<p>hello everyone this is Cole from the American Journal of healthc care strategy and here with me this evening is Caitlyn Caitlyn please introduce yourself hi my name is Caitlyn Coyle I am a current masters of Health Administration student at Ruckers University I will be graduating in May I'm very excited I'm a current administrative intern at hackensac Meridian health and will be pivoting to my administrative fellowship with hackensac Meridian Health in June [Music] this is such an exciting time for you the internship the graduation and then now the fellowship you're going to be uh I'm assuming getting a good pay bump from being an intern you're going to be getting a full uh you know job so that's really exciting that's why we wanted to talk with you you're one of the first people we've talked with in the series who's about to start their fellowship and that's why I was excited to talk with you so things I want to ask is how has Ruckers been treating you have you enjoyed the mha program I cannot say enough amazing things about Ruckers University's masters of Health Administration program not just the in-class work but outside they've given me so many opportunities and really shaped me into not only a ready professional and great academic student but also just into this amazing person and full of service and just leadership commitment one big thing about the Ruckers program is that all of our professors are our former Executives where I think that that's something very special is that one-on-one hands-on experience we have professors that will take us to their hospitals they're taking selfies with us on their helipad and every person in the hospital knows exactly who they are so it's just been an amazing experience and they just want to help us so much at Ruckers I've also had the ability to be the marketing chair for The Graduate Society of healthcare leaders I've been involved on the quality improvement committee and scholarship committees as their student representative I've a a mentor for the younger kids first year students and then I've also had the opportunity to be the team captain last year in the Ohio State University case competition team so that was another amazing amazing opportunity that it sounds like a really really good and it seems like you're really involved with the community a lot as well so that's a big thing that Ruckers pushes is that they want you to kind of embed yourself into their community and into their values and Mission and it just shapes you into a professional overall because since my transition to hackin sack I've just felt very comfortable getting involved there and feeling comfortable giving volunteerism and service and really excited to be a transformational leader rather than just someone who kind of sits on the back in and goes to work every day it's very easy to do that while you're in a master's program but it's a whole another level becoming part of that community and really speaking to a mission of an organization and you got your undergrad grad in health and medical Humanities right yes medical and health Humanities from Miser Cordia University I was actually in their doctor at a physical therapy program for a semester some more of the clinical side and I just decided right away that the clinical side was not for me I wanted to go into PT school to open out patient practices and realized Midway through the program I don't need a DPT degree to make an impact of that magnitude and during my um doctor Physical Therapy Program I was going through a lot of Health complications that's kind of my light post and my guiding way into Health Administration was I battled with a chronic Health disease and it was completely misdiagnosed mismanaged and just watching that process of stacking up the copays and constant repeat visits and emergency room visits it just is draining on someone and always being told oh it's just your anxiety coming through you don't have anything wrong with you and when I came back to New Jersey from my undergrad I went to hackin saac Meridian and I said something isn't right they listened to me they were so compassionate with me as a patient and I immediately knew that this is a system that I wanted to be in with compassionate listeners and leaders who really do want to innovate healthc care and really want to make this a great experience for their patients they put quality first in everything that they do and just from that patient perspective I really have had the best experience experience with them and being able to do my internship with them has just been fulfilling as well I'm so happy that you've been able to have that internship and then also have that care that you receive that is so important we've spoken with an a fellow who had really severe health issues as well and that's what had inspired them and had you know given them that courage to keep going I want to ask with that undergraduate degree because it you know you were uh pre you said Physical Therapy yes so you're pre-physical therapy you're doing the courses for that what challenges has the mha program presented with you have you learned a lot of things you did not know beforehand absolutely one big thing obviously is payer systems insurance is a very convoluted complicated system so learning that and just understanding the reimbursement and the shift from typical fee for service to Value based payment was definitely a big learning hurdle in the beginning I had no Finance background so those intro finance courses definitely took me a bit of time Excel and I ended up becoming really good friends but it was through a lot of YouTube videos but it definitely took some time to uh familiar familiarize myself with that also another big component that was difficult in the beginning of my mha program is Ruckers is all at night so you have the opportunity to work full-time while you're in the program so balancing a full-time job while also doing full-time school is a very difficult juggling act and I don't think that anything could prepare you for that especially doing leadership on top so the biggest hurdle was time management and really learning how to manage my time well but the professors are so flexible and they help you learn that because as an executive you're balancing so many different things and so many different departments that that ability to see myself do school leadership and work at the same time figuring out