While the words "business" and "nursing" have not often been used in the same sentence, 21st-century nursing demonstrates that these two terms are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Many nurses shy away from the financial aspects of healthcare, but those nurses in management and C-level positions already understand that healthcare is a business that necessitates our understanding and involvement.

Any firewall that has existed between nursing and finance must be dismantled, allowing nurses to have a voice both in the financial administration of the healthcare industry, and in the various aspects of small private practice and entrepreneurship.

The rise of the nurse entrepreneur

With the recent rise in nurse entrepreneurship, many nurses have found themselves needing to fast-track their learning curve vis-à-vis accumulating appropriate business skills and acumen.

As mainstream nursing jobs become more competitive and stressful, some nurses are choosing to leverage their nursing skills as independent businesspeople, moving into the entrepreneurial space as a means of creating a novel career path.

In response to the needs of nurse entrepreneurs, various training programs have come into being, not to mention books and websites devoted to the success of nurse entrepreneurs. Some business coaches (several of whom are themselves nurse entrepreneurs) offer specialized coaching specifically tailored to nurses embarking on business ventures.

Advanced practice nurses and business

Now that advanced practice nurses (APRNs) are able to practice autonomously in many regions of the United States, one may wonder what depth of business training such nurses are receiving before graduation.

If a nurse pursuing a degree as an FNP or DNP has the clear intention of setting up shop as an independent primary care provider, a considerable level of business knowledge would strongly support that nurse's success.

Perhaps having learned from specific shortcomings of the medical education paradigm (and how those shortcomings have been addressed), the nursing profession has itself stepped forward with options for APRNs seeking business savvy.

Dual DNP/MBA programs now appear to be gaining ground, offering those nurses in pursuit of private practice the ability to simultaneously glean the training of a Doctor of Nursing Practice along with the lessons of a Masters in Business Administration. Those studying medicine may pursue the MD/MBA degree track, a direct sibling of DNP/MBA programs.

While potentially expensive, time-consuming and academically challenging, this marriage of training in advanced practice nursing and business is a brilliant solution that can assist APRNs in achieving clinical excellence coupled with business success.

The Healthcare MBA

In service to a career as a healthcare professional simultaneously functioning as a businessperson, it is also possible for interested parties to pursue a Healthcare Masters in Business Administration.

Searching Healthcare MBA programs online, most appear to be more keenly geared toward institutional business and finance rather than individual private practice management. However, several curricula appear to offer some courses in the management, marketing and financing of a private medical practice.

Nursing, meet business

As mentioned above, nursing and business have historically been relatively estranged bedfellows (apart from nurse managers and executives), but the paradigm of 21st-century nursing is offering nurses increasing opportunities to embrace finance and business as a natural fit.

Nurses in bedside practice can choose to more fully understand healthcare finance as a means to deeper comprehension of the realities faced by both our system and its patients. Meanwhile, their entrepreneurial brethren can avail themselves of formal and informal methods of increasing their business acumen.

Nursing and business are not mutually exclusive, and many astute nurses realize that understanding money and business does not preclude the ability to be a caring, compassionate and skilled nursing clinician.