Tag: Career

Today’s healthcare environment is complex, fast-moving, and in constant need of transformation. That’s why The Ohio State University’s online Master of Healthcare Innovation (MHI) program is designed to go beyond theory and make an immediate impact. It empowers professionals like you to lead change, implement new ideas, and take bold steps forward in their careers across a wide range of medical disciplines.

We sat down with several Ohio State Master of Healthcare Innovation alumni to hear why innovation is important in healthcare. They also shared how they use what they learned in the online MHI degree to transform their careers, lead their healthcare organizations, and create positive change.

Career transformation

For many Master of Healthcare Innovation graduates, the knowledge, skills, and tools they gain in the program lead directly to new career opportunities and increased salaries that weren’t available through job experience alone. For others, a healthcare innovation master’s opens careers in a completely different industry.

Laura Potts is now the Senior Quality Manager at Harding Hospital, but that wasn’t always the case. “I was working in substance abuse and mental health on the floor and since completing the MHI program, I have taken the step to a quality position.”

Amy Whittington shared that she is now a Clinical Informatics Consultant for The James Cancer Hosptial which is “a completely new role for me. I had 14 years of neonatal and ICU bedside experience and I actually went completely from neonatal to adults and from bedside nursing into the role of training and helping to drive innovation for IT.”

Jeff Frantz II, who works as the Training and Development Leader for Jazz Pharmaceuticals, had a background in the sales industry before transitioning into the pharmaceutical side of healthcare.

“After I finished my bachelor’s degree. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. So, I followed a career in professional sales. Getting into the pharmaceutical industry made me want to learn to like learning again.”

And that’s when the puzzle pieces started falling into place for Jeff. “Our company rolled out the opportunity to get tuition reimbursement. I had never really considered going back to school. But because of that time I had spent within pharmaceuticals and learning to like learning again, I reached out and said, ‘I haven’t been in school for a very long time. Would I even be a serious candidate for something like this?’ Because as I reviewed the course content, it aligned with a lot of my company’s goals and a lot of my professional goals.” Jeff then decided to enroll in the Healthcare Leadership and Innovation Graduate Certificate, and after doing well in those courses, he rolled those credits into the full Master of Healthcare Innovation program.

Leading through innovation

Everyone likes to talk about healthcare innovation, but what is innovation in healthcare and what does it look like to implement it? Allison Beedy, a Clinic Nurse Manager at the Total Health and Wellness Clinic in Columbus, Ohio, discovered what innovation in healthcare truly means.

“Innovation was like a buzzword that everyone thought they knew but in order to really fully understand it, you would have to go through this program. Innovation takes on so many different components that people don’t quite understand. The program definitely helped me understand where healthcare is going and how I could be an innovator within healthcare. Whether it was with leadership, program development, or product development, those are some things that it really helped me understand.”

Allison also described how the healthcare innovation master’s gave her a broader understanding of “what were the necessary steps for innovation in healthcare, using evidence-based practice, how it would work in groups, and how you can communicate effectively. Those are some things that really helped me in my work now.”

Goldie Moritz, a Nurse Manager at The Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital, completely transformed the way she leads her staff. “I’ve had up to 109 employees and change is very difficult for people. So one of my guiding principles has been design thinking. I always start with my team and I present them things and say, ‘help me make it work. What do you guys think we should do here?’ So I think that has always helped me be successful with my team.”

For Amy Spurlock, the Strategy Director at Elevance Health, her master’s in healthcare innovation gave her a completely new way of thinking about problem-solving. “The idea of looking holistically and not only where we can innovate and renovate, which is always where we seem to focus, but it was ‘exnovate’ that really caught my attention. We are constantly building on top of old processes and old ways of thinking, but really looking at where we can exnovate, where there’s maybe no longer value added. It’s something that I have carried forward.”

Amy Whittington, Jeff Frantz II, and Laura Potts all echoed the sentiment that just because something isn’t completely broken doesn’t mean it should stand in the way of finding a better solution. For Amy, the online MHI degree helped her find her voice. “I think that going through the healthcare innovation program helped me prepare for a lot of things in my career. It really helped me feel that my voice can be heard and that I do not always have to be satisfied with the status quo. We can go against the grain, whether that be trying to implement new knowledge, implement new technologies, develop practice, or advance the technology that already exists. We don’t have to be satisfied with the way things are,; we can use our voices and work with leadership to push through to get these ideas further.

Jeff was frustrated by a common excuse, but his healthcare innovation master’s taught him a better response. “I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase ‘the way we’ve always done it’, right? Just because ‘the way we’ve always done it’ might work sometimes and it might not work all the time, but I think just having the interest in seeing, well, could it be done better? That’s just like a small niche of the program that I use daily.”

Laura summed up the idea succinctly.

“I think outcomes are much more important than the process. If we can get to those outcomes, we can change the process.”

Real-world tools

One thing that sets the Master of Healthcare Innovation program apart is how applicable it is to day-to-day healthcare challenges. Unlike an MBA in healthcare innovation, this degree focuses on developing innovative solutions and real-world applications, rather than just understanding traditional healthcare management. Graduates pointed to specific concepts they now use regularly to lead teams, guide strategy, and drive improvement.

• • Design thinking – Jeff Frantz found design thinking extremely applicable. “I would say in training and development, design thinking is something that I use very regularly. We talk a lot about not reinventing the wheel just to create new content or a workshop. But having practicality to it and the gap analysis is a big piece of that, and determining what’s needed. My boss leans on me a lot to bring some of the creative, new, and innovative ideas because a lot of that stems from design thinking.”

• • Emotional intelligence – Amy Spurlock pointed to emotional intelligence as very important for future healthcare leaders. “Having that self-awareness, that relationship management, I think are so important. The other thing is appreciative leadership. It was a term that I learned through the MHI program that I love and that I really latched on to.”

• • Mind maps – Julia expressed that the mind map framework is something that really stuck with her. “I find myself jotting things down or taking notes in any setting. And frequently I’m like, ‘I just made a mind map.’ It’s kind of ingrained in me, but I reference it frequently.” Jeff was able to share mind maps and create value within his organization. “We actually brought mind maps into our work, and you’d be surprised how many people in senior leadership have never seen one. It’s like you’ve invented bread to them.”

Parting advice

We also asked what advice they would give someone in the online MHI program or considering applying to the program.

Jeff spoke to how applicable the coursework is to everyday job tasks. “When I decided to pursue a master’s in healthcare innovation, I wanted some of that business of healthcare to align with it. What I see, having finished the program and then taking on a leadership role, is that these themes and the curriculum translates to the real world and in the workforce. So there’s just so much that comes organically. When you really try to implement some of the very specific learnings, it translates very, very well for us.”

Julia spoke to fellow nurses who are wondering what to do next.

“With a new degree comes new opportunities. So, once you achieve that new degree, you make a change… Don’t overanalyze it. Don’t think, ‘what am I supposed to do next?’ Go with your gut. This program is preparing you interdisciplinarily. You already have great experience as nurses. And this program is just building on that. So, no matter what you do, you’re going to have different opportunities present themselves.”

Allison shared that, just like any type of innovation, sometimes you can break new ground through the job role you fill. “I think as an MHI graduate, you have to take some responsibility for educating people about what you can do with the degree. That was something that I found when I was interviewing. You kind of have to tell them what you can do with it, or what you hope to do with it, but I think you can create your own job too… and mold it to what you want to do with healthcare.”