I want to transition from clinical healthcare to administration

[jesskalpn]

Hey all,

I'm currently an OB scrub tech (8 yrs experience) and I just graduated from an LPN program and have yet to take the NCLEX. I've always been interested in healthcare administration but thought that nursing would be a better choice in the short-term as I'm a single mother and it works better with my schedule.

After being in LPN school, I can say that I have absolutely no desire to try to live through that again. Because I'm a single mom, it meant seeing my daughter only on weekends and trying to juggle working full time 12hr night shifts and going to 8 hr days of class. Getting my business degree sounds like a much more viable alternative as I can do that completely online or with a combo of brick and mortar/online.

I just want to move to the administrative side of things (not nursing administration, necessarily) and have even kicked around the idea of going to law school.

Has anyone made the transition, and if so, how did you go about doing it? Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I completely understand your 'disinclination' to subject yourself to another round of nursing school if it wasn't fun the first time around.

However -- I want to provide you with a reality check here. "Administrative" positions in healthcare are primarily filled with either clinicians or people with an MHA (masters in Hospital administration). Nurse Administrators have an RN with a graduate degree in nursing or a realated field. A bachelor's degee does not qualify you for anything. If an MHA is going to be your sole qualification for administration (instead of advancing through the clinical ranks) then it REALLY matters where you go to school. This is really an 'ol boys' club. You need to investigate this. There are some really good MHA programs in which a lot of the coursework can be accomplished online, but they are very expensive and admission is very competitive.

You also need to know that 'administrators' have a very short tenure... lots of turnover in these positions and most of it is not voluntary. Hey, it's easier to fire the coach than to fire the team, right? Hope I didn't rain on your parade. Right now, I'd rather be a hot tar roofer in August than work in healthcare administration!!!