Improving preparation for senior management in healthcare.

Noting the historical and practical relationship of management education in healthcare to business generally, this paper reviews and analyzes four recent criticisms of management education by Pfeffer and Fong, Ghoshal, Mintzberg, and Bennis. It concludes from that analysis that increased effort on assessing and improving healthcare education efforts is essential, and proposes a model for a national program of continuous improvement of educational practice. It reviews existing competency assessment tools in the light of needs, and suggests next steps for educators and practitioners.