I’ve been in healthcare operations for eight years. I’m good at identifying where processes break down and how to fix them. The thing I’ve been less good at is turning operational intuitions into data-supported arguments that can convince administrators who respond to numbers more than to instinct.
The course is closing that gap.
There is a clinic I’ve been watching for six months. Not a competitor — a larger health system in the metro area that has a regional operations director position coming open. I know it’s coming open because I know someone who knows someone, which is how most things work. The position would be a significant step up. It would require me to demonstrate a kind of data competency that I don’t currently have on paper even though I have most of it in practice.
The course gives me the paper version of what I already know how to do. That’s not dishonest. That’s professional development.
I haven’t told my parents about the position I’m watching. I haven’t told them about the course goal or the longer timeline. I’ve told Ethan, in pieces, because he’s started actually asking, and because telling him things and having him listen is a new thing that I’m still adjusting to.
He said it sounded like a big deal. I said it was potentially.
He asked what I needed.
I said I needed the evenings to study and not to have family obligations conflict with them. He said that seemed manageable. I said I thought so too.