cameroondiva

Hello Everyone:), It's been a while since i last posted a thread on this website. So i'm sitting having my usual random thoughts and i will love to read your feedback on these 2 issues. I'm a nurse with 7+ years of work experience and in 3 months i'll be done with my MBA and Masters in Health Admin. dual degrees. I decided i wanted to take care of patients from an operational stand point. I want to make things more efficient from management side so that patients receive the best quality care. My goal is become a health care senior executive of a hospital or any other healthcare service organization. I also have an entrepreneurial spirit, so i may start my own business some day. Enough of about me. Granted not everyone is interested in business or health care administration/ management, but i always wonder why more nurses are not leveraging their nursing skills/knowledge and pursuing a business degree. The job opportunity is plenty, especially with the implementation of the healthcare reform act. We( nurses) understand the healthcare system better than any other healthcare provider. I've asked my coworkers, with way more experience than i have, and their response is, " i don't want to be a paper pusher" lol. Of course there's more to it than just shuffling papers. They are different career paths for a nurse with an MBA degree, you can become a consultant, healthcare entrepreneur or intra-prenuer, program director, executive administrator, design or develop community programs, work for a pharmaceutical, disease management, insurance, medical supply companies, manage a private practice or work in public health, the sky is the limit. Share your thoughts if you have ever thought about business administration/management and had a change of heart, or why it is not an option at all for you. Some of my classmates, most of them don't have healthcare background, envy us nurses in the class. We had a CEO of a hospital as a guest speaker for one of my classes who was a Physical Therapist. She said if she could change one thing in her past,on her career path to a CEO, it would've been to become a nurse. She pressed on how nurses have so much advantage in the healthcare management field. Next issue! So my coworker, a Med. assistant is trying apply to a nursing program and one of the schools she considered has a 2 years waiting list. I remembered this was a problem, because of the low nursing professor salaries, way back when i graduated from my BSN program. I'm sitting here thinking, why have these schools not increased the nursing salaries to attract my nurses to teach. The law of supply and demand. If the demand is that high, you offer a competitive salary and more students apply to the nursing program and this generates more revenues and therefore more profits. So why is this concept not obvious to most of these nursing schools with long waiting lists, especially with community colleges? Thanks for your comments in advance!

Patients dependency on their primary care Doctors or specialist, is driving me insane! As an adult with the exception of individuals with memory problems, if you are in your 20's 30's 40's 50's even 60's you ought to know why you are coming into the clinic for a doctor visit. I'm getting so frustrated asking routine patients, why are you here today and get the response, i don't know because my doctor told me so. This is what i have to deal with sometimes in the clinic. A typical scenerio: Nurse: Well are you having any problems Pt: no. Nurse:So did you ask your Doctor last time you saw him/her why you are coming back? Pt: No, he/she didn't tell me. Nurse: Well did you ask? Pt: no. Nurse: You know you should ask, because you are charged for a every visit. You might want to ask the reason for the return visit if you are uncertain. Pt: Well i just come in when the Doctors tells me to,"they" schedule it and i just come. Nurse: No you schedule your own appointments with the doctor depending on your schedule. Pt: Yes Nurse: Next time before you leave if the Doctor wants you to come back, you should ask why, so you are well informed about your health and any medical problems that are ongoing. Pt:Well i let the doctor figure out all that and he/she knows everything. Why are some of these patients not taking more responsibilities for their health at home. It's your health, you are paying all that insurance, you might want to know what the doctor is doing and why. I just don't get it! Maybe i'm just biased because i'm in the healthcare field and just can't see things from their perspective.

Hello everyone, it's been hot minute since i last posted something here. It's good to be back!. To all my nurses who have MBA or Masters in Health Admin or Masters of Science in Health Admin or any Management degrees, i'm curious what you are currently doing with your degrees, are you working in hospital administration ( C-levels i.e CEO,COO,CNO etc),mid level management or Entrepreneurs, or Working in Public health, or Consulting?. Im asking because after 6 years of working as nurse( 1 year Rehab Nursing, 1 year Home care nursing, 1 year Med surg nursing, 1 year General surgery nursing, 1 year general medicine nurse, 1 year CVICU):) and now im working Outpatient Cardiology clinic. I finally decided, i need to work for myself. i'll use all my nursing knowledge to become an entrepeneur in the healthcare industry, definitely a CEO someday( Managing Doctors). So im in grad school now pursing both Professional MBA and MHA dual degrees, and apparently the sky is the limit for job opportunities for Nurses with MBA I guess hospitals finally realized hiring high level management with only finance or management,etc background with no healthcare background is potentially bad for business in the long run. Also i hear with this new healthcare bill and changes in the healthcare system the demand for healthcare managers in all sectors of the healthcare industry will increase. I'm curious what careers some of you nurses choose with your management degree. Thanks as always stay blessed everyone!

