MHA Degree vs. MSN Degree
If you're a nurse looking to advance your academic career, you have numerous options in front of you. When it comes to a master's degree in nursing, two of the most common ones are Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) and Master of Science in Nursing (MSN). Both are valuable degrees, but there are several differences between them.
If you're between choosing one of these degrees and want to know more about them, this article will help you better understand them and hopefully ease your decision.
What Is an MHA Degree?
A Master of Healthcare Administration, commonly known as an MHA degree, prepares students to advance their careers in leadership roles. After successfully completing this degree, students will be able to plan, direct, and coordinate work in various healthcare settings.
Nurses who obtain an MHA degree can manage specific departments or entire facilities. Another thing that is expected from them is to help their organization adapt to ever-changing healthcare laws and technology. Typically, an MHA degree can take anywhere from 12 months to 2 years to complete. Additionally, part-time students may need 3 to 5 years to complete it.
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What Do You Learn in an MHA Degree?
Enrolling in an MHA program gives you the opportunity to study a wide variety of courses that prepare you for a successful career in healthcare administration. MHA program courses include, but aren’t limited to:
Health policy
Marketing Management
Population Health
Healthcare Quality Management
Business Communication
What Can You Do With an MHA Degree?
An MHA nursing degree prepares students to become strong leaders and helps them develop problem-solving skills and strategic thinking. But what are the career paths you can follow with this degree? Let’s dive in and explain some of them.
Healthcare administrator
Healthcare administrators are an essential part of healthcare departments and they play a crucial role in effective management. They ensure that every department runs smoothly regarding personnel and their duties, plan resources and spending, and ensure that the departments meet their goals and objectives.
Some of the healthcare administrator responsibilities and duties involve:
Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare services delivery.
Recruiting, supervising, and training staff members.
Preparing and monitoring departmental budgets.
Representing their workplace at investor meetings.
Organizing and keeping records of the department’s services.
Healthcare consultant
True to their name, Healthcare consultants provide healthcare organizations with their expertise and knowledge. Thanks to their background and healthcare training, they can identify numerous challenges and find solutions on how to overcome them.
Some of the duties and responsibilities of a healthcare consultant include:
Identifying areas where healthcare can be improved.
Reducing cost and increasing efficiency.
Ensuring patient satisfaction is being met.
Working with managers and other high-position employees.
Constantly monitoring results and changing processes if needed.
Clinical director
As a clinical director, you’re expected to be in charge of managing your organization’s clinical department. Also known as clinical manager, a clinical director manages the day-to-day administration of several tasks, such as medical records maintenance, hiring new staff, and preparing budgets for various departments.
Other duties and responsibilities of a clinical director are:
Hiring qualified employees so that the department has professional personnel.
Developing and maintaining the department budget.
Developing employees’ schedules.
Planning and coordinating the delivery of patient care services.
Assess the employee performance.
If needed, discipline employees in accordance with regulations.
Health services manager
Health services managers coordinate and make sure that patients are receiving effective administered care. Usually, they work in offices, departments, specialization facilities, or other healthcare settings depending on their expertise. Moreover, health service managers can work in various divisions of an organization, such as personnel management, financial planning, public relations, or infrastructure development.
Let’s take a look at some of the other duties and responsibilities of a health services manager.
Managing budgets.
Making sure rules and regulations are being followed.
Writing various reports.
Recruiting staff.
Coordinating medical and non-medical resources and services.
Dealing with problems or complaints.
Hospital administrator
To be a great hospital administrator, you should have superb leadership, administrative, and record-keeping skills. Hospital administrators organize and coordinate a hospital’s health services and daily activities. Additionally, they manage staff, project budgets, and ensure constant communication between departments.
Other hospital administrator responsibilities include:
Organizing, controlling, and coordinating services.
Evaluating personnel and preparing daily reports.
Ensuring that stock is adequate and orders are being made on time.
Overseeing how programs and policies for patient services are being implemented.
Authorize treatment according to agreed protocols.
What Is an MSN Degree?
