A public health administrator is a health professional who is responsible for the overall health of a community by ensuring that everyone has access to adequate healthcare and information. While a doctor is focused on his patients’ health, a public health administrator ensures that doctors are available when they are needed and that everyone has access to the information they need to make informed health decisions. A health administrator can work in a variety of settings, from hospital administration to government work. Such jobs typically necessitate business management and organization skills, as well as sufficient knowledge of science and health issues to make informed decisions about community health.
Administration is an important aspect of a public health administrator’s job, as the title suggests. Like any other administration job, public health administration entails managing employees, preparing a budget, and assigning and overseeing projects. A public health administrator may also be responsible for marketing and communication with other public health administrators, government employees, and physicians.
In public health administration, the “health” aspect is also crucial. A public health administrator’s main goal is to keep the community in which he works as healthy as possible. This includes raising public awareness about environmental threats like toxins, infections like the influenza virus, and a variety of other health-related threats. It also entails making healthcare widely available and easy to obtain for those who require it.
Depending on personal preference and community needs, a public health administrator may work in a variety of settings. Most public health administrators are also members of various government health committees that deal with health issues in communities ranging from small towns to entire countries. Others may be in charge of hospitals or a school district’s health administration. Some people choose to teach health administration at a university after working in the field for a while.
To become a public health administrator, one can pursue a number of different educational paths. Degree programs in health care administration and public health administration are available at many colleges. Science and health-related courses, as well as business courses such as finance and management, are also beneficial, as a public health administrator must apply a thorough understanding of healthcare issues to make fiscally responsible management decisions. While a bachelor’s degree plus work experience may be sufficient for some positions in public health administration, higher degrees are generally recommended if not required.