All things Health Care Admin/HCA (merged)

[Gunner98]

Personally, I would apply with the bachelor's... The fact that you will have completed your degree puts you higher in the pile than many people that haven't.

The people without degrees will be in a different pile - ROTP, since those with degrees go in the DEO pile.  The way things sometimes work you may want to apply for HCA and for your Masters, it may take until you complete your Masters before you get accepted into CAF.

 

[GINge!]

Not sure if this is still the case, but applicants with Master's degrees were advance promoted to Captain. Plus, you are instantly more competitive at the Capt boards with an additional point for your graduate degree.

 

[jitterbug]

For info,

I just spoke with a newly minted HCA.  He said they are no longer doing the civi health certificate.  He said you just do HSOSOC and BHCA courses and then you are qualified.  He said they were looking at bring in some sort of course/training with a tactical aspect to it???  Maybe someone knows more about that?

 

[MedCorps]

The health certificate is indeed dead and not longer part of the required training to be qualified as an HCA.  Thank god. 

New course in existence called the Health Services Tactical Operations Course.  This is the first of two courses.

Second course is in development now called the Health Services Operational Planning Course.  First serial runs in early 2019 I am told.

These courses are not required to to be qualified but offered as specialty courses as required at Capt 1 onward. 

MC

 

[dapaterson]

Time to rebadge HCA/HSO as Log - Medical.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Time to rebadge HCA/HSO as Log - Medical.

I remember being part of a short discussion on that subject on these means (this thread actually, a couple pages back) a few years ago and not surprisingly there was some similarity in the kickoff. Sound familiar?

To the unenlightened (like me) there's a challenge in understanding the difference between these two support trades - Health Care Administrator and Health Services Operations.

And, perhaps more interestingly, skimming the occupational specification for HSO, it reads suspiciously like a subset of the Log officer occupation - but with "H Svcs" tacked on to everything - so it's not HR management, it's H Svcs HR Management.

Question:  Is there truly a need for those two as stand-alone occupations, or could they be part of the Log O family, with specialty training for any H Svcs specific issues?

(And where's that can of worms icon?)

The discussion lasted only a few posts culminating in one that seemed to end the debate (well, there were no responses to the points made).

After spending 14 years an Artillery Officer and the last 11 as a HCA/HSO, I can tell you these considerations are not nuances or small matters.  Working with MOs, Nurses, Pharm Os is not a simple task.  Most medical units have a Log O that takes care of the Supply/Log side of the unit, they have little patience for the clinical leaders within the unit lines. 

Therefore, it is more about learning when something is deemed critical and a surge (not extra electricity) is required in a medical facility to accommodate expected casualties resulting from a Major Medical Incident or a mass casualty, that lives depend on scarce equipment/resources and flexible priorities.  When lives hang in the balance there isn't time to bring someone up to speed on the terminology beyond the content of a 9-liner.

In the manner that the Army has considered and rejected having a General Purpose Officer who is Infantry first and has sub-specialties, the idea of the Fd Amb as a company within Svc Bns has not been realized. 

The HSO occupation also takes people from clinical fields (Pharm, Physio, Nurses) and places them in non-clinical admin and leadership roles.  Who would mentor these people if there were no HCAs.  The in and out logistics officers from the Log empire could eliminate the subtleties in the language that save lives, although one shovel or pick fits all, one surgical saw or blade is the difference between paralysis and sensation.

If the Log empire builders are looking to conquer, it should look elsewhere; our soldiers deserve a knowledgeable, compassionate health care admin or health services operations officer not a crusty, ignorant patient transport company commander.

 

[dapaterson]

I know a fair number of HCA/HSOs,and have a certain perspective of elements of what they do; where they do well; and where they are institutionally weak.  HSO is fed almost exclusively from HCA; frankly, given the specialist training required for NUR and PHARM, it's a waste of their skills to convert them to HSO.

Thus, I think the focus needs to be on HCA & HSO, what they do, and how they are employed.  (This has to be nested in a larger reset of Medical Services overall - scrapping half the MED positions in the Reg F and replacing them with nurses of the extended class would be a first positive step).  The Occ Specs still read like what could be a sub-occ of Log (and I am old and ornery enough to want to revert Log to functional vice environmental lines - that was a command driven mistake that still needs to be rectified).  That would provide a career field (mostly) in medical roles, but would also provide career broadening opportunities that the insular Med world can't offer.

 

[dapaterson]

A further thought: Regardless of the future employment structure (Log-Med, status quo, rebadging all HCA/HSO to the Royal Winnipeg Rifles...) there need to be increased ATR employment opportunities, and develop some outward-looking leadership.

 

[Gunner98]

I know a fair number of HCA/HSOs,and have a certain perspective of elements of what they do; where they do well; and where they are institutionally weak.  HSO is fed almost exclusively from HCA; frankly, given the specialist training required for NUR and PHARM, it's a waste of their skills to convert them to HSO.

To use the word exclusive is inappropriate.  In the last 15 years almost as many Nurses became HSOs as HCAs and only a few Pharm (MedCorps will correct if I am wrong!) As for progression, a similar number of former Nurses and HCAs reached the rank of LCol and Col.  As for GO/FO, one HCA, one Nurse and one Pharmacist.  You can't forget that many MOs and Dentists are doing non-clinical jobs which is certainly a questionable use of their specialty training and salary.

 

[dapaterson]

You can't forget that many MOs and Dentists are doing non-clinical jobs which is certainly a questionable use of their specialty training and salary.

Fully agree.  Nurses and pharmacists also have increasing scopes of practice that the CAF should leverage to reduce reliance on medical officers; there's also a significant investment in training and education for those occupations that needs to be properly leveraged (eg NPs).

 

[Gunner98]

Fully agree.  Nurses and pharmacists also have increasing scopes of practice that the CAF should leverage to reduce reliance on medical officers; there's also a significant investment in training and education for those occupations that needs to be properly leveraged (eg NPs).

Not many NPs in uniform, but the Capt/Lt PAs are filling new/different officer roles that are value-added.  For example a Capt PA works in the Directorate of Mental Health responsible for Medical Prof Tech Suicide Reviews.