Administrating an organization is a job that requires firm responsibility and attention to detail. But, when it comes to administrating a hospital, the accountability and obligations demanded are multiplied. Hospitals deal with extremely subtle matters of human lives. This means that there is no room to make mistakes. Every employee must be available at their designated places at the designated times, cleanliness should be on point, finances should be dealt with right away, and so on.

If you are planning to explore the field of hospital administration, you need to know that it requires you to wear multiple hats. This means that you will have to manage multiple aspects of the organization. Sometimes, the job will require you to become the liaison among the governing boards, department managers, and medical staff. Other times, you will look after the implementation of programs or maybe assist the recruitment process.

While some tasks would seem to be pretty obvious as a hospital administrator, there are several administrator roles that will astound you.

  1. Dealing with Emergencies

Hospital is the other name for emergencies. Every now and then, patients with severe conditions come to the hospital seeking stability. These patients have different conditions. The conditions can include difficult situations such as a patient going through a stroke, cardiac arrest, a car accident, an emergency delivery, etc. It can be anything. All these patients need immediate care. Hospitals administrators need to make sure that the hospital is well prepared to deal with such cases.

There is a specific type of administrator role called hospital disaster preparedness administrator, responsible for equipping the hospital with the necessary tools to deal with emergencies. They develop comprehensive plans and train employees to implement them. During the crisis, they make sure that the doctors and nurses keep performing their duties and the patients receive quality treatment.

  1. Inventory Manager

Inventory management includes ensuring that all the required tools are available on time. This includes maintaining safety stock. Furthermore, an inventory manager also needs to calculate the lead time for various inventory to know what tool will require what time to reach.

A hospital administrator must manage the inventory. They must ensure that all the tools needed by the physicians are accessible on time. For example, medical machinery used for dialysis is in a limited quantity. Henceforth, the hospital administrator needs to ensure that each patient is timely accommodated given the scarce resources.

  1. Human Resources Management

While usually, the human resources department of a company is responsible for tasks related to recruitment and selection. The responsibility often falls on hospital administrators due to the vast experience and knowledge they have of the hiring process.

This means that as the administrator deals with day-to-day problems, they know what kind of people to hire. Do the new hires need to have high flexibility? Should they be good at working under stress? Should they have high punctuality? The administrator sets the preferences for the people that must be recruited. Consequently, a hospital administrator ends up taking a human resource manager role to streamline and improve the hiring process.

  1. Ecosystem Management

A hospital administrator needs to be in close liaison with the entire ecosystem of the hospital. The ecosystem includes micro-management inside the hospital and communication with external linkages.

The hospital administrator may need to communicate the reports and treatment financing concerns of a patient with the family. Moving on, the administrator acts as a bridge between the departments of the organization. They need to be constantly in touch with the doctors and staff members throughout the departments.

Hospital administrators not only serve as a bridge within the hospital administration but to the outer ecosystem as well. They communicate with the vendors, connect with the governing board, and brief the hospital owners and multiple third parties involved.

  1. Critical Thinking Guru

Hospital administrators are not managers but leaders. They require the analytical abilities to identify the best course of action for their hospital. Professionals with problem-solving personality who can make well-informed judgments based on evidence and specified objectives are needed for the work.

Hospital managers, according to HealthWorks Collective, “should be independent thinkers who can comprehend the contemporary medical industry and bring in solutions to aid with adaption”. Furthermore, administrators must be able to objectively assess all aspects of a choice and its potential repercussions.

  1. The Accounting Specialist

The financials of any organization are essential for its growth and sustainability. Hence, they should be in good hands to be wisely taken care of. A hospital administrator is sometimes also responsible for looking after the finances of the company. They are responsible for budgeting, authorizing expenditures, establishing service rates, and coordinating financial reporting. These roles require rigorous accounting skills from the executive.

Moving on, the hospital administrator looks at finances from a broader area. They are accountable for examining and analyzing operations and maintenance. They also interpret the data to assist with planning, financial and risk management, and improving service usage.

  1. Strong Moral Compass

As hospital administrators are in the decision-making position, they need to have a strong moral compass. Hospital is an emotional place. There might be moments when the administrator needs to make tough hand decisions. On the other hand, there might be other situations where there is external pressure from the family or anyone else.

In these crucial circumstances, an administrator needs to make calculated decisions. These decisions must be ethically sound. The administrator must have good judgment skills and do anything to provide the best healthcare to the patients.

Conclusion:

The hospital administrators wear multiple hats in their job. The roles that they must take in their position are vast. Henceforth, they require multiple skillsets as well. Subsequently, the skills that are a must-have for the hospital administrator include amazing communication skills, critical and analytical skills, accounting, management, judgment, and many more. Administrators are required to have a minimum bachelor’s degree in this field to kick start their careers.

While some roles are obvious for a hospital administrator, some may seem astonishing. These roles include inventory management, recruitment and selection, budgeting, financial forecasting, and building good connections with the company’s entire ecosystem.