Lifelong Learning for Filipino Healthcare Executives

This is a guest post of Jerome Babate, Chairman of the Board of the RO Diagan Cooperative Hospital of General Santos City.

As a business educator and consultant, I am particularly aware of the importance of education. You see the need for individuals to expand their professional competencies has never been greater. There have been changes in both the financing and delivery of service that continue to occur at a rapid pace, and the expertise and skills that are needed to respond appropriately to the resultant challenges (do) not come by easily.

One may note the traditional career ladders are giving way to new opportunities that extend to all aspects of the business continuum. The only way to do this is through deliberate, ongoing professional development.

I think our healthcare executives (hospital administrators, chief nurses, chief medical technologists, HR supervisors) must be assured that they have the management and leadership skills they need to advance their careers and serve their organizations effectively.

I certainly believe that our Filipino healthcare executives have a responsibility to foster their own professional development throughout their careers. In fact, healthcare executives also play an important role in supporting the professional development of their employees.

For healthcare executives, career development activities should include a commitment to regularly reading healthcare management periodicals, journals and books that provide insight into the trends, issues and challenges affecting the healthcare management field as well as a variety of media including Web-based or other resources offering broad-based business management information.

It is also advisable for them to participate in both in-house education and external offerings that provide a balance between healthcare management competencies and information related to overall management effectiveness. To remain effective, healthcare executives must embrace and master new information and emerging technologies that enhance professional performance.

I would encourage them to develop active networking that includes both one-on-one interaction with peers and professional society and trade association involvement such as the Philippine Hospital Association.
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This blog article was written by Prof. Jerome Babate. Jerome is a health care service management consultant. He has exposure in academia, non profit, and cooperative sectors.  His expertise is on organizational development, leadership and management development.