Almost every profession can accommodate aspiration towards higher positions – gaining more responsibilities, increasing earning power, having more influence, leading others, or managing a team, and earning bigger titles are often natural parts of any career journey. Within healthcare, expansive opportunities exist for climbing the professional ladder and pursuing elite positions.
Those who are interested in pushing their careers to the upper echelons of the healthcare landscape can start their career as nurses and finish it as healthcare executives. If you are interested in pursuing this kind of advancement and enjoying a career that allows you significant opportunities to advance, entering healthcare as a nursing professional is an excellent option for that.
First Rung: Securing an Entry-Level Nursing Position
Your entry into healthcare is an important first step and deserves some thought. If you are not yet working in healthcare and are deciding what kind of entrance would be the best fit for you, there are a few different routes you can choose from to secure a first nursing position. You can get an entry-level nursing job after completing only an Associate’s degree program (two years in length), and some choose this route for expediency and cost reasons.
This can be a perfectly good way of entering the nursing profession. However, if you know you aspire to pursue higher-ranking positions, it might be more strategic for you to invest in your career path now by choosing to earn a four-year undergraduate degree in nursing. This will cost a bit more upfront in time and funds, but will expedite your way up the ranks and allow you to bypass some entry-level time in positions that precede what you can do with a Bachelor’s degree.
Choosing a Bachelor of Nursing degree program can make it easier for you not only to secure a higher-ranking nursing job out of the gate than you could have otherwise, but can also make it easier to start pursuing promotions and higher-ranking positions as you gain experience. It will also make the next steps towards healthcare executive positions easier.
Pursuing a Role in Healthcare Administration
Healthcare administration jobs can come in a number of different types. Health Care Managers might be in charge of operations for an entire medical facility, or might hold leadership over the various needs and workings of a particular floor or department within a larger organization.
Nurse Managers lead teams or groups of nurses and oversee things such as scheduling, team dynamics and conflicts, adhering to policy or regulatory requirements, and more. Operations Managers usually work within larger organizations and help oversee business operations and procedures, coordinate multi-department efforts, liaise between on-the-floor staff and upper management, and more.
Hospital Managers work within hospital facilities and oversee things like supplies, staffing, budgets, policy, scheduling, and internal and external communications.
These and many other roles make up the wide spectrum of healthcare administration positions that exist within the healthcare industry. The elements they have in common include people management and high levels of oversight. Some healthcare administration positions can be obtained with a Bachelor’s degree alone without needing to earn postgraduate degrees or additional certifications.
This is good news for those who are interested in securing a healthcare administration role and are not necessarily interested in more schooling. However, if you are interested in climbing higher up the ladder to eventually become a healthcare executive, you will need to be ready to go back to school.
Advancing Your Healthcare Career Further: Degrees and Certifications
A number of postgraduate degrees and advanced certifications exist within the world of healthcare that can unlock new heights for your career. These come in a few different types.
Master’s Degrees
Master’s degrees in healthcare can come in a number of varieties and emphases. Master’s degrees in public health, health care administration, or similar subjects are usually the most common. These are the degree types most healthcare administration job postings look for. These degrees usually take 2-3 years to complete. Many are available in formats that allow you to continue working your current healthcare job while completing the program.
Some Master’s degrees are designed to be a bit more specific to healthcare executive career tracks, including the Executive Master of Health Administration (EMHA) or the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). The direction you want to take your career or the position you hope to obtain once you’ve finished your postgraduate degree can help you decide what Master’s degree program is right for you.
In addition to Master’s degrees, there are a number of certification types available for healthcare professionals that can increase your earning power and help you get more advanced jobs.
Certification Programs
These programs are usually particular to a specific type of practice, population, procedure, or specialty area. They are often offered through higher education institutions or by professional medical associations or licensing bodies. Earning certifications can be a strategic move when you feel confident in the direction you’d like to take your career, and there are a wide variety of certifications available that can assist you in your pursuit of that perfect job.
Types of Healthcare Executive Positions
Finally – you’ve set your course, completed the degrees you need and perhaps gained a certification or two as well, and are ready to start pursuing that healthcare executive role. Similarly to healthcare administration, a variety of healthcare executive positions exist that can lend themselves to different specialties, skill sets, and areas of interest.
Chief Nursing Officers exist a rung above Nurse Managers and are responsible for executive higher-level responsibilities for nursing staff at institutions. They are also responsible for liaising between nurses and facility administration.
Service Line Directors oversee departments within hospitals (such as, for example, oncology or pediatrics). They are responsible for maintaining best practice and integrating that department within the needs, goals, budgets, and purview of the greater organization as a whole.
Finance Directors manage the monetary processes, operations, and success of an organization or medical facility. They might set and adjust budgets, analyze costs or spending, and report on financial matters to the rest of the executive team.
These are just some of the healthcare executive possibilities that exist for those who are interested in pursuing this level of oversight, authority, and responsibility within a healthcare setting. There are many other role types to choose from as well. Healthcare executive jobs generally manage high-level responsibilities and make directions that affect whole departments or organizations as a whole.
Tips for Climbing the Healthcare Career Ladder
If you are interested in pursuing a high-level position within healthcare, there are a number of things you can do to help aid your process. Here are a few quick tips to help you land the healthcare job of your dreams:
Be Patient
This process will take time. Don’t expect to land that executive role in three years. It takes perseverance, patience, humility, and a willingness to put in the time at smaller stations and with less-impressive titles to be ultimately able to succeed at obtaining, and thriving in, a high-level executive position.
Care About Creating Professional Relationships
Building relationships (in an authentic, others-first way) is never a bad idea. Take the time to get to know your classmates when you complete your degrees. Learn from peers, colleagues, and supervisors – especially those that don’t work directly with you. Branch out. Be willing to help others around you work towards their career goals. Eventually, this attitude will always yield some unexpected opportunity or a solid reference that puts your application over the line in the future.
Enjoy the Journey
Even if your current role feels tedious, it is teaching you valuable lessons and skills that will benefit you down the road when you hold a position with more responsibility and authority. It’s not a bad thing to have ambition and to work eagerly towards that next promotion. But in the midst of that, try not to miss all the things this current moment and season is doing for you too.
