MEDICAL

Medical facilities management is the application of standard facilities management to the demanding and specialised field of healthcare. Owing to its human dimension, the field of healthcare is one that demands facilities management above and beyond the standard.

For one thing, hospitals are open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Few other organisations make these demands on their facilities managers. Then all patients seeking emergency care are treated regardless of ability to pay. This again is unique to the field. And then hospitals must ensure that staff and facilities are always ready to care for victims of large-scale accidents, natural disasters, epidemics and terrorist actions.

This makes working in medical facilities management more demanding than other types of organisation. Facilities managers in hospitals tend to work longer hours and have higher responsibility than others. They have to ensure the hospital’s physical infrastructure and equipment are always available and reliable. They may be called on at any time in the case of emergencies and often are responsible for saving human life.

Working in medical facilities offers a choice of specialisations ranging from nursing care facility managers to medical billing. Or there's the option of becoming a general administrator.

For those interested in working in this demanding field, specialised degrees in Medical Facilities Management or a similar field such as medical office technology are available.