I'm very tolerant and respectful of my patients religious preferences. I work in a Cardiovascular ICU. My hospital is known for taking the sickest heart patients for open heart surgery. We've had situations where a Jehovah Witness patient who needed blood transfusion during a CABG or Post-op and eventually died because of their beliefs. I'm just curious what is the basis of that belief? If you are a nurse who is a Jehovah Witness or you know someone who is if you could please explain it to me i'll really appreciate it. Rather than criticize others and their religious beliefs i try to be understanding. The reason i'm asking this is, if you are going to have a CABG or any other Cardiac surgery there is a very high probabilty you may need blood products during the procedure or post op , why take such a risk if you don't want any blood products at all?

Thanks to all for the responses!!!! Yeah this is the first year i'm getting paid 1099 and attempting to file my taxes. I guess it would be wise to use a professional first then continue on my own for the following years.Well the problem now is where do i find a an Accountant or CPA with knowledge about filing taxes for travel nursing/independent contracting in or around Atlanta GA? if anyone knows of a website with that info please share or if you are aware of someone who specializes in this who lives in Georgia please let me know. I wonder how much they'll charge me for it? thanks!

Hello everyone, I've decided to be more independent and start filling my own taxes to safe money. My CEO at the hospital i work at decides we are no longer getting any raises and the hospital will no longer be matching our 401k. So i've decided it's time for me to for look ways to save money. I know they're many nurses here with accounting background hopefully you guyz can help me. I'm trying to figure out what forms i need to file my taxes this year. Last year from january '08-may-08 i worked as an independent nurse for the State of Massachusetts. They didn't take out any taxes from my paychecks. I made approx 32K( I have absolutely no idea where all the money went to!!). I'm a resident of Georgia so i had to travel up there just to work. I came back to Georgia and worked at a regular W2 job where they take out taxes, at a hospital from end of May to current. While i was working in the hospital i also had my job take out extra federal taxes just hoping i won't owe alot when i file my taxes this year. What forms do i need to file my taxes? I know i have to pay federal taxes( medicare/soc sec) and Massachusetts income tax for the period of time i worked in Mass, and ofcourse Georgia income tax (i dont think i owe Georgia income tax since they took it out of my paycheck). Do i need to file seperate forms for all these taxes or is there just one form that covers everything? also what form do i need to itemize my deductions?( i saved alll my receipts of all my purchases while i worked in Massachusetts). I've been on the IRS website trying to figure out what forms i need and it's been very confusing. Thanks!

Hi eveyone. I have a question hopefully someone can help me with an answer. I'm currently an Independent Healthcare Provider working for the state of Massachusetts under the government program called mass health but i live in Georgia. I've been doing this for the past 6 months and will be returning back to a hospital position this May in Atlanta. I want to know if i qualify as a travel nurse since i live out of state and work as a nurse and do i qualify for the Tax Advantage program as well as all the other benefits of a traveling nurse?. I'm just planning ahead for next year when i have to pay back taxes since i don't get any taxes deducted out of my paycheck because i'm an Independent Contractor.

I see your point. Unfortunately i know that a hospital is a business first and foremost but still you would think that these hospitals would want to hire someone with a business degree with healthcare experience for their administrative positions rather than someone with only a business background. untill you have worked as a floor nurse you never truely understand the obstacles nurses face everyday in the hospital. Someone has to look out for the nurses. that is one of the reasons i'm pursuing this degree. we need some changes in healthcare management. I'm willing to take my chances with this career path. "A journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step"

Thanks for your respond. i should have added this above but I absolutely DONOT want to work as a supervisor or a manager of any unit(s) in a hospital. Definitely not an option. I worked on a medsurg unit where the nurses with 20's exprience refused the manager position for the unit, the hospital had to put a nurse w/ 3 years! experience to manage the unit. After talking to those nurses who refused the position and past experiences with other managers i agreed w/ them i won't take the job. I want to work wayyy above that. I was reading the New York Times job section and i saw an ad where one medical facility was looking for a CEO and the job required MBA w/ 5yrs experience i would rather take that job. I'm still trying to figure out what jobs are available to nurses w/ business degress in administration.

