If you are an experienced nursing professional with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, you may be considering more education to further your career. With the increase in longevity in America and more people seeking healthcare services as they age, there is a greater need for many healthcare professionals. This has led to more job opportunities for healthcare workers with administrative and business skills.
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If you earn a dual Master of Science and Master of Business Administration (MSN/MBA), you can be qualified for a variety of high paying jobs in both the clinical and administrative fields. Some nursing professionals may gain their MSN/MBA degree to work as a clinical professional with a business background, such as nurse practitioner, while others may opt for a more administrative healthcare profession:
#1 Medical and Health Services Manager
The most common position to work in with a dual MBA and MSN degree is medical and health services manager. This job may also be known as healthcare executive or healthcare administrator. This occupation is in high demand as there are many more healthcare professionals and healthcare organizations out there, as so many people want additional healthcare services to live longer and more productive lives.
Expert business managers are needed today to provide better oversight of various healthcare facilities, including nursing homes, hospitals, doctors’ offices and healthcare systems. Medical and health services managers with an MBA and MSN degree have the skills and knowledge they need to perform these duties with a high level of skill and ability:
- Enhance the quality and efficiency of healthcare services in all types of healthcare facilities
- Enhance the goals and objectives of various healthcare organizations
- Ensure that the healthcare facility is entirely up to date and fully compliant with regulations and laws
- Recruit, supervise and train healthcare staff members
- Manage the healthcare facility’s finances, including billing and finance
- Monitor and prepare budgets and spending to make sure that each department of the facility is working within budgetary limits
#2 Clinical Manager
A clinical manager is an administrative and clinical healthcare professional who works in a medical or clinical setting to provide ongoing and primary care. In a small organization, a clinical manager may be given authority by physicians in the medical practice to manage the day to day treatments that have been authorized. They are expected to ensure that every part of scheduling and care are given in the most effective and organized manner.
Clinical managers also can be employed in big healthcare facilities as managers of departments. In such settings, the clinical manager may oversee the entire department and all personnel who are not physicians. In such a capacity, the clinical manager may be responsible for scheduling and keeping the department working in such a way that is in coordination with both doctor and patient needs.
#3 Nursing Home Manager
A nursing home manager is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of nursing homes and other senior care facilities. They are largely responsible for overseeing administration of caregivers that work in the facility and also the organization of the activities for the facility. Nursing home managers or administrators also need to meet with family members who have a patient in the home or want to bring a patient to the facility. Nursing home managers also keep relationships with families of patients and may need to schedule regular appointments to update them on the status of loved ones. Nursing home managers work with many types of people, such as caregivers, medical directors, head nurses and others to ensure that all residents are getting the best care.
Nursing home managers need to have complete knowledge of all health safety and regulatory policies and be able to communicate these aspects to all staff. These managers also are charged with the hiring and training of new clinical and administrative workers, as well as keeping the facility on budget.
#4 Nurse Practitioner
A nurse practitioner or NP is an advanced practice registered nurse with a bachelor’s degree and several years of nursing experience. An NP with a master’s degree can perform many of the same roles as a doctor, including treating and diagnosing diseases and conditions, as well as prescribe various drugs. For some insurance companies, NPs are the primary care provider for patients.
Most NPs work in a practice with doctors and other NPs and physician assistants. They typically serve in a complementary role to the services that doctors provide. For example, the doctor may diagnose the condition that the patient has, but the NP will spend her time actually treating that condition under the supervision of the doctor.
Most nurses who become an NP earn only the Master of Science in Nursing, but some may also earn their MBA as well so that they have administrative and business skills that help them to run the practice more efficiently.
#5 Nurse Administrator
A nurse administrator is typically a case manager for companies that provide in home nursing services, and they may also work in assisted living facilities. Nurse administrators may be in charge of hiring, such as doing interviews and conducting necessary research to ensure that nursing and administrative candidates are well qualified. All services that are provided by the organization or facility must be in compliance with state and federal laws, and nurse administrators are responsible for ensuring this is the case.
#6 Director of Nursing
The director of nursing is an upper level manager who is responsible for how the nursing unit performs. The director is accountable to executives of the healthcare facility for major tasks and aspects of the department, such as planning, supervising, organizing, evaluating and staying in compliance with healthcare laws.
The major job of the director of nursing is to oversee the needs of the nursing staff; for example, this may include setting up operating procedures and getting equipment that is needed to care for patients. The director of nursing is also responsible for keeping the highest level of organization in the nursing unit to ensure that patients are cared for properly and within budget.
#7 Health Information Manager
The health information manager is responsible for ensuring patient safety, legal compliance, and cost effectiveness in medical care by many types of healthcare facilities. The health information manager maintains a system of vital medical records, which may include medical records, patient information, diagnostic records, lab and exam results, and internal hospital information.
Health information managers must be sure that all critical healthcare data is current, completely accurate and in full compliance with ethical and institutional standards and related privacy laws. This manager also collects information from healthcare professionals and supervises this data being put into the system, and ensures that proper security safeguards are being taken.
#8 Nurse Educator
A nurse educator is another type of advanced nursing practice professional with a master’s degree in nursing, and possibly an MBA. The nurse educator provides oversight of the continuing education and evaluation of nurse staff and caregivers. The nurse educator may also teach nursing students at the bachelor’s or master’s level in a college or healthcare facility.
A nurse educator also must evaluate many types of healthcare needs to offer the best education for nursing staff and other healthcare professionals at a clinic or hospital. These educators also need to be able to train, evaluate and offer any remediation necessary to employees. Nurse educators work frequently with administration and senior staff of a hospital to improve the training and educational process for new workers.
#9 Legal Nurse Consultant
Legal nurse consultants are experienced nurses with a bachelor’s degree who are usually employed by insurance companies. Their job is to give support to the legal team which does examination of medical cases and looks into files to understand medical records, disability records, employment, X-rays and other information to help the legal team to make a determination about a patient case. Legal nurse consultants usually prepare summaries of analyzed records and medical chronologies and further research medical literature, as well as prepare questions and other information to analyze the legal case. Many of these cases involve determining if a condition is pre-existing or not.
#10 Administrative Service Manager
An administrative service manager is responsible for planning, directing and coordinating support services for many types of organizations. Many administrative service managers work for health care and public health related organizations at the public or private level. They are responsible for ensuring that the organization has the tools and services that it needs to fulfill its mission and to operate in an efficient manner. A manager with a master’s in business and nursing could be responsible for ensuring that the facility has the supplies that it needs to fulfill its healthcare mission in a needy community, for example.
References
- Medical and Health Services Managers. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/medical-and-health-services-managers.htm#tab-2
