Educating future healthcare managers: meeting contemporary challenges.

University programs must work to keep curricula sufficiently dynamic to assure knowledge content remains relevant, appropriate skills are developed, and standards of academic rigor are maintained. This paper describes a curriculum analysis for a healthcare management program conducted in 1997 and the subsequent steps taken to enhance the program through more formalized links with healthcare organizations. In describing the curriculum analysis, a special emphasis is placed on data compiled in 1996 from a small exploratory study conducted to identify which content areas, skills, and experiences healthcare employers in the state of Maryland noted to be most important for a new hire from an undergraduate program. The program was recently granted Full Certified Undergraduate membership in the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA). The paper concludes with a discussion of the changes to the curriculum implemented since 1997 and the process initiated to continually assess the quality of the revised program.