A Master of Science in Nursing, commonly referred to as MSN, is a nursing degree that focuses on further studying healthcare roles. Through practice and theoretical courses, this program prepares you to specialize in various areas and continue developing your knowledge and skills. Typically, an MSN degree takes between 1-2 years to complete; however, some MSN programs can last for as long as three years. These programs usually allow you to study part-time.
You can take several pathways to obtain an MSN degree, including BSN to MSN, MSN Bridge Programs, Direct-entry MSN, and Dual Degrees.
What Do You Learn in an MSN Degree?
An MSN degree curriculum may vary depending on the program and the pathway you choose to obtain it. However, it typically focuses on medical skills, and during your academic coursework, you’ll likely study advanced nursing skills, including ethical practices, legal concerns, as well as behavioral or social sciences.
Besides theory and laboratory studies, MSN programs offer their students practice possibilities where they can treat the patients in person. Even though nurses obtaining an MSN degree already know most nursing procedures, MSN programs provide more profound and specialized clinical trials to better prepare their students.
What Can You Do With an MSN Degree?
Obtaining an MSN Degree will open the door to endless opportunities for your future career. Let’s go through some of the career paths you can follow with this type of degree.
Nurse practitioner (NP)
As a nurse practitioner, you can provide care in various medical settings. After owning a graduate degree in advanced practicing nursing, you can choose to become general NP or specialize in several fields like psychiatry, women’s health, or pediatrics. An NP career offers you several benefits, such as flexibility, authority, and advancing your career path.
Nurse practitioners are qualified to assess and diagnose patient problems, order testing, and prescribe their medications. Other duties and responsibilities of nurse practitioners include:
Recording patient histories, including their symptoms, treatments, and prescribed medications.
Ordering diagnostic tests and evaluating them to determine health problems.
Performing physical examinations regarding patients’ health and diagnosing possible illnesses.
Operating and monitoring medical equipment.
Continuously being up to date with medical trends and research.
Clinical nurse specialist (CNS)
Clinical nurse specialists are specialized nurses who provide advanced patient care and consultation services to their patients. They can work at clinics, hospitals, or other healthcare settings. Moreover, clinical nurse specialists may be involved in administrative duties.
Additionally, as a clinical nurse specialist, you’ll be expected to:
Supervise nursing staff to ensure optimized patient care.
Develop nursing policies and practices.
Allocate staff and resources where needed.
Administer medication and treatment while consulting with patient care managers.
Develop specialized treatment plans and perform various health assessments.
Certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA)
Becoming a certified registered nurse anesthetist is one of the best career paths you can pursue as a nurse with a Master of Science in Nursing Degree. Moreover, it’s the highest paying one. With an average yearly salary of $192,850, this profession stands at the top of the list. Additionally, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects a 26% employment rate growth for certified registered nurse anesthetist in the upcoming decade.
Some of the duties and responsibilities of a certified registered nurse anesthetist are:
Administering medications.
Following patients’ well-being while they recover from anesthesia.
Educating patients regarding their surgery.
Collaborating in building pain management strategies.
If this is something you see yourself doing, take a look at this article on how to become a certified nurse anesthetist.
Certified nurse-midwife (CNM)
A certified nurse-midwife’s main duty is to help people during their birthing process. They offer their help and support during the pregnancy stage, birth, and the postnatal period which requires taking care of the newborn baby. CNMs can also educate and provide important information to pregnant women.
A certified nurse-midwife’s duties and responsibilities consist of:
Providing primary care for expecting women.
Providing references to specialists.
Handling labor and delivery
Providing emotional support for expecting women.
Prescribing medicine to patients.
Helping during cesarean sections.
Conclusion
The U.S population keeps expanding, which has caused the need for more nursing specialists. Commonly, nurses often face a difficult dilemma when it comes to making a decision between MHA vs. MSN. However, at the end of the day, it all comes down to individual preferences and personal skills.
If you're a nurse looking to specialize in areas like women's health or pediatrics and enjoy examining your patients and providing continuous treatment to them, then probably MSN is the most suitable degree you should pursue.
However, if you're someone who is more into managerial positions and see yourself leading healthcare departments in the future, obtaining an MHA degree might be the right thing to do. Either way, we know one thing: you'll be working in a noble profession that allows you to help others, and that's an irreplaceable feeling.