Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

How to apply business to medicine

Akhilesh Pathipati, MD
Education
March 16, 2017
Share
Tweet
Share

Just after I started at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, I wrote an article on why I’m doing an MD/MBA. I argued that business school can help clinicians develop a new perspective, acquire important skills and build bridges between doctors, policymakers, and administrators.

I heard from dozens of students, faculty, and physicians who supported the idea of an MD/MBA. However, a question repeatedly came up about as to whether my classes had any real relevance to health and medicine.

Health care is unique from a business perspective. It’s among the largest and most regulated industries in the U.S. economy, and it has extraordinarily high stakes, and, therefore, it doesn’t follow the laws of supply and demand.

So while the notion of business training was appealing, people wondered if business school was the right way for a doctor to get it. One quarter in, I remain convinced that the answer is yes. Every class I’ve taken has applications that a doctor would find useful.

Optimization and simulation modeling

OSM, a class that taught us how to model problems on Microsoft Excel, has direct relevance to health care. In fact, one of our first assignments was how to optimize the allocation of operating rooms to different surgical services. The class taught a host of analytic techniques ranging from basic optimization to decision analysis to Monte Carlo simulation.

Whether someone is a private practice doctor deciding how to allot clinic time, a hospital physician requesting resources or an academic doctor running a quality improvement project, it’s essential for physicians to understand how to model and make decisions.

Strategy and accounting

Strategy and accounting aren’t necessary for physicians at first glance, but empirical examples demonstrate their usefulness. One of our strategy cases was about workplace culture in a medical setting. Clinics that had a clear sense of direction were able to attract and retain staff, reduce costs and deliver superior outcomes.

The lesson I took away was that any physician can indirectly improve patient care by investing resources at the organizational level. Regardless of whether they are individual, hospital-based or academic, practices that have a coherent strategy and a strong financial position can better serve their patients.

Ethics, leadership labs, managerial skills, and organizational behavior

These four classes all dealt with how leaders make decisions when there isn’t a clear path forward.

Medicine aspires to achieve evidence-based decision making but we often don’t know the best approach to a problem. Medication regimens, behavioral counseling, and diagnostic testing often default to a trial and error approach.

At the same time, ethical quandaries permeate every aspect of medicine. For instance, we had a class discussion on the growing role of artificial intelligence in society, including its implications for health care.

ADVERTISEMENT

More than anything else, business school teaches students how to navigate uncertainty. Many physicians question whether business classes are well suited to the complexities of health care. But it’s precisely because medicine is so complicated that the skills learned in business school are valuable.

An MBA isn’t required for someone to become a doctor. Even so, incorporating aspects of business training into medical curricula would serve both physicians and their patients well.

Akhilesh Pathipati is a medical student who blogs at Scope, where this article originally appeared.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

How do physician-mothers do it all?

March 16, 2017 Kevin 0
…
Next

What does it mean to be well? Ask an opiate addict.

March 16, 2017 Kevin 3
…

Tagged as: Medical school

Post navigation

< Previous Post
How do physician-mothers do it all?
Next Post >
What does it mean to be well? Ask an opiate addict.

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Akhilesh Pathipati, MD

  • The rewarding and grueling process of residency application

    Akhilesh Pathipati, MD
  • Medical schools should improve long-term career counseling

    Akhilesh Pathipati, MD
  • A graduating medical student reflects on the last few years

    Akhilesh Pathipati, MD

Related Posts

  • Why medical students should be taught the business side of medicine

    Martinus Megalla
  • Medicine: noble profession or big business?

    David A. Guss, MD
  • How Big Medicine is hurting patients and putting small practices out of business

    John Machata, MD
  • How social media can advance humanism in medicine

    Pooja Lakshmin, MD
  • The difference between learning medicine and doing medicine

    Steven Zhang, MD
  • From online education to frontline medicine

    Diana Ioana Rapolti, Deepika Khanna, Vivian Jin, and Shikha Jain, MD

More in Education

  • Why medical student debt is killing primary care in America

    Alexander Camp
  • Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

    Jordan Williamson, MEd
  • Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

    Anonymous
  • 2 hours to decide my future: Why the NRMP’s SOAP process is broken

    Nicolette V. S. Sewall, MD, MPH
  • What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school

    Sarah White, APRN
  • Bridging the rural surgical care gap with rotating health care teams

    Ankit Jain
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • How community paramedicine impacts Indigenous elders

      Noah Weinberg | Conditions
    • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • How to speak the language of leadership to improve doctor wellness [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Would The Pitts’ Dr. Robby Robinavitch welcome a new colleague? Yes. Especially if their initials were AI.

      Gabe Jones, MBA | Tech
    • Why medicine must stop worshipping burnout and start valuing humanity

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • Why screening for diseases you might have can backfire

      Andy Lazris, MD and Alan Roth, DO | Physician
    • How organizational culture drives top talent away [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • How community paramedicine impacts Indigenous elders

      Noah Weinberg | Conditions
    • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • How to speak the language of leadership to improve doctor wellness [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Would The Pitts’ Dr. Robby Robinavitch welcome a new colleague? Yes. Especially if their initials were AI.

      Gabe Jones, MBA | Tech
    • Why medicine must stop worshipping burnout and start valuing humanity

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • Why screening for diseases you might have can backfire

      Andy Lazris, MD and Alan Roth, DO | Physician
    • How organizational culture drives top talent away [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

How to apply business to medicine
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...