Nurse to Navigator: Erika’s Story
By: Erika Warkentin, RN, MBA
I started as a Registered Nurse in Kelowna, BC, and worked there for three and a half years. In my career, I was able to work in a variety of areas from specialty IV therapy to general medicine, but my favourite was post-operative vascular surgery. I loved the complexity of the care and being able to spend multiple shifts with the same patients, getting to know them, their families, and supporting their healing.
Very quickly into my nursing career, I recognized the vital service that nurses provide to patients and their communities. The nurses' workload has become even more burdensome over the years, with more and more demands placed on them every day. The use of technology is definitely a tool to help the nursing and medical profession achieve that efficiency. I knew I wanted to be a part of that transformational change in health care, which was my inspiration and drive for being part of the Smith School of Business MBA 2020 class.
Here are three things I wish I learned sooner in the MBA program!
Don't be afraid to ask for help. I remember one of the very first lessons at Smith was an analytics class. The professor was going so fast through some functions, and I still needed to learn how to add some cells together. All the skills I learned in nursing, like inserting an IV on the first try, performing complex VAC dressing changes, and keeping eight people alive, were of no help to me in managing an excel spreadsheet. I learned quickly how to overcome the embarrassment of admitting I didn't know a simple thing my peers seemed to know and asking for help.
Find what you are good at, it's not going to be everything. I definitely felt like an odd man out for most of my MBA journey, experiencing a classic case of imposter syndrome. I was not good at math and knew nothing about finance, economics, or analytics. I got so discouraged seeing my peers excel in areas where I was deeply struggling. I felt it was something I needed to be good at as well if I was going to find any type of success post-nursing.
It wasn't until a Digital Transformation course about six months in that I finally found something I could get excited about and thrive in. I was finally participating in class, had ideas to contribute, and started to take on extra projects.
I don’t think there are any secrets to this one, but I wish I had recognized sooner that some parts of the coursework weren’t areas that I was deeply interested in. Of course, I wanted to do well and pass my courses, but I could have saved myself a lot of headaches, stress, and negative self-talk if I had accepted sooner that some things aren’t for me and I don't need to be like everyone else to fit into the program. I just needed to find my thing.
Do what you enjoy, and you will never be stuck. This is more of a personal philosophy that I still stand by. At some point in your program, job hunting season is going to come around, and there seems to be a lot of pressure to declare a specialty. Do you want to do consulting, finance, change management, etc.? People seem to be afraid of getting themselves stuck in an area they don't enjoy and will be pigeonholed their entire career. I am still having this conversation with my peers.
I firmly believe this is not the case. Seek out positions that you will find fun, and don’t worry so much about the title or what discipline it's in. Each experience builds on the other, and if you don't like something, you can always make a change. I think your post-MBA career is whatever you want to make of it!
For any nurse interested in exploring an MBA, I’d say go for it. I have not regretted it one bit. Always remember, you can save someone’s life. If you can do that, the rest is easy!
