Tuition Assistance, Scholarships and On-the-Job Training Pave Way to Becoming Clinical Director

The following story was featured in the Spring 2019 issue of the OneSpirit Magazine.

CHI St. Vincent has made professional growth a priority and offers many opportunities for coworkers to enhance their personal and professional lives. In this excerpt from the latest OneSpirit Magazine, hear from coworkers who have chosen to pursue higher education and are taking advantage of the many ways CHI St. Vincent supports and encourages this growth.

Melissa Morgan, clinical director of nursing at North, loved her job as a bedside nurse, working in the ER on nightshift. Because turnover had been an issue at that time in her career, she began to think about how dramatically clinical decisions affect a nurse’s day-to-day experience of caring for patients. It led her to explore ways to improve patient care and keep good people while simultaneously developing the team atmosphere between the day and night shifts.

“I already planned to get my bachelor’s degree when my youngest went off to college, and it was becoming a more common requirement for nursing leadership roles. I felt like I was in the right place at the right time to move forward in my career,” says Melissa. “I enjoyed my classes and applied much of what I learned to my job directly. It was invigorating.”

Melissa kept getting pulled into committees and working with teams that were focused on making their unit run more efficiently and provide great care. She didn’t take a break in her education and continued on until she earned her master’s degree. To help make this possible, she took advantage of our tuition assistance program and was awarded scholarships available through the Foundation.

According to Melissa, pursuing higher education and specialty certifications opens up doors for different positions, responsibilities and opportunities that might not otherwise be available. And for those who might think they are too old, she has these words of encouragement:

“If you’re looking for professional growth – even personal growth – earning your bachelor’s or master’s degree is a great supplement to a job well done and backs up the work you’re doing every day. It’s not always an easy process, but it demonstrates your level of commitment. If you’ve spent a lot of time in direct patient care and want to do more, your experience will help you understand the challenges your teams are facing. This experience will help you as a leader to make the right decisions that will ultimately lead to a higher level of patient care.”

Want to read more stories like Melissa’s?
Click here to read Greg Hau’s story.
Click here to read Ligia Cernat’s story.