Hello! I am currently a senior in high school and have narrowed my college options down to 3 institutions, along the lines of majors, affordability, and course offerings.
As my freshman year of college approaches, I am also zeroing in on the specifics of my major. I’ve realized that urgent need to specify how I would like to approach my education, to get me to where I would like to go.
Ultimately, my career goals would be to end up in international healthcare administration, specifically in developing economies and focusing on mental illness. I plan on developing a proficiency in a critical language - Arabic.
I know these aspirations would require both a healthcare background and a background in economics. My question is whether to pursue a 4-year nursing degree concentrating in psychiatry, and then work my way up into healthcare administration, or focus on the economics of it, and somehow incorporate nursing or a healthcare technical skill into my undergraduate.
Regarding nursing, I am an individual very passionate about helping others, and am genuinely compassionate about all types of people. Nursing is a sure passion of mine, for these reasons, as well. I would love to volunteer my skills abroad and easily be a traveling nurse.
If I were to begin with nursing and work my way up into general healthcare administration, how/at what threshold would I begin to transition into international/global health?
Currently, I am also optimistic about the economic approach and considering a major in International Affairs with a minor in Arabic and another minor in community health.
What advice on potential majors would you suggest based on this criteria? Thank you very much!
No, not really. You can approach international healthcare administration/policy/economics from either direction. Lots of people enter that field with a clinical health background - generally as a physician, nurse, or physicians assistant, or a dentist - but lots more enter that with a non-clinical background and specialize in public health or public administration (or both, or a closely related field like social work).
If you WANT to be a clinician first and take your clinical expertise into health administration, that can be an excellent way to go. Getting a four-year BSN would be the way to start. Travel nursing would be a great next step. I’d say you’d probably want to work at least 2-3 years after your BSN, and then investigate getting an MSN and/or some kind of professional degree - an MPA, MPP, MPH or MIA. At some places you might be able to get a joint MSN and one of those degrees (especially an MPH in health policy and administration). At others, you can actually pursue an MSN in nurse leadership/administration, although that’s not going to really be the same as a health policy/administration degree.
(Also, nurses don’t “concentrate” in an area during their initial BSN. You’ll get trained in all areas. Most nurses end up working in regular medical-surgical nursing for a year or two before moving into a specialized area, but some nurses move straight into specialties. Anyway, after you finish your BSN is when you would decide to work in mental health nursing, but you would learn general nursing practices in college.)
When you would transition to international care is really up to you. There’s no linear, deterministic career path you have to follow. You may be able to work internationally right away, or you may work for 10 years before moving abroad. It all depends on what exactly you want to do and how you go about it. But I don’t think you need to worry about that now too much.
This is also a totally fine path to take. You could do this, work in the field for 2-5 years, then get a master’s in one of the professional areas I listed above.
It really all just depends on whether you want to be a clinician or not.