McGill launches first combined MD-MBA program
With cost management of health care on everyone's minds, the new MDMBA program at McGill University, the first of its kind in Canada, appears to be a timely addition.
Students in the combined program will squeeze the requirements of both the medical degree and master's of business administration into 5 years of schooling. The course is demanding, because students must study a full 3 semesters per year. The program, which took 3 years to develop, is run jointly by McGill's faculties of Medicine and Management.
The first class of 5 students began studying last September. They started with the first semester of the MBA program, and after completing the second semester will take up practicum/internship training with a management focus in health care facilities in the Montreal area this summer.
In late August, they will launch their medical school studies like any other first-year student, but during the summers following years 1 and 2 they will take 12 additional MBA credits. The final 2 years are devoted completely to medical training.
The idea of combining managerial and medical training originated with members of both faculties, who perceived a lack of administrative expertise among senior medical managers in hospitals and other health care facilities. The program aims to fill that gap by teaching about management at the institutional level.
"This course is for anybody who expects to be managing a budget or supervising personnel, or to be involved in quality control or risk management," explains Dr. Nelson Mitchell, associate dean of admissions at McGill's medical school.
"We hope that graduates will be able to take basic management skills and apply them to the issues that are critical in health care. It has become increasingly obvious to me that in the current situation in Quebec -- or anywhere else in Canada, for that matter -- anyone in a leadership position in medicine needs management skills to be effective. Without them, you're at a disadvantage in any kind of health planning or management."
Adding management content to the medical curriculum was considered, but Mitchell says the program's designers felt it would be impossible to find sufficient time during the busy undergraduate years.
There is strong demand for the course: 90 applications were received for the 5 spots available in the first class. While there were fewer applications this year, Mitchell reports that a higher proportion of those applying chose the new program as their only option instead of applying for both a medical degree and the joint program. To select candidates, the medical school's application process was modified to include management-related criteria, such as an applicant's management experience.
For Canadian students, tuition for the double degree is on par with the combined costs of a medical degree and MBA. McGill is currently devoting 5 of its 110 first-year positions in medical school to the new program, but Mitchell hopes the program will be granted funding that allows it to expand its enrolment. McGill also lets fourth-year medical students take summer MDMBA courses as electives.