how to balance that and prior uh prioritizing what needs came first was something critical and I think that is always going to carry through my with my career I I think so as well and I I think your mindset is you you seem highly motivated and it seems like you're you're gaining a lot of these lessons so I I think you're on your way already to be a great leader so what was the I guess because you're you were already an intern so did you you know have to submit the formal application so I actually worked for a Subacute Rehabilitation company called Care One throughout my entire mha program I just transitioned to hackin sack in December so I'd been working for K one for over a year and a half and I pivoted to the position with hackin sack Meridian um while I was in the process of applying for their Fellowship so I had the whole application process it was a formal application and then I had a phone screen interview I had an interview with the executive preceptors and um board for the fellowship and then I had an executive panel that I had to interview with then the final round was a a PowerPoint based on quality metrics and data and you had a week to submit it so it was a short timeline and that learning experience is also just been fantastic that sounds like a really a really fun learning experience I'm impressed with the amount of you know time you've been in internships that's that's really excellent It's I think that'll really really help I know that some of the fellows that I've spoken with who have the more extensive and different experiences within the same kind of area that they've done really well during the fellowship I want to ask though how are you feeling and how are you preparing what is kind of this transition period like what's your day-to-day like right now you know just to kind of give us some insight especially maybe to the earlier students who are just starting their mha or getting close to where you're at what is your day-to-day looking like right now so my day-to-day I only have one class right now it's my practicum which is actually through Hackensack meridians internship so I pretty much go to work when I come home I do a lot of mentoring I'm currently coaching the first Year's case competition team so that's occupying a little bit of my time there and then I'm very involved with the American College of healthcare Executives I'm on their membership committee and then their Career Development subcommittee so that takes up a portion of my time as well going to the AC events is the most critical part of being an mha student I will say that through and through the people that you're meeting with and you don't know just going to an event what door that will open for you I've had friends come with me they walk out with jobs and just that experience that's impressive it's amazing and you obviously your network is everything in healthcare administration and learning how to navigate that learning how to talk with leaders and make yourself your support system is so critical and I think that AC has just been a really big component another thing that I do is I read a leadership book per month obviously my professors yes so my Prof that's very interesting yeah so my professors are crucial in learning and they can give you a lot of leadership tips your organization you're meeting with leaders who can give you a lot of tips but sometimes having outside perspectives so I'll read sports leadership books I'll read a whole Spectrum so Finance leaders politicians I read a whole spectrum of leaders because you shouldn't only pull from Healthcare I think that Healthcare is a blending of so many different qualities and Healthcare is in everything that we do health is everything so being able to stem from other leaders experiences outside of healthcare I think is a really valuable tool and I definitely think mha student should take part in it uh I would like to get a list of some of the best books you've read for myself that's that's really interesting and so yeah I'm involved with the AC as well but I'm I'm fairly new into it because I'm just starting my MBA was it challenging to get involved at first were you ner I mean I was nervous personally what was it like for you my first event then I was shaking walking in and I just happened to walk up to a table and it was a hospital president and I'm like what did I just walk into but everyone is still welcoming and everyone in AC has been in your shoes this is something I remind myself all the time in my friends who get nervous to come to AC AC events or my mentes or different colleagues that are like there's so many high Lev people there how do you go there as a student and how do you go solo it's really something that you have to just break that comfort zone because it as I said it opens so many doors it definitely is an awkward thing to navigate at first but you eventually will see the same faces every time you go you definitely get comfortable with the attendees and really learn people in your chapter but I think that something really important is committee involvement so I was on the Dei committee as well last year and then uh pivoted to the membership committee for this year and I think that just having that inbase support system is really important as well and really being on the basis of scheduling those events and that gives you a built-in Network and feeling comfortable to go to the events it definitely is a barrier at first but everyone there is so accommodating and so welcoming um as I said everyone's been in your shoes I was talking to a few leaders who in their day were fellows and gave me such important advice where you look at these people and you're like how did they even Ascend to these rules and they started where you are so take everything be a sponge learn every single thing that you can because they've been in your position they've been in your shoes and they want to help young professionals they want people to rise through the ranks because succession planning and building Talent pipelines is crtical that sounds like you've spoken to a lot of different leaders I'm assuming you really have since that first time where you were shaking you just put yourself out there it's so important that's impressive I I still get very nervous with interview uh you know not just interviews but these kinds of interviews I get nervous I get nervous meeting Executives because it is scary and it