As a pediatric nurse practitioner, Jill Kinch has education and training in pathophysiology, preventive care, and disease management. “In the current health care environment,” she says, “this background is now inadequate.”

It’s easy to see why when you look at Jill’s current responsibilities as Advanced Practice Nurse and Team Manager for Perioperative and Procedural Services. They include clinical service line program development, daily operations, budget planning, cost center reconciliation, developing and recruiting team members, safety and quality, and process improvement. “Leaders in health care,” says Jill, who serves as Vice President of the Tennessee Nurses Association, “must be able to prioritize clinical demands and align resources to support safe and reliable care delivery models.”

The MMHC program has pushed Jill “far beyond” her comfort zone — which she counts as a benefit — while “the supportive structure helps you to successfully push yourself.”

Especially valuable, she says, has been the experience of working on numerous projects with a dedicated team of colleagues from her work environment. “Now that we have worked so closely together,” Jill says, “we could tackle almost any challenge as a team back in our working world. This has been incredibly relevant and has changed how I work.”

She calls the whole experience “eye-opening.” Owen, she explains “will give you a much broader and more strategic view of both your career and your organization. You will understand complexities that didn’t even occur to you before.”