*update*: Mike Sharma currently works as the Director of Diagnostic Imaging at Guelph General Hospital.
Mike Mukesh Sharma is the Manager of Diagnostic Imaging for Headwaters Health Care Centre. Challenges of the job include budgeting and dealing with difficult patients, staff, physicians. But from those challenges, Mike sees many rewards. He values being able to provide the best tools and resources to his staff to ensure that they can provide the best patient care to the community and being able to foster an environment of continuous quality improvement and education.
For one year, Mike held a clinical placement at St. Michael's Hospital.
“I showed my skills and was subsequently hired,” says Mike who also went on to earn a post-grad diploma in Radiological Sciences. “However, my (U of T) degree played a huge role in my advancement into the Management area.”
Mike, who also worked as Radiographic Technologist at St. Michael's Hospital for 10 years, credits various other experiences with helping him get to where he is today. These include a 1-year stint as President of the Ontario Association of Radiology Managers, volunteering on the committee of the Integrated Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Canada, and UTM’s Extern Program where he observed a hospital environment.
“You have to be a people person, have good leadership skills, and show integrity, compassion, and a great deal of understanding,” says Mike, who, in retrospect, thinks it may have been a good idea to incorporate more IT (information technology) into his education.
Mike says the key to his success has been his passion for healthcare and taking care of people.
“If you are a people-oriented person and have great compassion and empathy for others, then this is a great field to expand your talents,” he says. “It is not a dead end job. Many other branches can be taken once you are in this field.”