MBA for Medics
Written by medical trainees with direct experience of the MBA world, this title is a guide for the medically trained reader with aspirations in healthcare management and the desire to undertake an MBA, ultimately extolling the exploration of options that are right for the individual.
Comments
Hi William!
Your post is interesting - I have also been reading a book called 'personal MBA' which is almost like an anti-MBA book! It makes a similar point to you - that MBAs are courses run by excellent marketing machines.
I am still really torn as although I can see that the skills are really best learnt through practice - I am also sympathetic to the arguement that a combination of practical and academic/ theoretical approaches are useful. At the moment I am painfully aware of what I don't know - although I suspect that this is in part a reflection of personality type & something that most medics suffer with!
I wonder if some of the MAs in Health Management may be the solution? Have you experience of these?
MBA for Medics
I am a MBA drop out. I am in good company - about 75% of students fail to complete the course. Executive MBAs are a good marketing ploy (business training for seniors!).
I think MBAs are for people starting out in their careers. There is a need however for business acumen training for senior professionals crossing over into management.
I don't need another qualification but I do need help running my £30M T/O business unit with 200 personnel.
I have three management model books in my study. Full of 2x2s, diamonds, stars, Arnie's 1A, Brian's 2Bs, Colin's 3Cs, Porter's 5Ps and so ... If you have done an MBA, you'll know what I am talking about.
But the square root of zip on capacity management - blue collar. Very little interest from academics but a core skill needed to deliver healthcare.
Design a practical, healthcare business course and the world will beat a path to your door.
Bullets or bonbons?
As an alien to nearly all things business, I have to admit that I was concerned that this book would be too 'hardcore' for my taste. But rather feeling that I am poking my head above the trenches to narrowly avoid all the bullets and whizz-bangs, it feels far more like walking into a sweetshop with jars and jars of mints and toffees and bonbons and fudges. Just look at all those qualifications on offer! I felt comfortable reading along from the off. Perhaps this is because Radcliffe have set it out with the same template as my recently reviewed 'Dark Side', or because I have met both Emma and Claire, which lends a familiarity to the words as I skim across the pages (my inner monologue can't decide whose voice to use as I read!). These factors aside, I think this is actually because Emma and Claire have been able to use their experience and taken a sympathetic stance for the reader with a writing style that is confident and informed, yet familiar and engaging. Even if you are not considering one of these degrees per se, this will be a really useful peak around the door into the room where the big kids are playing.
For thought: 'In the US, nearly one third of medical colleges offer a formal integrated degree in medicine (MD) in combination with a business school.' (p5)
Q. I'd like to know how the US medical educational/professional culture differs from that here in nurturing such a superspecialised career commitment so early on?
Tom
Thanks for picking up our book. Just to throw into mix ...
The best reason to do an MBA is because you want to learn to think differently- its one of the few things that can sustain you through the hard slog and the effort required.
On the Mayo model - I'm a big fan but the Mayo trains their managerially minded docs v v thorughly albeit in house. Given that few places in the UK are doing this maybe a management course / qualification is a helpful step?
Which MBA?
I note that the Economist has a new Which MBA? forum that may be of interest to readers...
http://www.economist.com/whichmba/forum?fb