Effective administration in health care helps in optimizing resources, improving patient outcomes, and enhancing the overall delivery of health care services. It also plays a significant role in facilitating communication and collaboration among healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders, ultimately contributing to the efficient functioning of health systems.
In this article, we summarize the recent episode of the Caring Support Podcast, where we had the privilege of hosting Dr. Madhumati Singh to discuss the intricacies of health care administration.
Here are the key points of her discussions with our podcast host:
Dr. Madhumati Singh is the Quality Manager of Youthdale Treatment Centres, a mental health care facility based in Toronto, Ontario. She immigrated from India, where she received her education and performed her various work experiences as a health administrator for more than a decade, having worked in various settings in the healthcare industry, like tertiary care, hospitals, and health centres.
Before becoming a healthcare administrator, Dr. Madhumati studied dental surgery and practiced it for a while before realizing that she wanted to take up bigger challenges in the field of healthcare.
As Dr. Madhumati puts it, "I can make a difference in the way that healthcare is being delivered across."
As mentioned, Dr. Madhumati had a decade's worth of experience in health administration, having worked in various healthcare settings in India. She started as a junior medical administrator, where she learned the basics of administration by being involved in various tasks like clinical operations and quality assurance work, such as doing audits, handling patient complaints, and managing the doctors, among others.
She then moved on to her second role in a mother and child care hospital, where she was involved in the project space and starting of the clinical departments.
Another role she was assigned as a healthcare administrator was in a tertiary care hospital where she was handling clinical operations and quality. For her, it was one of the most challenging times as she held that position during the COVID-19 pandemic, "...because nobody was prepared for COVID that was new for everyone."
Dr. Madhumati has a lot of insightful pieces of advice for aspiring health administration professionals. They are as follows:
Some aspects of Dr. Madhumati's work as a healthcare administrator were discussed, particularly in her strategies and approaches to fulfilling her job and the challenges of providing mental health services to children and youth.
For Dr. Madhumati, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted how health services are provided. She mentioned that since the pandemic, they offered virtual consultations, which the patients continued to look for even after the pandemic.
With that, according to her, "As healthcare administrators, it's our duty to prepare for what is coming, and then there is a digital transformation happening in healthcare."
Youthdale Treatment Centres provide treatment and cater to children and youth, mostly around 10 to 24. They provide mental health services like acute support, transitional age units, and transitional psychiatry units. They also have an inpatient house, and each program has a specified age group as well.
For Dr. Madhumati, children and youth are a very sensitive and complex population. She sees it as a challenge to take the family's emotions to work closely with them and to work with the client together. However, she also sees this as a helpful thing as they bring families together in interdisciplinary work.
Furthermore, according to Dr. Madhumati, "The most challenging part for the highest high equity clients is to prepare them for this transition: when they're coming here, going back to their home, going back to the school, facing the society, and creating that balance between home life, society and school is to prepare them for that."
For Dr. Madhumati, the healthcare industry is going through a digital transformation, and it's most important to recognize what are the challenges and potential risks associated with it. She also recognizes that it's a big responsibility that clients and their families trust the facility that they're going to protect that data and use it for their benefit or to design the treatment plan they need.
Here are some of the strategies that they implement to protect and secure their patients' sensitive information:
As we reflect on this Caring Support Podcast episode, it's evident that effective health administration is fundamental to the efficient functioning of the healthcare system and the well-being of patients. Health managers are highly qualified professionals whose leadership, critical thinking, and organizational skills are important in maintaining high standards of patient care. These administrators maintain quality assurance by effectively managing healthcare facilities, resources, and services.
At Caring Support, we're committed to contributing to the advancement of healthcare practices by fostering meaningful connections and collaborations among health care providers. We help students in various health-related degree programs, such as nursing and the health administration program, to connect with their schools, colleagues, and future employers to enable them to see career progression opportunities easily.
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