[Surgery and management: natural partners]. / Chirurgie und Management: natürliche Partner.

The term management is a description of the functions: planning, organization, leadership and control in institutions and the corresponding persons holding these powers. In order to efficiently lead a department of surgery, surgeons need to possess management qualities and have to be able to act as team leaders. Good management of a surgical department leads to avoidance of complications and increased profits as well as more efficient use of operating room capacities and a better organization within the department.

[A bit of business administration--no problem for physicians: Master of Business Administration as panacea?]. / Das bisschen Betriebswirtschaft - für Arzte kein Problem : Der Master of Business Administration als Wundermittel?

Medical professionals with additional economic qualifications are in high demand. For doctors who aim for leading positions at medical institutions the most popular additional qualification is a Master of Business Administration (MBA). The demands on executive managers in hospitals have without any doubt changed in recent years requiring them to be trained in basic economic understanding, human resource management etc. in addition to having excellent medical training. However, MBA programs differ from one academic institution to the next. Due to the lack of standardized schedules in MBA programs it cannot be ascertained whether a candidate received adequate training and can offer the skills necessary for a higher level medical profession. In this paper the author suggests that specific training in individually required skills would be more reasonable and effective rather than encouraging medical staff to pursue academic studies leading to an MBA.

Dynamic pay initiatives.

In the battle to manage change and deal successfully with health care reform, hospitals are looking to innovative methods to optimize compensation for their executives. Results of the 1993 Hay Hospital Compensation Survey indicate clearly that the pressures of managed care and the uncertainty--but inevitability--of reform are forcing organizations to use new tools and strategies for achieving productivity and quality goals. Another interesting survey finding: Two positions critical to the success of integrated health care systems--the head of medical affairs and the head of managed care--show significant compensation growth during the past two years.