Skip to main content

9 years+: Studying MBA (Healthcare Management): Just Finished and Feeling Relieved

I attended MBA in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in one of their "persisir" or you can call it outcampus program where they conduct classes for special group of students in a department like in the state health department. It was a great experience, despite having to postpone studies due to Covid-19 and going online after that.


My first subject was marketing. It was quite hard at that time because I did not have any idea regarding all those business terms and words and calculations etc. I think everyone struggled during that time. But, our lecturer was super duper amazing and was very tolerant and patient with us 😅 Like seriously we were super duper blur and confused most of the time, she had to teach us the basics of finance and accounting during the first class. Then we had accounting for decision making, economics, finance management and others.


I think the most important thing I learned from MBA is how to "unlearn" things. This MBA program helped me to see problems and situations from different angles before making a decision. It helped to widen my view of the world and understand the different struggles of different stakeholders in a situation. The new perspectives we were taught and the introduction of various analytic tools during classes can be applied even when dealing with daily situations in life. It freed me from continuing "inherited" practices that are usually done in the workplace that has become core traditions and culture within the organization.


The analytic skills gained from MBA is beneficial in dealing with daily situations as a manager. At the core, we are all managers. We are managers of our daily lives, at the very least. As a doctor, the study of MBA taught me how to deal with problems regarding patients, colleagues and supporting staff. With the people management skills learned during MBA, it benefits consultation sessions and also when dealing with internal problems related to the behaviour of colleagues and other levels of employees.


Personally, I would recommend studying MBA for doctors who are interested in improving their people management skills and those who seek to improve their workplace. During MBA classes, we were always encouraged to criticize and discuss improvements that could be practiced in workplace. It also improves our skills for presentations and creating slides (there is always something to present during class!). By the end of it, you can create slides and present ASAP - which is a very important skill in life lols.


For me, my experience during MBA was more than just in business and administration. People should give it a try.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

10 Years: The First Step - The Cynefin Framework

During a recent read, I learned about the Cynefin Framework: (Source: HBR article here ) I think this is an interesting framework. It helps me to categorize each conflict and how best to first approach it. The framework arranges the steps in order of priority for each category.  There are four areas in which I can classify a problem which I am facing: Simple, Chaos, Complicated, Complex and Disorder. In each area, except for Disorder, the responses are arranged in the order in which one we should do first.  Simple problems are problems which we have faced before and we have already formed a strategy to solve previously, which are our "Best Practice". In facing a Simple problem, we first have to sense it, which means recognizing it as a problem that we have a strategy for. We then categorize the problem to respond to it with our Best Practice. For example, in an outpatient clinic, a patient comes with fever and the doctor senses and categorizes the fever and responds with a tr...

9 Years 6 Months: Hikmah

 One of my good friend at work lost her husband one month ago. It was so sudden, unexpected. They were married for 5 years. She had him for 5 good years. She came back to work today and we talked about her. I let her talk about anything she wanted. I only answered if she asked. For the rest of the time, I just let her talk. She talked about those last few days of his life, the moment she knew he was gone and all other things. She asked me, "What is the reason for all this? Why did he have to die?" ...she asked, so I had to answer. I thought about it for awhile. I answered  that in our religion, we do not focus on the why. We do not dwell to search for the reason why it happened. But, we focus on the things that happen after a bad event. We try to find...I could not find the correct word. I said "benefit" but I meant "hikmah". So, what is hikmah? I went back home and kept thinking about it; how to explain "hikmah" to a person with another religion...

Here Is Eid of 2025

Eid is about winning - the celebration for Muslims who succeeded in conquering their worldly wants and ego during Ramadhan. But it does not always feel like a happy occasion for some. I had a very interesting Eid this year (maybe because I took leave for one whole week and accidentally became the main adult in the house 😒) My beloved grandmother passed away in 2020 on the evening of the first day of Eid. She was our matriarch, and it was hard adjusting to our lives without her. Eid and Ramadhan were always her thing - she would plan all the meals and celebrations, the house visits, the guests' schedules and all the other important stuff. We all miss her, of course: my parents, my aunts and uncles, my siblings, my children, my cousins, and all those who knew her. But I think that hiding in grief would be an insult to her memory. She was always someone who was welcoming whenever guests were over - nothing made her happier than meeting her relatives and friends and making sure they h...