trying to re-enter workforce

[ermiles]

I would like to re-enter the workforce in some capacity after staying home to raise my family for many years. I am a former Pediatric ICU RN with 16 years experience, and some also in school nursing. I am interested in something non-clinical, such as HEDIS/Quality Assurance...but they are looking for experience. I have not been able to find a course for this. Any suggestions would be welcomed, as well as ideas for other areas. Thanks!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

If you're looking to move into the quality improvement arena, you should be aware of the fact that most organizations are adopting a much more 'sciencey' patient safety approach. They're looking for people with formal training/education in a specific process such as Lean, Six Sigma, Just Culture, Root Cause Analysis, etc. or skills & knowledge in dealing with 'big data' techniques (aggregation, analysis, measurement). Heck, I'm sure we're not the only organization with process engineers on staff these days.

The same thing is happening to most other 'clinical support' areas - on-the-job training is not effective any longer because they've become too complex. Formal training is a requirement & credentials area becoming more important than experience in many instances. This is beneficial for people like you who are looking to change career directions. My advice? Check with your local organizations to find out what systems & process they use. Then, you can seek out those specific training opportunities.