MD/MBA combined degree gives medical students a more in-depth look at the business aspects of health care.
Prior to medical school, Tanner Redel (MD '17) had two very different visions of his future. In one, he was a physician treating infectious diseases; in the other, a businessman streamlining efficient processes. He chose medicine but hoped to one day pursue the interest in business that he developed through electives and encouragement from his brother, an Alberta School of Business alumnus.
The opportunity presented itself much sooner than expected: he had hardly completed his medical school admission interview when he learned of the combined MD/MBA degree program.
"Our associate dean, Dr. Kent Stobart, started to talk about the opportunities at the school, and the possibilities other than just the MD," he explains. "The one that stood out the most for me was the MD/MBA program."
"I think of it almost like being blessed with a second life."
The MD/MBA combined degree program, jointly offered by the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and the Alberta School of Business, offers University of Alberta medical students the opportunity to complete both degrees in just five years. After two years of medical school, students transfer to the Alberta School of Business to complete the MBA in a single year. With their business credentials secured, they return to the final two years of medical school.
Although many people perceive a disconnect between business and medicine, MD/MBA students insist that business education applies to health care in a myriad of ways.
Justin Steed, a student in the combined degree's first cohort and a current family medicine resident, hopes to open a family clinic in rural southern Alberta, and says that the skills he gained from business education will help him work within the health system to provide his patients with the best care possible.
"It's one thing to understand physiology and pharmacology, which make up medicine, but health care is the thing that we are trying to provide," says Steed. "[Health care] is a system and a program, and this program is influenced by budgets and balance sheets and business principles."
This sentiment is one shared by Chantelle Bowden, who completed the business component of her degree in spring 2014. Bowden hopes to specialize in orthopedic surgery and aspires to open her own surgical centre. She cites fiscal responsibility, resource management and leadership skills to be among the most useful tools of the program.
"These skills are taught in medicine more through a trial and error basis, and it's up to you to learn from your mistakes," she explains. "I appreciate business' ability to teach the skills practically so the thought patterns are already being developed for my future."
The business component of the combined degree also prepares medical students to face one of the most prevalent portions of health care: building and sustaining health policy. Health policy outlines the priorities of health care, responsibilities of the care givers and a plan for growth.
Fourth-year medical student Doug Cheung, who completed his MBA in spring 2014, believes that students need more exposure to the business aspects of medicine to truly understand the impact that physicians can have on the health system.
"As I got further into medicine, I realized that physicians make a significant societal impact in improving patient outcomes if they're equipped with the proper business tools to do so," Cheung says. "Health care spending is at an all-time high of $211 billion this year and we continue to see this trend of limited, over-stretched resources trailing exponential demands to the system to help those in need.
"We have to start asking why. Why do we have to choose between cost savings or patient outcomes? Why can't we have cost savings and patient outcomes?"