operating costs of health services institutions, with complex technology and expensive employment of specialists in all areas of medicine and allied health services. A substantial burden has been placed upon the taxpayer. His Support of institutional health care remains strong, but governments and their planners are attempting to control the growth pattern by altering the emphasis from hospital care to health maintenance systems. This is causing chamges, not least in demands upon present and future managers, and the object of this thesis is to examine these changes, with direct reference to educational implications. It is held by this researcher that administrators have needs for education which are presently not being satisfied. An investigation of present programs has been undertaken and evaluations made of the extent to which their graduates will be able to meet managerial demands made upon them. Account has been taken of publications by experts in this area, and the writer has discussed education for health services administration with experts in several countries. Concerns such as health management as a profession; the level of education needed* and the conflict between generic and specialist programs have been carefully examineds all these have been studied in the context of future requirements. Recent developments in Canadian universities have been investigated. In 1979 significant changes are taking place* affecting several higher degree programs* and caused by the introduction of three baccalaureate degrees. This writer criticizes them in terms of their ability to satisfy unmet needs* and presents his own national program. It is intended to meet and satisfy both ongoing and anticipated future requirements* with the objective that Canadian health administrators shall be better equipped to undertake future complex tasks.