Accelerate your healthcare career with an Executive MBA Healthcare from the University of Nottingham

Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world today, but one that is also evolving due to factors such as changing patient demographics, higher labour costs, regulatory updates as well as the emergence of new technologies, notes Deloitte in their report “2021 Global Health Care Outlook.”

Within the UK, a report by IBISWorld notes that the healthcare industry faces pressure from intensifying demand for services from the growing and ageing UK population over the next five years. “Operators are expected to expand and reform urgent and emergency care services, as well as reducing the amount of time it takes to get people home after treatment,” it said.

Leaders in the field need an arsenal of skills that extend beyond their capabilities in healthcare to be effective in helming these organisations. This includes familiarity with knowledge across all business functions to respond to industry changes and the know-how to optimise their organisation’s bottom line.

One of the best ways to develop these skills is through an Executive MBA Healthcare from Nottingham University Business School. The programme is for students who want to focus their MBA education on the healthcare sector.

A business education that helps healthcare leaders develop business nous

There are many appeals of pursuing the Executive MBA Healthcare at Nottingham’s Business School. Apart from studying at a Russell Group university, graduates earn a credential from one of the world’s top 100 universities, according to the QS World University Rankings 2021. The Business School’s MBA is internationally accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) — top accrediting agencies for MBA programmes.

Their MBA and EMBA programmes are among the best in the world. The latter was ranked among the top 100 worldwide, scoring highly for career progression and gender diversity, according to the QS Global EMBA Rankings 2019. It also ranked in the Top 100 QS EMBA Ranking 2020.

The full-time MBA is ranked 55th globally and third in the UK in The Economist 2021 Which MBA rankings. Cementing their prowess in business education is the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2020, which ranked them in the Top 150 for Business and Management, and Accounting and Finance.

The Business School’s Executive MBA Healthcare programme is designed to respond to the changing global and UK landscape by developing competitive solutions to manage the competing demands of service users, commissioners and regulators.

Bring a fresh perspective into your career

The Executive MBA Healthcare is the first of its kind in the UK, shaped by world-leading research into areas such as patient safety, service transformation and integrated care. The programme brings healthcare and business leaders and innovators from various industries together, enabling students to learn from each other and discover how old problems can be solved with new thinking.

The programme builds on students’ existing years of management skills and experience and will expand their global career prospects and earning potential. It can be completed part-time, in two to four years. There’s no pressure to select a particular intake as there are several starting points throughout the year. There’s also the option to vary the number of modules you take per year and spread the cost by paying for each module as you progress.

The curriculum is comprehensive — students can expect to study essential management areas, including leadership, marketing, operations management, and strategic management. Optional modules let students specialise in areas that align with their career goals. Students can expect to undertake two healthcare modules led by academics whose research focuses specifically on healthcare management and invited experts from the healthcare sector.

Interested students will also be heartened to note that the course is supported by the Centre for Health Innovation, Leadership and Learning (CHILL), the Business School’s internationally renowned research centre dedicated to improving and innovating healthcare management and leadership.

Speaking about the programme, CHILL director Associate Professor Simon Bishop said “Healthcare organisations in which Doctors, alongside other clinical professional, get involved in leadership are known to do better than organisations in which there is a divide between medics and management. This is perhaps not surprising given doctors’ specialist knowledge of patients and treatments. Nevertheless it is also clear that doctors are sometime hesitant about getting involved in senior organisation or system leadership as it stands outside of their professional training. We have seen that as healthcare professionals progress through the MBA they gain the knowledge, confidence and networks to lead organisational change and make improvements with clear benefits to their patients.’

The programme changes how healthcare professionals identify problems and define solutions, as demonstrated by Dr. Kathy Teahon. The Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust consultant gastroenterologist used the knowledge and skills gained from the MBA to support the redesign of out-of-hours working at the hospital. She found that junior doctors spent the equivalent of seven weeks a year answering bleeps, while some nurses spent the equivalent of 10 weeks a year inputting data.

By addressing these issues, Dr. Teahon said they could change working patterns and help the hospital focus more on patient care. “My prime concern is caring for my patients. That’s why I became a doctor. That’s what I do. But the other thing that’s important is stewardship of the NHS as a service. And the MBA has allowed me to do that.”

To find out more about the programme, click here. To apply, click here.