Why did you decide to get this MAS degree?

“My undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and six months after graduation I was working in a telemetry department and already filling in as charge nurse. I found myself acting as a leader in all of my subsequent positions, and wanted to learn more about being the best leader possible. There is a point in healthcare leadership that it becomes difficult to obtain the roles you would like without a master’s degree. The appeal to me with this program is that I could obtain my masters while also gaining knowledge about finance, management, and conflict resolution.

As a Registered Nurse I did not have the desire to complete my Nurse Practitioner or continue clinical education. I wanted to get into healthcare administration and looked into multiple MPH and MBA programs, but UCSD’s LHCO program had exactly the classes I was interested in such as project management, finance, and leadership.”

What did you like best about the program?

“This program focuses on learning the leadership skills that will make you successful and stand out in any role. The curriculum is designed around the current trends of healthcare, and it changes on a regular basis to keep up with the evolving healthcare environment. Many of the classes encourage you to think outside the box and develop the skills to problem solve in any situation.

The interactions and group projects with the others in the classroom. I learned a lot from the professors, and even more from my classmates. I love that there are students with all types of healthcare backgrounds to give opinions on topics and make others think outside of their own scope of knowledge.”

What skills are you applying in your job that you learned in the program?

“At my job I run the day to day operations, and am responsible for improving and updating all processes within the department. I was able to change a labor intensive printing and reporting data collection system to an automated system, and in the process save an administrative employee about two weeks’ worth of work which allowed us to take on new projects.”

What would you like to tell someone who is considering the program?

“This MAS program is useful regardless of where you are on the management scale. The knowledge that you take away from the program is very practical and can be utilized on a regular basis to improve your work processes and help you stand out from the pack. The opportunities for networking with professors and colleagues are incredibly useful. It is hard work, but worth it.”

Capstone: “Retrospective Study on Impact of Disease Management Program with Option of Telehealth Scale for Congestive Heart Failure Patients.”