Turns Out, Clinical Skills Do Translate to Corporate Success—Just Not All at Once

Longing for a challenge and never one to turn down an opportunity, I said yes when the opportunity presented itself (ask me how I stumbled into healthtech—spoiler: you never know whose path you will cross).

When I first jumped into “health tech,” I didn’t even know that’s what it was called. The learning curve was steep, and I kept telling myself, “I wasn’t hired to know anything technical,” to ease my disquiet. I was fortunate to start in a place with no expectations beyond “being a nurse” (and I mistakenly thought I would never learn). I didn’t realize my clinical competence would translate into corporate capability however, corporate know-how didn’t come on day one. I faced hurdles—being the sole nurse, role ambiguity, and adapting to corporate norms.

I quickly found myself as the only nursing voice at my company. I had to stand firm in representing the clinician’s point of view and do so with foresight. One significant challenge I faced was I had no one to ask “what in the world are they talking about?” 

To combat this, I leaned on the curiosity I fostered as an ICU nurse. At the bedside, when you don’t know something, you: 1) look it up, 2) share it, 3) apply it. I brought the same approach to health tech. Staying curious and asking questions has been key. Now, technical terms are part of my vernacular. Want to talk about data feeds? Brainstorm an application configuration? Let’s go. As Elle Woods would say, “What? Like it’s hard?” (It is—but only at the start).

My next challenge was there was no job description. For me, this was exciting because like most nurses, I craved autonomy. Autonomy was harnessed by successfully navigating ambiguity in a high-speed environment. This has been the biggest gift, thrill, challenge, stressor and greatest catalyst of professional growth. My nursing background has given me the tools to stay highly organized, adaptable, and creative (who knew jimmyrigging that suction tubing would pay off in many other ways!). Anticipating needs (internal or external to the company), being a problem solver (not just problem identifier) and always, always, always collaborating with my team was a learned skill for me. 

• The client is having an issue? Should have seen that one coming. Develop the lens to see issues. 

• See a problem? Make it known and find a way to fix it. Don’t know how? Work closely with your team (they want to help).

Let’s look at one broad final task to overcome– assimilating to corporate culture. No beeping alarms? No constant alarms ringing or call bells? Offices (remote or physical) are often quiet and less stimulating. This can be a shock to any nurses’ system (but also revitalizing). A quieter workspace however, comes with different challenges.

Three big challenges immediately come to mind:

1. Competing and often changing priorities.

Managing a calendar and competing (and often, changing) priorities is actually easier than managing a long list of tasks in a 12-hour + shift. The office to-dos are never ending and fortunately, many items can wait until tomorrow but learning how to prioritize tasks is an art. A stressor is no longer “did I miss the early sepsis signs” but rather: 

• Did I anticipate that product “need” in time? Is that the right product feature to solve the problem? Are we too feature heavy and need to be thinking of the bigger picture? 

• Are we demonstrating value to our customers? If so, how are we articulating it (both with data and storytelling)

Collaborating with my team became my best way to handle these new stressors. It’s no different than jiving with that A-team nursing shift. We accomplish more together. Somehow (sadly), it took time for me to realize how much a team approach helps manage stress but once I figured it out? Phew, better sleep. 

2. Rapid-paced environment.

Next up: the fast-paced environment. One thing is for certain in healthcare, things change. Companies have to adapt and so do their people. You don’t want to be on the slow-moving cargo ship, you want to be on the jet ski, ready to turn on a dime. At the beginning, I felt like I had whiplash but nowadays I crave the business and excitement.

3. Show me the money.

And last, money. The corporate world is revenue-focused—no margin, no mission, right? At first it felt ick coming from a world centered on caring for people physically and emotionally. Seven years in, I’ve learned to care for clients and products like patients, channeling my attention to detail and desire for their success. Over time I got past the ick and realized that, with the right aim, health tech can truly disrupt healthcare for the better (and already has).

Each of these challenges proved why people thought I was “so brave” for leaping into health tech with zero technical experience (and why some gave me those are-you-sure-it’s-not-too-late-to-back-out? eyes). But every obstacle also gave me skills and experience I’ll carry forever.

In my time working in health tech, I have:

• Proven the value of nurses in health tech by establishing, building and leading the Nurse Navigation Org — growing the team with zero turnover in five years.

• Led clinical implementations for 20+ disease surveillance programs, overseeing programs managing 100,000+ patients.

• Partnered with data science to develop, validate and deploy multiple disease-identification NLP models.

• Supported sales growth by demonstrating and articulating clear ROI — one client credited our program for 30% of its aortic surgical volume.

• Transitioned into Lead Clinical Consultant, and established a new role for a nurse at a health tech company. I’ve demonstrated my expertise by boosting navigator productivity by 40%, directly increasing clinic and surgical volumes.

These challenges afforded me experiences that taught me that clinical competence absolutely translates into corporate competence. When these challenges are met with curiosity and insights are harnessed, great professional gains happen and we can prove to the world what we already know: nurses are a leading voice in health care innovation.