MD-MBA Programs – The Best Link to Hospital Director Positions and Managerial Posts?

Are MD-MBA programs the best link to hospital director positions and managerial posts? This is the question an aspiring doctor might ask one’s self if he or she is considering administrative positions in his or her field. Doctors with a particular specialization focus primarily on their patients after several years of residency. As one grows older and establishes his or her name, credentials increase and administrative positions in hospitals or health institutions are considered. If one hopes to take this path, then a dual degree will be useful. An MBA with an MD degree is also useful for doctors who want a career in health policy management or public health medicine. Those who have a background in pharmacy, chemistry, or biology research can use the MBA to their advantage running a science-based business involved in special treatment, medicine, and the like. Even doctors with no plans of opening a more specialized science business can use an MBA to learn strategies for opening their own clinic.

Getting an MBA double-degree in med school

Medical colleges offer the double degree of MBA and MD by accepting applicants in the corresponding graduate schools. For example, Stanford requires aspiring students to apply independently to the Graduate School of Business and the School of Medicine. The MBA program application asks the applicant to properly indicate if he or she will go for the dual-degree program. On their first three years, these students go through the requirements and classes from the School of Medicine. Clinical rotations happen on the third year, while the MBA part of the program starts on the fourth year. These students then go back to the medicine requirements on the fifth year’s fall quarter. On the last two quarters, they take the MBA electives requirements. Of course, the program requirements and curriculum may vary per school.

These long years can be rigorous, and undertaking all those classes not only requires a stable financial plan. The student must be ready to make sacrifices of giving up those years of employment for academic study. They must be sure of their decision and set their career goals, whether they are planning to open a business based on medical science or climb the career ladder as a hospital director.

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