This study reports the current status of and the demand for on-the-job training in hospital management. Data for the analysis came from 57 hospital chief executives in Taiwan area. Seventy-seven percent of hospital chief executives were physician, while 86% of them do not have a health administration degree. The hospital chief executives attended 32 on-the-job training courses, yet only 1.6was relevant to hospital management. As far as the training needs , most hospital chief executives were concerned about healthcare quality management (96.1%), hospital information system (95.9%), strategic planning (94.1%),information technology and health care(93.8%). Taiwan's health insurance reform (70.2%), executives' personal needs (61.4%), hospital internal needs (57 .9%), and competition among hospitals (54.4%) were the strongest motivation driving these hospital management training needs.(Chin J Public Health.(Taipei ):1997;16(2):143-148)