Health Services Management coordinator presents at conference

Brazosport College Professor and Program Coordinator of Health Services Management Dr. Harold Griffin was recently invited to speak at the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) – Southeast Texas Chapter Fourth-Quarter Breakfast.

Griffin led a presentation to a live audience of 170 healthcare administrators, including many influential leaders in the Houston-area healthcare industry. Assisting Griffin with the presentation was Dr. Alla Adams, Program Director, Healthcare Administration at Park University in Parkville, Mo.

The presentation was titled “How to Prepare for Innovative Leadership in Healthcare” and emphasized the importance of “soft skills” in the process of creating innovative leaders.

“There’s a concern in the healthcare industry that new hires lack ‘soft skills,’ which are commonly referred to as interpersonal skills,” Griffin said. “While colleges and universities do a reasonably good job teaching technical skills, they are less successful in developing and refining the ‘soft skills’ of their students. ‘Soft skills’ are hard to define and, therefore, challenging to assess.”

The presentation highlighted the innovative approaches being used to strengthen the ‘soft skills’ of students at institutions of higher learning, the preliminary results and how these skills are critical components in the process of creating innovative healthcare leaders.

Griffin and Adams are the first academics invited to present at this quarterly event, which has been in practice for decades.

The event was conducted by the American College of Healthcare Executives-Southeast Texas Chapter, which is the premier professional organization for healthcare administrators.

Griffin is integrating innovative curricular strategies into the Bachelor of Applied Technology-Health Services Management program that will prepare students for successful careers in the healthcare and related industries.

“This gets Brazosport College’s name out there,” Griffin said of presenting at the ACHE Breakfast. “It also lets healthcare leadership know that we have a Bachelor’s program in Health Services Management. There are only seven such programs in the state and we’re one of them. This was a very good opportunity for exposure to Brazosport College.”

Brazosport College’s Health Services Management bachelor’s program is currently registering for the spring semester. For more information about the program, visit www.brazosport.edu/bat/Health-services or call (979) 230-3369.