After doing some thinking and lots of research for a while now and looking at the options out there available to nurses, i have decided i want go back to grad. school and get a degree in MBA w/ health concentration. I want to work in healthcare administration first and then later on after some years of experience i'm going to take those learned skills and become an entrepraneur and start my own healthcare business. I've decided i'm a very hardworking and dedicated person and young(25) I don't want to work for anyone but myself by the time i'm retiring. I definitely don't want anyone to take advantage of my skills and under pay me. So i was wandering are they nurses out here currently pursuing an MBA degree or any business deree or considering this career path? if so i just want to know how thats going so far and what are the pros and cons to this career choice. Also for those nurses in adminstrative positions what are the various administration positions available for nurses with an MBA degree in hospitals or other healthcare fields?. Thanks Anne

Any Suggestions for the best travel agency that pays well >40/hr w/ good benefits in the San jose CA area?So far i applied to Nursefinders, Abetta and intend on applying to Trinty healthcare. FYI: I'm an RN BSN w/ 2yrs clinical experience in Medsurg.

THANK YOU SOMUCH THAT WAS SO HELPFUL. GOD I LOVE THIS WEBSITE, I ALWAYS GET GOOD RESPONSES FROM NURSES.

Okay after 1yr 6 months of acute med surg and step down surgical icu nursing, i have decided that i want to try travel nursing. I have been reading the forums to kinda get an idea of what companies are the best but i'm still lost. So for those experienced travel nurses out there please help me create a check list of questions to ask and offers before i start calling these companies.I want to know which ones offer the best options for me. I'm a RN BSN , Mass graduate, currently living in Atlanta , working full time @ Emory Hospital @ a step down surgical floor( i hate my job) and i want to try travel nursing along the east cost region. I think i want to check out Maryland 1st then VA then North Carolina etc. I have alot of family in Mass, so i figure i go to Maryland so that i can party in D.C. ( yes nurses do party) and then drive up to beantown anytime i want. I want to take an assignment in the summer. I'm in my early 20's and i want to try different things in the nursing field. I adapt well to different enviroments so i know i can do this. I just don't want to end up with a really bad company. I am aware nothing is 100% perfect but i do have certain expectations from any company prior to signing up. I want to ask the really good and direct questions . I plan on only signing up for the 13 weeks contract and nothing more. Also i will like to know the pro's and con's travel nursing. I'm not sure how i'm going to pull this off when i have to pay rent and utility for my apartment, car loan and ins, school loans etc....also need advice on this problem too. I'm really getting excited about Travel nursing and I hope i like it .

Thanks alot for all the responses. Sorry it took me a while to respond. But i think i finally decided what to do. i've been thinking i'm going back to school to get the MBA/MHA( masters in health admins) dual degree. This way i'm not limited to just clinical nursing. I'm burned out already as nurse after just 1year on the floor. Hopefully this will bring me some happiness.

I just recently graduated with my BSN in '04. i will be completing my 1st year this october working as a Registered Nurse. After 1 year working on the floor i have decided i'm going to quit bedside nursing. I worked for 8months in Boston on an acute medical surgical floor(eve shift). We had extreme staff shortage and not enough nursing assistance on the floor. I'm currently in Georgia in a "prestigious" hospital, facing the same problem in a step-down surgical icu. On this floor they have 30 patients, 2 nursing assistance and 6 patients ( very sick patients) to a nurse. Nurses have to get report do their own vs and even do morning care, pass out meds, prep patients for OR, and each nurse usually gets an average of 3 admissions per day. I spent 4 years in college learning about the art of nursing and i can't practice 1/2 the things i learned. Talk about hypocracy. Hospitals don't care about their nurses well being. I'm extremely burned out and exhausted after each shift and underpaid. I thought the hard part was the nursing school, it seems as if it gets worst after you graduate. My friend was just telling me one time she was running back and forth on the floor, she fainted and she had a heart attack. I'm 23 years old i'm smart enought to realize this is not for me early on. My sister who is 25 w/ 1 year experience agreed with and said she can't do it anymore. She is actually going back to school to do Legal nursing. I love the act of caring in nursing but if i stay on the floor i will eventually hate nursing and i don't want that. So what are my options here, what can i do with a RN, BSN degree if i don't want bed side / hospital nursing. I'm already considering private duty nursing, anything else i can do?