What They Do
Health Care Administrators are commissioned members of the Canadian Forces Health Service. As a Health Care Administrator, you will be a vital member of the health care team, applying your leadership and resource-management skills to ensure that Canadian soldiers, sailors and Air Force personnel receive high-quality health care wherever they may be, in garrison or on a base or wing in Canada, or deployed on International or Domestic operations.
Your work will require you to understand not only the principles and practices of health care administration, but also the resource-management organization and operations of the Canadian Forces Health Service, the Canadian Forces as a whole, and the Department of National Defence. You will also develop a thorough understanding of the roles, capabilities and needs of the soldiers, sailors and Air Force personnel with whom you will be working, including those in the operational, technical and support occupations as well as those in the Canadian Forces Health Services.
As a Health Care Administration Officer, you will serve in operational units (a Field Ambulance, the Field Hospital, aeromedical staging units and area medical support units) or static facilities such as a clinic on a base or wing. You may also be employed at regional or national headquarters, or in a training unit, and you may be expected to deploy on International or Domestic operations.
Qualification Requirements
Personal Qualifications
The Canadian Forces requires a special kind of professional: a physically fit individual who is socially adaptable and ready for the unusual and the unexpected. At the same time, he or she must be professionally versatile and capable of leadership in a variety of environments, both in Canada and while on deployment.
Formal Qualifications
If you are not qualified for Direct Entry, you must be qualified for the Regular Officer Training Plan. You must meet Canadian Forces medical standards, and successfully complete a selection process that includes interviews and a wide range of examinations.
Direct Entry applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited Canadian university or college in Health Care Administration, Business Administration, or Human Resource Management.
The Regular Officer Training Plan (ROTP) comprises a full undergraduate education (to the Bachelor’s degree level) at the Royal Military College of Canada or another accredited Canadian university. Immediately upon graduation, a period of obligatory service between two to five years, depending on the period of academic subsidization, will commence. To qualify for ROTP, you must have completed high school with the appropriate university-oriented credits, or be in Grade 12 in an appropriate program with full expectation of successful completion.
Working Environment
Depending on their assignment, Health Care Administration Officers work in all climates, environments and circumstances, from the clinical setting of a base, wing or garrison to the discomforts and risks of service with an operational Army unit, both on exercise in Canada and on overseas deployments. Your normal duties will require little physical effort, but you will be expected to meet the CF minimum standard for physical fitness. Whatever your assignment, you will have every opportunity to keep fit and participate in both team sports and individual activities. When deployed on operations, you will encounter less-than-ideal conditions, and may find yourself living and working in austere circumstances. It is not unusual for a deployed Health Care Administration Officer to work long hours, seven days a week, and if you are in a high-threat area you will be subject to all the hazards that may befall second-line operational personnel.
Appropriate training, environmental clothing and equipment are provided, and Health Care Administration Officers’ health, safety and morale are always closely monitored.
Phase I: Initial Assessment and Basic Officer Training
Initial Assessment and the Basic Officer Training Course (BOTC) are conducted at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. The Initial Assessment Period will introduce you to life in the CF. During BOTC, you will learn the principles of leadership, regulations and customs of the service, basic weapons-handling, and first aid. You will also take part in a rigorous program of sports and fitness training. Successful completion is a prerequisite for further training. Second language training will be provided to officers who are not already proficient in both official languages. The length of this training is based upon an individual’s second language proficiency.
Phase II: Basic Health Care Administrator Training
Upon successful completion of Phase I, you will be commissioned in the rank of Second Lieutenant or Sub-Lieutenant. This phase is comprised of three training sub-components or stages. These three stages will prepare you to serve as a junior Health Care Administration Officer in an operational unit or a static health care facility. During the first stage, the fall and winter terms of a normal academic year, you will complete a university certificate course in Health Care Management through a combination of distance learning and classroom sessions conducted at the Canadian Forces Medical Service School, CFB Borden. This program will give you the skills required for managing the delivery of health-care services in a civilian setting and, depending on your qualifications, some or all of it may be waived. During the second stage, which lasts about four weeks, you will learn how to apply your health-care management skills in the CF context. The third and final stage, which lasts about five weeks, focuses on health care delivery in close support of Combat Arms units in the field on operations.
