Non-Nurse in school for MHA. So confused. Please help

[Dwhite01]

I have a Bachelor's Degree in Communications with a minor in Business Administration. All of my career history has been in business administration, however I really want to get into the Healthcare Industry. I work full time and I have 2 small children so it would be really hard for me to pursue a BSN right now, so I enrolled in a online MHA program. I figured since I already have business experience the best way to incorporate that into healthcare would be the MHA. But now that I am reading and doing more research I am finding that an MHA with no medical experience might be worthless. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Should I still consider the BSN after I get my MHA or do you think I could get an entry level position with just my MHA and work my way up? I love strictly administrative work but I know I would love hands on work as a nurse too.

I know just having an MHA w/out any nursing experience leaves a bad taste in most nurses mouths and I am not even sure if I would be able to get into any position without the experience anyways.

Any advise would be appreciated, I am so confused at this point and would hate to think that I am wasting money and time in the MHA program.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

In my experience, very few MHA's have nursing backgrounds. However, they do have one thing in common - a very strong 'old boy' network via their program placements and very strong alumni network. For MHAs, - unlike nursing - there is no professional licensure which guarantees at least a minimal skill/knowledge level, so the deciding factor is usually the program you attend.

Most of the hospital administrators (CEO's etc) that I know of have graduated from 4 programs. They actively recruit 'fellows' (internship which must be completed in order to get the MHA) from the same program they attended. When the fellowship is over, these guys (majority ar still male) they hire them.

I'm not saying that nurses do not attend MHA programs, just that I haven't seen it. MHA degrees focus on the business of healthcare - no clinical knowledge needed. I would advise anyone to thoroughly investigate the program prior to enrolling - where do their alumni work, how strong is their hiring network, where do they usually place their fellows?