is sometimes hard to remember that they were like us at one point so very very good advice for everyone so I guess some of the other questions that I have for you is you know what is it like in terms of the the finances you know is there going to be a gap between when you're you know your school you know loans and everything like that like how how has that been process been going for you know just for the people who are going to be going through this process transitioning from University to Fellowship what does that look like are you having to establish savings or you know what's going on in that area something amazing about Rucker's program is the ability to work personally my parents have given me the gift of my masters and my undergrad so that's something I give them so much credit because they really just worked hard and dedicated their lives to giving both me and my brother the opportunity to attend school and graduate school with no loans which is just an amazing gift but building my own savings wall in Masters so I think that finding a program where you're allowed to work and have those interactions and be able to make your savings is so important Ruckers is a very flexible program so I love that opportunity that I can work CU I'm not only applying what I'm learning in the classroom but I'm building savings the fellowship pays decent but obviously in a real world people like to make a lot more money so that's a very difficult barrier and I know that deters a lot of people from pursuing fellowships but because Ruckers allows you to work I do have a pretty good savings and I think learning the performas and how to budget through class actually has helped me in my own personal savings shout out to Professor Kay but they've just been critical in that and I think that learning that Excel and learning how to budget for a network can also apply to your own life and I think that makes it an easy transition for healthcare students something I will say is there's so many Grant and scholarship opportunities out there for for any mha student I know leers gives out a decent amount of them so really take pursuit of those opportunities it's usually just a short 500w essay take advantage of those and see what money you can get per semester also if you're working a lot of times your your organization will reimburse you for that so I know a lot of my fellow students take advantage of say the $3,000 a semester that their organization will give them and I know my or my previous organization they do tuition reimbursement which is something great for students to take advantage of so find an organization that does that and I think that kind of softens the blow of obviously how much a master's education program is another component is choosing a state school if you live in the state it's a lot more affordable then um some of the other programs I was looking at and that opportunity for Ruckers for example was so affordable and there's such a notable program they're number one in New Jersey and number 32 in the country for health administration where it was a no-brainer it's right in my backyard that is very good advice learn to budget I like that that's really and not you know never too soon so that's good advice as well um and then yeah I know it's you know people have to learn how to to navigate that and it can be challenging because it's it's a r you know everything's going on it's kind of a rush at some point you don't have to give you know specifics of course but uh is the fellowship salary you know in the also the environment in New Jersey is it a high cost environment is it a low you know a low cost what is that going to be looking like do you think students should have roommates or do you think they'd be comfortable to live on their own well you know just for students who are maybe coming from far away what does that kind of look like for the potential fellows I lived at home during the program I know a lot of students do live at campus and the rent is a little bit High New Jersey has a very high cost of living obviously if you have roommates that I think is a very important thing especially having roommates in the program I think that we see that a lot where the students help each other out and that's a huge thing because you have colleu ship and camarad that you're building and you also have a support system so schools being getting overwhelming you have someone to come home to and talk to about your experiences and do group projects together and really have that collaboration where I think that that's important the school is also always posting different I guess housing opportunities and something more affordable for students rather than paying an arm and a leg literally to live there I just personally was working close to my house so it was a Nob burer for me to live at home but I would say students the biggest thing is if they're working where they are living I would say to do that because you're only commuting to campus at least for Ruckers a lot of the classes are online so you're not commuting there every day but you are commuting to your job every day so I think it's definitely not a one-size fits-all model I there is something to be said about living on campus as I did it at my old school and building that colleagu ship is so important and I do feel like I missed out a little bit on that in the master program but I've made so many Amazing Friends throughout my program that will be with me the rest of my life where I don't think I missed out on that too much but definitely personal preference I love how you like you said you are really a sponge you soak up all of the knowledge from even the other students in the program even though you lived at home you're able to understand oh well if you do have roommates try to have some there in the same program I mean this is excellent advice so I I do really appreciate it and thank you so much this and know it's late 7 o'clock at night but I appreciate taking your evening and your time to join us thank you so much Caitlyn thank you so much it was great meeting you and um Good Luck to anyone applying to fellowships you can always reach out to me definitely and we will be reaching out to you again when you have completed your fellowship to do a followup of this interview and we'll put them both together and see how things have gone so thank you again and we'll be talking again soon awesome thank you</p>