By Don Henderson, DHA
The Master’s in Health Services Administration (MHSA) degree program based at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Bradenton, FL campus will celebrate its 10th year beginning in January, 2024. Professor Terri Runo, who has led the program since its inception, recently highlighted some of the unique features of the two-year program, which is offered through an online learning platform.
“In the second year of the program, we require all students to conduct a series of executive interviews with leaders at their own local healthcare facilities”, Runo noted. “This helps them gain real-world experience very quickly and also a better understanding of what it is like to serve in a leadership role”.
Jacob Crilley, who is a dual enrollee of both the LECOM pharmacy and MHSA programs stated that “The ability to sit down with leaders in the industry and learn from their experiences first-hand has been invaluable. The executive interview series has been greatly advantageous for the start of both my pharmacy and healthcare administration careers.”
Haley Sorenson, who is also a dual enrollee of the LECOM medical school and MHSA programs added “The executive interview process provides a unique opportunity for students to immerse themselves in understanding the roles of hospital leaders at every level. Being able to view the process of decision- making from a first-person perspective has given me great insight about the daily workings of healthcare organizations”.
Professor Runo noted that “Executive interviews are held in two phases. The first is to gain a general understanding of how healthcare leaders function through multiple levels of healthcare delivery systems. The second is to then use this knowledge to address a real-world problem discovered in the course of the interviews with practical recommendations using the student’s accumulated knowledge. This approach is consistent with the LECOM philosophy of developing scholar-practitioners who are well-equipped to lead in the challenging environment which is healthcare today”.
As the LECOM MHSA program enters its second decade, Runo also commented that “Since the program began, we have seen a lot of changes in healthcare that we never anticipated. As we go forward, we predict that more change will occur, including the arrival of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Our goal at LECOM to continue to adapt the MHSA program to face these new realities”.
For more information, visit https://lecom.edu/school-of-health-services-administration/
