Advancing Hospital Career with Online MSDS from Northwestern SPS
After earning her bachelor’s degree in business, Chris Giroux figured she would return to school at some point to earn her MBA.
Choosing a Northwestern SPS Online MSDS over an MBA
However, after building a rewarding career at Northwestern Medical Center in Vermont, first as a system support specialist and later as a systems analyst and manager, she realized she needed a degree with heavier focus on the information sciences, one that more directly applied to her long-term professional goals. When she heard about the Northwestern University online Master's in Data Science (formerly known as Predictive Analytics), she knew the coursework aligned with what she was working to accomplish at the hospital.
“My [master's in data science] have definitely had a huge impact on my work and accelerated a lot of projects,” Giroux said. “This was such a rich learning experience that hit so many different areas that wouldn’t necessarily have been covered in an MBA.”
Improving Healthcare with Master’s in Data Science
In 2017, Northwestern Medical Center, a small hospital located in Saint Albans, is working on launching a predictive analytics program to monitor 30-day hospital readmissions, according to Hospitals and Health Networks. Giroux spearheaded the project while she finished up her degree and then graduated in winter 2017 ready to implement predictive analytics more comprehensively into Northwestern Medical Center’s operations.
The hospital will be using the LACE index, an acronym that stands for length of stay, acuity, comorbidities, and emergency department visits, to better predict a patient’s risk of readmission. LACE allows the hospital to give patients a score that correlates to their chance of being readmitted.
Giroux believes this is an important part of the future of the healthcare industry. The analytics, she noted, offer potential cost benefits to the hospital, but more importantly improve the quality of patient care.
Connecting Online MSDS Coursework to Current Workplace Projects
The Master's in Data Science program helped prepare Giroux to manage how her workplace uses analytics by offering an interdisciplinary approach to data management and leadership, blending business education with more technical components of the field. Giroux was particularly impressed with the faculty’s flexibility in curating coursework to meet students’ professional goals.
“One aspect of the Online MSDS program I really liked was that the professors allowed us to work on our individual research and projects that apply to our real jobs,” Giroux said. “All of the research I did in class was on healthcare organizations. I was able to apply the knowledge I had learned to real applicable cases that I could replicate at the hospital.”
Opening Doors with Northwestern University Online MSDS Program
Giroux also found taking classes online allowed her to fit her master’s in data science into her busy schedule. Between her 8 to 10 hour days at the hospital and making time for her family, she needed to be able to map out the coursework each quarter and maintain routine study habits.
Two days a week, she spent a few hours at her office studying at night, and she regimented one full day each weekend for additional study. That way, she and her family could get in a rhythm that allowed her to dedicate time for her classwork. Giroux added, “I think it’s a fabulous program. It’s totally opened doors for me in my career.”
Northwestern University School of Professional Studies offers many degree and certificate programs, with evening and online options available. To learn more about how Northwestern University's Master’s in Data Science program prepares graduates to advance their data science career, fill out the form below and we will be in touch with you soon.